Esatate Agents Rip You Off!

mandi

Hi, As an ex Estate Agent, I feel more than qualified to state that Estate Agency fees are way too high!... What exactly do you get for your money?... Well you get youf "FOR SALE" board... approximately £40... you dont get to keep it though... they just lend it to you so you can advertise their name outside your house!.......... They,ll advertise your property in the local press with a nice little picture of your house/flat etc and let you think your getting a great deal when you can advertise it yourself for as little as £10!.. Then after your property is sold they,ll send you a nice bill for £1,200 .. Oh and dont forget the VAT... !
My advice to anyone out there is simple, TRY selling yourself! Its really dead easy.. Honest I should know.. All you do is

1.Place the advert in your local press

2.Show people around( you will soon know if they are interested or not)

3.See what they want to offer , if its ok agree the sale, if not ask for some more , then agree the sale.

4.Ask if they have somewhere to sell, if so, is it sold? or on the market

5.If the chains complete, call your solicitor, tell him/her the details

6.Let your solicitor keep you on the right track from this point.. after all thats what your paying them for!....

7.agree dates for exchange of contracts, and completion( thats the day you hand the keys over)

8.Contact me, If you have any questions about this post. Ill be more than happy to save you a £1,000 or more!

GOOD luck

shrek101

Although I dont have much experince of buying and particularly selling houses, I have always thought they charge too much. I mean whats the going rate 1.5% of what ever the house is worth am I right? So if house prices rise has they have been quite a lot over recent years they make even more money. When actually you need them less providing your house is reaosnable priced they sell themselves in a lot of cases.

rizla01

Hi Mandi,

You sound like a disgruntled Ex Estate Agent to me.

1) How long were you employed as an E.A.?

2) an estate agent has huge overheads to cover the props that don't sell.

3) who pays for properties coming on, Valued, Advertised, Appointments made, accompanied viewings and then the vendor changes his mind or sells privately or through another E.A.

4) people parting with that sort of money prefer the presumed security of dealing with professionals.

5) people wishing to purchase in any local area (Especially from outside the area) will visit an EA office BEFORE looking further afield i.e. local freebies.

6) If you are selling the chances are that you are buying too. You have more negotiating powers with an EA on your side to advise on your future purchases, problems associated Etc.

7) if a prospect visits you, do you know that he is not 'Sizing up the place', for a later (Unannounced) visit?

8) An estate agent will often get you a better price as they are accustomed to negotiating, more so, than the general lay person.

I could go on a lot more if I cared to, but in a nutshell what you propose is dangerous ground for some and a real inconvenience for most and though the fee sounds huge, as a percentage it certainly isn't.

On the face of it your advice SOUNDS good but I can only assume that you were not an EA for long or that you assume every householder has the same confidence and ability, as yourself, to sell the most important asset that they will ever own.


Riz

mandi

rizla01 wrote:

Hi Mandi,

You sound like a disgruntled Ex Estate Agent to me.

1) How long were you employed as an E.A.?

2) an estate agent has huge overheads to cover the props that don't sell.

3) who pays for properties coming on, Valued, Advertised, Appointments made, accompanied viewings and then the vendor changes his mind or sells privately or through another E.A.

4) people parting with that sort of money prefer the presumed security of dealing with professionals.

5) people wishing to purchase in any local area (Especially from outside the area) will visit an EA office BEFORE looking further afield i.e. local freebies.

6) If you are selling the chances are that you are buying too. You have more negotiating powers with an EA on your side to advise on your future purchases, problems associated Etc.

7) if a prospect visits you, do you know that he is not 'Sizing up the place', for a later (Unannounced) visit?

8) An estate agent will often get you a better price as they are accustomed to negotiating, more so, than the general lay person.

I could go on a lot more if I cared to, but in a nutshell what you propose is dangerous ground for some and a real inconvenience for most and though the fee sounds huge, as a percentage it certainly isn't.

On the face of it your advice SOUNDS good but I can only assume that you were not an EA for long or that you assume every householder has the same confidence and ability, as yourself, to sell the most important asset that they will ever own.


Riz

Hi Rizla01

Sorry to disappoint you, but im not a disgruntled ex Estate Agent, just one that got so tired of watching people throw thir money away!
Was in Estate Agency for nearly 8 years Just to pick up on some of your points though....Everyone thinks they have the most fantastic property in the world.. some do.. some dont.. My advice would be to go outside, then come into your property, and view it as though its the first time you have ever seen it.. you will soon see what needs changed, painted, thrown away etc.. be realistic!
As far as valuations etc go, you wont be paying an agents overheads for other properties if your selling privately
As far as rogue viewers are concerned, they can just as easily do that with the agent.. simple answer is to get a name address and land line number, and call them back on the landline to confirm the appointment... and always ALWAYS have someone with you when the viewer comes to the appointment
I agree that people from outside the area use agents, however many will get the local property paper as well, and if we are honest here. the majority of houses sold, sell to other people who live locally, not from outside the area.
As for youcomment about negotiating the sale. I agree that it can be uncomfortable when it comes to talking money, but.. If you know what you want to sell for, and providing the price is realistic, then its quite easy to ask for an increase.. worst that can happen is your offerer wont increase.

Finally, you have no more security selling with an agent than you do privately,because wether you use an agent or not, any time up until exchange of contracts your purchaser can withdraw their offer....

I do hope I have answered your questions,

mandi

Hi Shrek,

Its not always the price that sells, it usually the location then the price! as you will already know, people are often willing to pay more for a property if its in the right place, and if it is .. why use an agent? They stick a board up, agree a sale in the first week and you foot the bill for all the other properties in the wrong areas that wont sell.. which is why the fees are high..

Mandi

VH

If you ask me it's the solicitors that are the ripoff merchants.

mandi

VH wrote:

If you ask me it's the solicitors that are the ripoff merchants.

Hi VH,

I totally agree with you! solicitors rip you off with astronomical fees too!... perhaps thats a subject for another day

moneysaver

I totally agree with Mandi.
The estate agent will tell you anything to get you to sign on the dotted line (we have people waiting to buy in your area etc). I sold a property in NW England & used the biggest estate agent in that town, as for vetting the clients, I was sent 90% time wasters who had no intention of buying a property with the amount of rooms I had, e.g they may have wanted a 5 bed when mine might have been a 3 bed. On an offer I had during that period they made a mess of the price, when I recieved an offer in writing it was not the price I had agreed per telephone with estate agent. they then had to backtrack to the client, I then subsequently lost the sale. I have since sold but was not happy with the service promised.

Moneysaver.

mandi

Thanks for your comments moneysaver, unfortunetely this happens quite a lot! as well as the agent advising you they have people waiting to buy, some (not all) will actually overvalue your property so that you will use them as an agent, then after a few weeks(and no viewings) they will suggest that you reduce the price! ! ! DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR ANYONE! !!

Rex_Mundi

This thread reminds me of an older guy in the village recently. He had obviously had a very bad time with an estate agent. So he had an old land rover that he plastered with loads of billboards all round, front, sides and back, warning people that the estate agent had cost him thousands and not to use them, and basically how incompetent the agency was.

He parked the land rover outside their door every day for at least 5 or 6 weeks lol. I was chatting with the guy one day, and he told me the MD of the estate agent had phoned him and angrily called him a terrorist lol.

I'm gutted that I didn't get any photos of this. I thought it was both hilarious and sad that he had to resort to this. Fair play to him!

alanobrien

mandi wrote:

Hi VH,

I totally agree with you! solicitors rip you off with astronomical fees too!... perhaps thats a subject for another day

But at least their service has some merit, i.e. They are employed to ensure you end up legally owning the property free of previous charges and hopefully they find out if that little extension you like so much
was put up legally etc etc.

And there is always the option to use a fixed price no sell no fee solicitor these days. I did this for our sale and buy when we moved just before xmas.
Their total fee was about <800 inc vat.

Compare that to the Estate agents 4.5k who did next to nothing to earn it
and believe me i really mean next to nothing.

That said i know for a fact that there are professional agents out there that are worth their percentage. We bought from one. This agent kept us informed of everything in the chain which is more than our agent did.

And i dont even want to think about the 18.5k tax.
All in all its a no win situation for the general public.