Estate Agents

smoove

My gran is thinking about selling her home and she asked me to go down to an estate agency to make sure they arnt swindeling her. Just wondering:

1) If theres a standard amount of time estate agencys will advertise the house for? Or do they vary between them.

2) I often see homes for sale by estage angencys in the paper and things, are things like an extra cost, or do they all do it?

3) How will estage agents advertise the property, do they just put up a board in the window and take calls on it, or are there other things that they do?

4) What would the main differences be between estage agents, other than fees/the above?

Rick62

Agents should advertise for as long as the property is on their books. A few things I would ask:

What fee do they charge.

What marketing will this include (some may be extra, but things like newspaper adverts should be included).

How many properties have they sold in the last month/3 months.

What price do they recommend marketing the property for? Justify that price (also you can chack at places like nethouseprice.com).

By the time you have spent some time you should be able to make a judgement, partly on the answers but also your assessment, which agent you trust as both knowing their business and being trustworthy.

Doozergirl

1) An agent will advertise until you sell. They all vary but I would not sign any more than an initial eight week contract with a two week get out clause. Also, ensure you have a 'sole agency' contract with one agent.

2) It's pretty much all included though you have to pay VAT on top of what they quote but they tell you this. Unless you have a very expensive house and use a prestige agent like Knight Frank, in which case you pay for advertising and brochures seperately. They tell you every thing you need to pay up front anyway.

3) Board, newspapers, leafleting, internet (very important! Check the agent uses https://www.rightmove.co.uk as well as their own site). They will also already have a list of buyers and will contact them if your house suits their criteria.

4) Not much really. Some London agents are quite hard salespeople but I've rarely seen it outside London. Always use one that is a member of the NAEA or the OEA as it means that they have some scruples and subscribe to a code of conduct.



I try to avoid the High Street names. They seem to think their brand gives them the right to charge higher fees than independent EAs but you really don't get better service and you often get worse as it's just a job to most of them. Try to get a 1% agent, most will knock down simply if you ask. NEVER pay more than 1.5%

Look at the House Selling... thread at the top of this board. Full of information!