Estate Agents and what to expect (Scotland)

eddie1234567

Hi, I am about to put my house on the market and am wondering about the charges that estate agents are quoting me.

Maybe a bit naive here but I thought that if you say to someone that you will give them a percentage of sale value of your home it is then up to them to sell your home and it is up to them how they go about it.

All estate agents I have contacted to market my property want the percentage, plus fees to put on website, plus fee to market it, plus fee for photographs and also if they show the property off, £10 per visit.

Am I missing something here. I pay for all of the above. They do nothing apart from put onto a website, which I paid for, they expect me to show people around and they still want their 1%

Is this standard practice and what do I get out of this deal apart from an ulcer

googler

Much will depend on where you are, and your type of property.

In the major cities, the solicitor firms, since they perform all the conveyancing, have drifted into Estate Agency work, and in many solicitor's offices, you'll find a 'property department' consisting of a few admin staff who will typically arrange viewings and perform other admin. I say 'arrange', because for many years, these firms have pushed viewing responsibility onto the clients - down my way, the standard is/was for open viewings on Thurs evening and Sunday afternoon, carried out by the owner.

This is beginning to change, and others are beginning to offer a more bespoke service where this doesn't apply, but if you're nowhere near one, that won't help you. Some indication of your geography would help.

The solicitors are usually members of their local property centre, and I gather that many or all of these 'SPCs' charge for properties to go in their high-street centre, their weekly paper, and on their websites. This charge is passed on to their member firm, and then to you.

Level of upfront fees as you state can vary from one firm to another, and also seems to vary outwith the SPCs, but the situation you describe is standard practice, at least in East Scotland.

Note that if you've asked three firms from the SAME SPC to quote you fees, you're likely to find them all very similar in terms of fee structure and particularly upfront fees. They won't step too far out of line with the others to avoid rocking the boat. If you want something different from what the SPC agents offer, you need to look outside the SPCs.

Does this help?

spookytoy

hi,
well up in Aberdeen/Aberdeenshire all of the property gets put onto the ASPC ( property centre) website which every solicitor will charge a set fee for.

My EA and the ones I used a few years ago both agreed to a 1% commision on the sale of the property.

Most EA's also charge a small nominal fee for advertising and publicity and photographs( mine was £100 flat fee)

I have never heard of charging per visit.

Being in Scotland you will also have to have a home report done which varies by value of the property.

in essence before your house goes onto the market you have to pay the following:
Home Report fee
Fee to insert into Property centre.
Advertising/photo fee.

Once the property is sold they then take the 1% cut. Thats it no other fees. One difference up here in Scotland is that 'most' EA's are also solicitors so they handle everything from start to finish in house.


the viewing fee could be a regional difference but I would suggest going to at least 3 EA's to get various quotes and go with who you think is best.

googler

spookytoy wrote: »

Home Report fee
Fee to insert into Property centre.
Advertising/photo fee.

Once the property is sold they then take the 1% cut. Thats it no other fees.

Conveyancing charges? Do the Aberdeen sols include those in their 1% ....?