Why EXACTLY do you need an Estate Agent?

advent1122

Silly question time, BUT, what does an estate agent actually do to earn their money?
I am planning on selling my house in the Spring and want to know the ins and outs.
Is the only job of the EA to advertise your house and liase with buyers or am I missing something else?
If I could advertise my house on the web and bung up a home made For Sale sign would that be enough?
Do I then just need a solictior to do all the complicated stuff once I have found a buyer and agreed a price?
Sorry if this sounds stupid but I am genuinely confused.

Madmel

I don't know the answer to your question! We managed without one, as, like you, I resented handing over £5k for naff all work.

I put a home-made A4 sign in a downstairs front window, and we had 3 or 4 enquiries, of which one turned out to be our buyer. Total cost was about 4p :rotfl:

I did have to do some extra work myself, like chasing solicitors, but I think that goes with any sale. The buyer and I kept in pretty close touch anyway as her own sale was a bit of a nightmare, but eventually it all worked out and we moved on the day we chose. (back in September - feels like years ago)

Good luck and I hope it works out for you!

MascaraMinx

The only thing I would add is that our EA has worked in our area for 20 years and so knows the market inside out and told us exactly how much we could get (much more than we thought - we were worried he was pricing us out of the market) and also had a number of buyers on his books looking for places like ours - it sold in 3 days to the second viewer.

If we had advertised it ourselves we would probably have got a buyer quickly, but we would have lost out a few grand on the price.

Tustastic

I'm not urging you one way or the other but I have used a couple of good estate agents in the past and they were excellent at sussing out the strong buyers. For example, last year I was selling a property and two people offered the asking price. The EA and I had a long chat about which was the stronger buyer and I agreed with the EA's judgement. The final price was the asking price, no messing around trying to get money off because of minor points from the survey, no threats, delays etc. Now my gut instinct about the buyer was that he was a good'un but it was good to have the opinion of someone who makes these judgements for a living.
From unpleasant past experience, I would choose the buyer or seller AND EA of any property I get involved with as carefully as the property. It is horrible being stuck in a major financial arrangement for weeks/months with someone you don't trust or respect.

bootman

No reason why you can't do it yourself. Even with estate agents you end up being the one doing the running around and having to pay them.
Last house sold privately start to finish 5 weeks.

jeetster

As mentioned if you do it your self and certainly alot cheaper. But if you decide to use an EA, then I don't know if they charge vat on their fees, but a smaller EA may not. Certainly when we sold their was no vat on the fees.

The particular EA we used was very good and I have to say earnt every penny when near the end it looked like goings tits up and it got so stressful I just fell ill, he took over and pushed it all through.

advent1122

I think I will try it for a month using the DIY method and if I get no joy then will use an EA.

david29dpo

i am thinking of doing the same. after two bad experiences with agents recently.i think and hope private selling is the way to go.

TJ27

I know somebody who, like Madmel, put a sheet of A4 in his window. He had previously got an EA in to give a quote and valuation. Actually he knew how much the house was worth though, because there were plenty of other similar houses for sale in the area.

Anyway, his house sold for the full asking price within a week. The survey, conveyancing, etc, went very well too.

Not only did he save himself about two grand, he probably also saved himself a load of problems if you ask me.

I guess it's not a method which would suit everybody but what have you got to lose by trying?

gilly41

Not sure what the EA does as we have had our house on the market for 4 weeks and not one single viewing!!!The EA keeps telling me it the time of year and not to worry

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but having looked at their website I see plenty of houses on their books are now UNDER OFFER!!!
Seriously thinking about trying to sell it myself in the New Year!
x

PoorDave

gilly41 wrote:

Not sure what the EA does as we have had our house on the market for 4 weeks and not one single viewing!!!The EA keeps telling me it the time of year and not to worry

---

but having looked at their website I see plenty of houses on their books are now UNDER OFFER!!!
Seriously thinking about trying to sell it myself in the New Year!
x

People will be offering on things they've already viewed (by definition!)

People will not be even bothering to go out and look at the moment, because the weather's got colder and time has to be devoted to xmas.

Expect viewings from weekend 1 on 07, in my opinion.

As a general point to the thread, if i know you're not paying EAs high fees, i would want a lower purchase price than those that sell through an EA, as i'm quite capable of working out how much less you've paid. I would avoid helping someone make extra money out of me by not using an EA to sell me something i already knew i wanted!