Any decent ways of selling without agents

theGrinch

the first negotiation you need to make is with the estate agents you feel most able to sell. some agents (in fact all I have deal with apart from one) will knock down their fee for new stock

googler

sweetd wrote: »

yes but none of them can explain why the middle range owners are subsidising the lower range owners eg someone with a house worth 200k pays twice as much as someone with a house worth 100k but the effort to sell is just the same, not right

Well, it's either that or they BOTH pay the flat fee equivalent of a £150k house - which works to the benefit of the £200k homeowner, but not the £100k......

Or do you have an alternative?

bristolben

GAH wrote: »

If you get a good agent they are worth their weight in gold,

They have advertising costs (websites,newspapers, flyers, printing costs)

time - travelling to and from showing your house, showing your house, time on the phone,

Costs on High street location, wages etc

Time again on chasing sale through.


There is a lot more to selling a home than sticking it on rightmove, most people that enquire about a home don't end up buying the one they enquired about. Thats where the agents real skill comes in matching buyers.


You will get relativly decent coverage sticking it on with an online agent, as long as your property is extremely comptetivly priced, but you do have to pay a lump upfront, so there is no motivation for the online agent to do anything then.

As for free sites, they are free for a reason, as you won't get any enquiries.

Couldnt have said this better myself, though I would have prob said it a lot more aggressively.

To the OP; put it on the private sites and I can guarantee we'll see another thread from you in about 3 months time complaining that you've not sold your house.

GAH wrote: »

If you get a good agent they are worth their weight in gold,

As for free sites, they are free for a reason, as you won't get any enquiries.

^ this sums it up completely. Shop around, fine a good agent who comes highly recommended and stays in contact with you.

everlastingspirit

GAH wrote: »

If you get a good agent they are worth their weight in gold,

They have advertising costs (websites,newspapers, flyers, printing costs)

time - travelling to and from showing your house, showing your house, time on the phone,

Costs on High street location, wages etc

Time again on chasing sale through.


There is a lot more to selling a home than sticking it on rightmove, most people that enquire about a home don't end up buying the one they enquired about. Thats where the agents real skill comes in matching buyers.


You will get relativly decent coverage sticking it on with an online agent, as long as your property is extremely comptetivly priced, but you do have to pay a lump upfront, so there is no motivation for the online agent to do anything then.

As for free sites, they are free for a reason, as you won't get any enquiries.

I very much agree with this. I used to be a property valuer and negotiator for a local estate agent. I agree having known some of the competition in the industry that there are agents out there who are a complete waste of time and money - who only care about selling it, sitting back and waiting for the commission to come in. Others are downright dodgy and will work their butts off but only to the most monetary gain and little concern for clients. This of course pays for the gel for their spiky hair and polish for their pointy shoes!

However, believe it or not there are plenty of agents out there that are normal people who do work hard and take care of their clients. I would like to think i was one of those.

There are indeed costs involved in running an estate agents:

- Office Rent
- Business rates
- Water/Electric rates
- Staffing fees
- Legal protection/insurances
- Cost of running cars or paying petrol expenses
- Printing and computer maintainance
- Printing costs (ink/toners and media)
- Distribution of leaflets, etc
- Advertising - both online and local newspaper
- The list really does go on.

So when you consider the 1-1.5% (where i am - roughly £1-2500)
isnt that much to consider when this price is irrespective of how long you are marketing the property for. Could be 1 week, could be 15!

The benefits you get:

- Accompanied viewings. You wont have to show strange (yes they often are) people you don't know around your home on your own. The estate agent will also upsell the positive points of your property while ensuring they only say things allowed to be said (well some...)
- Extensive internet advertising. Coverage on a large amount of internet search companies such as Rightmove, etc. Rightmove can be expensive and most 'sell your home online' for free or cheap do not list the property there. When i was at the EA a huge % of leads come just from Rightmove!
- Local advertising. Both in your local newspaper in the ads where people will look - not just the black and white text only part at the end.
- People database. Most agents have hundreds of peoples details ready on their system. As soon as your property goes on a good agent will post, email and text these immediately. Any strong candidates may receive a call too.
- Chasing the sale. A good agent knows the sale doesn't stop when a price is agreed. Strong aftersales monitoring means they chase solicitors weekly to get updates. It often gives the lazy ones a kick up the bum and gets thing moving which otherwise might have been stuck in limbo for weeks. IT also means they can do that while you worry about all the other things (although a call ever so often yourself is a good idea!)
- Buyer confidence, Im looking for a house, saw one that was ok but was put off by the private 'for sale' sign. No-one really knows 100% why this is. I think most people would rather have a mediator in between the buyer and seller - even if they are the sellers agent. Truth is when things get tough you want someone to take the aggression or frustration you have towards the seller, clean it up and make it a bit fluffy (but still serious) and put it in a way the seller will be able to understand.

There are other benefits, but i am rambling on now. Often cheap DIY options deliver exactly what you pay for. I admire anyone giving it a try, but in my honest opinion i would say get as many estate agents valuations as you want. Compare there fees - but also compare what they offer you for that money. Then make a balanced decision!

Ben

Source: Previous property valuer/negotiator

sweetd

OK you say if I bypass EA then I won't sell, does anyone have statistics, I am thinking of putting it up with on line agent so it goes on Rightmove................ by how much are the chances of it selling reduced by doing this, is it possible to say or are we all just guessing?

"Thats where the agents real skill comes in matching buyers" ........... err are you saying looking on a database where someone has expressed interest in a bungalow at a given price and then matching it to a property is skill....... sorry I just don't get where the skill is that they are paying for

spook

I'm currently buying a house which was marketed through an online-only agent. They do get sales, but they are a lot less aggressive than mainstream EAs. If you go online-only, you will often have to handle phone calls arranging viewings, asking questions, making offers on your own.

With a mainstream EA they will arrange your viewings for you, go round with viewers if you're out at work or away, follow up and get feedback from people, handle negotiations when offers are on the table, help keep the whole thing moving until exchange.

If you use an online-only EA you will have to do all of the above yourself, so I'd suggest only taking this route if you're a very pro-active person and willing to be constantly contactable, replying to messages etc.

spook

sweetd wrote: »

"Thats where the agents real skill comes in matching buyers" ........... err are you saying looking on a database where someone has expressed interest in a bungalow at a given price and then matching it to a property is skill....... sorry I just don't get where the skill is that they are paying for

It's not so much that you're paying for the skill as for the fact that they have the database and you don't.

sweetd

exactly so it is not skill and as you say I don't mind showing people around and negotiating,,,,,,,,, it is a myth that you don't negotiate if you have an EA........ you are negotiating in either scenario as you still have the mental hassle of receiving an offer thinking about it, working out what the maximum will be, having a stand off period etc..... and spook did you really want an aggressive EA as a buyer?

But can we all agree there is no "skill" here...... it is access to a list of buyers that they have .......... it's like saying E Bay employees have specialist skills....... they don't, once the software is up and running then the sellers do all the work, it is a shame that house selling hasn't really taken off on E Bay as an advertise only service.....

sweetd

are there any statistics about chances of selling via on line sites?

GAH

Its not just a case of sticking on Rightmove I thinking the enquiries will role in. Thats what a lot of inexperienced agents think, stick it on rightmove and we will sit back on wait for business come back to us, which is very re-active and may work in a booming market.

But it is the opposite way round now, agents need to be pro-active, and the good ones are.

I used to be in agency a long time before jumping ship, so I know that good agents work a lot harder than the public give them credit for.

My Last place I had worked, 27-28% enquiries came through walking into our office, yes it was a busy town, but thats 28% more chance of an online agent could ever offer. I would always quote that fee to a vendor to show them that their property would be offered to a wider range of people, which is what vendors want don't they?