How much to pay an estate agent?

PJD

I have a property in Kent, which I expect to sell for around £600,000, - what would you expect to pay an estate agent?

1%?


£6,000 seems like a lot of money to give to an estate agent??

Flat fee of £2,000?

What is a realistic price to be looking for?

maria6259

PJD wrote: »

I have a property in Kent, which I expect to sell for around £600,000, - what would you expect to pay an estate agent?

1%?


£6,000 seems like a lot of money to give to an estate agent??

Flat fee of £2,000?

What is a realistic price to be looking for?

I'm afraid it's unlikely you will get anyone to sell it for £2000! My house which is due to go on the market soon will cost over that for the estate agents and is only a third of your house price. You may be able to negotiate them down to 1% but the starting rate is 1 1/2 to 2%.

Realistically £6000 is not a lot of money when you have a £600k house.

womble12345

I am a firm believer that in some cases you get what you pay for with estate agents, I negotiated a good price wiih one but only have very few viewings, I switched to a more expensive one who got more viewings and were very good when it came to negotiations with the buyer and probably managed to get me enough extra to cover the fee.
I say go with whichever agent is reccommended by friends and has the most active branch,

rilou81

I swapped for the same reasons and have a 2500 + vat on my 100K house, so if you get te same for a 600K house you are laughing!! Long shot though!

googler

You're not 'giving' them £6,000 or so. You're paying them for their services in selling your house. You'll only be paying them once they sell it.

PJD

googler wrote: »

You're not 'giving' them £6,000 or so. You're paying them for their services in selling your house. You'll only be paying them once they sell it.

I appreciate that, - but my point still stands. £6,000 for a couple of photos, an add, few calls and showing someone around my house, - seems ridiculous.

My solicitor will do far more work but won't get half as much as that.

PJD

Couple of questions:

What would a realistic flat fee to strive for?

Is it realistic to sell the house on one of these advertise it yourself websites, and by putting a for-sale board up outside?

PJD

rilou81 wrote: »

I swapped for the same reasons and have a 2500 + vat on my 100K house, so if you get te same for a 600K house you are laughing!! Long shot though!

Is it really £3,500 more work to sell a 4 bed house over a 1 bed house?????

hazyjo

If that's all you think an EA does, you might want to sit in an office with one for a week...

I do think £6k is a lot, but then it's always gone on percentage and 1% is a good rate. I'd rather them get a percentage of the sale price than agree a fixed rate. They'll get that whatever price they sell for. Also, they might put it up for a higher price, agree a fixed rate, then say the price needs to be reduced, yet they get the same fee.

You can't use RM or whatever unless you're an EA. If you're not on that, it's doubtful you'll sell as most people use that these days.

There are online agencies which use RM - you might want to give them a try. Do your research first though, and don't sign up to anyone who demands a fee if you terminate the contract for whatever reason (after it's expired). Also be careful of how many weeks you'll be tied in with them for.

Jx

PJD

hazyjo wrote: »

I do think £6k is a lot, but then it's always gone on percentage and 1% is a good rate. I'd rather them get a percentage of the sale price than agree a fixed rate. They'll get that whatever price they sell for. Also, they might put it up for a higher price, agree a fixed rate, then say the price needs to be reduced, yet they get the same fee.

Hmmmm, would a percentage of the property really encourage an agent to try and sell your home for more?

The difference of 1% between 550,00 and £600,000 isn't huge to them.. - but a massive difference to me.

googler

PJD wrote: »

I appreciate that, - but my point still stands. £6,000 for a couple of photos, an add, few calls and showing someone around my house, - seems ridiculous.

My solicitor will do far more work but won't get half as much as that.

I'll bet your solicitor never leaves his office except for lunch. I'll bet your solicitor only spends his time with clients who will pay him.

The EA's business income, as with any other business, has to exceed their expenses in all areas, not just on the tasks they complete on your property.

When you buy a new car, do you just pay for the raw materials and assembly? No, the manufacturer has to factor in research and development, promotions, maintaining/supporting a dealer network, warranty work, recalls, etc. into the price that you pay.

Your EA must ensure that the aggregate of fees earned exceeds expenses, in a climate where they're not even sure that every client will yield a fee, and where the sales of lower-value properties could quite possibly be loss-leaders.

With regard to motoring expenses, where your solicitor merely commutes to his office, the EA has not only the cost of driving back and forth to your property for valuation, viewing and other appointments, but also back and forth to other valuations and other appointments which don't yield any profit for them. In the case of London agents, they appear to be obliged to ferry viewers back and forth to viewings, so add the cost of sufficient cars to achieve this, and the appropriate higher-premium insurance ....