Selling: Online Estate Agent or Traditional?

wublet

Help! First time Seller calling!

Here's the scenario. I'm unsure what my property is worth, the range of three different Agents is £20k! This makes all the difference to us. I have a fourth coming today.

When I look at what the Traditional Estate Agent does, I fail to see why they get such a high commission.

Very tempted by online agencies. They charge various fee combinations but you can usually get a fixed price without commission. Eg 'Hatched' does £200 fee, £200 on completion at 0%.

I'm happy to show people around for viewings, but has anyone done this? There are plenty of reviews out there but I'm skeptical as they're so individualistic and potentially untrue.

Where is the smiley with the huge question mark above his head??

FireWyrm

I have. I used HouseNetwork but there are plenty out there. If you do this, you want an online agent that is going to put your house on all of the big property websites, take decent photographs and field initial phonecalls for you. You need to read all of the reviews of the sites and make an informed decision. There are plenty of EA's on this site who will tell you that 'traditional' is the way to go, but personally, I disagree. I sold my house myself and only used a solicitor for the very last legal bit. I did all of the viewings and whilst this can be a pain if you have a couple in a day, it's still worth it and considerably less than an EA would charge for the same service. You can negotiate directly with your potential buyers as well...for instance, I had a potential buyer who offered me a job in exchange for a drop in price! I didnt take it, but you get the idea.

There's very little be concerned about in my opinion. Traditional EA's already have a stinking reputation so it can only get better....

SailorSam

Depending where you live i wonder do you need any sort of agent.
The estate i lived on when i last sold was the sort of place that people knew they wanted that area so they'd drive around looking for signs then go away and phone to get some details. I put my own sign up and had loads of calls and quite a few viewers, unfortunately none of them bought and i went an estate agent in the end. Although i eventually sold , the market being as slow as it was the EA took best part of a year and i think if i'd persevered on my own i may have found a buyer in that time.

googler

wublet wrote: »

Help! First time Seller calling!

Here's the scenario. I'm unsure what my property is worth, the range of three different Agents is £20k! This makes all the difference to us. I have a fourth coming today.

When I look at what the Traditional Estate Agent does, I fail to see why they get such a high commission.

Because, amongst other things, they spend time with sellers like you giving you free valuations?

You've had three agents visit your house, with a fourth still to visit. At most, one of those could be hired by you. The other two or three will have to accept that they won't be paid for either their time or their expenses in visiting you. It seems possible that all three will have had a wasted trip.

Surely you can see that all the 'free' time has to be paid for?

When you say 'fail to see' - what have you looked at?

SailorSam

googler wrote: »

Because, amongst other things, they spend time with sellers like you giving you free valuations?

You've had three agents visit your house, with a fourth still to visit. At most, one of those could be hired by you. The other two or three will have to accept that they won't be paid for either their time or their expenses in visiting you. It seems possible that all three will have had a wasted trip.

Surely you can see that all the 'free' time has to be paid for?

When you say 'fail to see' - what have you looked at?

But isn't that the same with anything we buy ?
I use to sell double glazing and could spend 3 or 4 hours in someones house only to be told they were going to get three other quotes (and rightly so), were those people wasting my time ? I know garages that charge to give estimates for repairs for insurance jobs 'cos people will use the estimate to make a claim then get the work done cheaper elsewhere, are those people wasting the time of the good garages. Googler when you shop around before you renew your car or home insurance would you say you're wasting the time of the other companies.

wublet

Thank you Sailor Sam.

I'm told by the traditional EAs that the commission covers the Marketing. Less Marketing than the online estate agents offer for a fraction of the cost. I think I am leaning the online way, as my property is not one of those grand old places you see in a very local estate agents.

Its a new build in a new development - modern and clean throughout. There are several choices for online agents, still umming & erring!

googler

wublet wrote: »

I'm told by the traditional EAs that the commission covers the Marketing. Less Marketing than the online estate agents offer for a fraction of the cost.

Why do you think 'less marketing'?

googler

SailorSam wrote: »

But isn't that the same with anything we buy ?
I use to sell double glazing and could spend 3 or 4 hours .....

What I'm saying is the time has to be paid for. Somehow or other, you or the DG company had to recoup your expenses in time, travel etc. or you were out of business.

Same situation here. The time the EA spends with everyone who doesn't sell, doesn't buy, and the time spent on the non-completing sales has to be met from the commission on the sales that do complete.

SailorSam

googler wrote: »

What I'm saying is the time has to be paid for. Somehow or other, you or the DG company had to recoup your expenses in time, travel etc. or you were out of business.

Same situation here. The time the EA spends with everyone who doesn't sell, doesn't buy, and the time spent on the non-completing sales has to be met from the commission on the sales that do complete.

I agree completley, but EA seem to charge an awful lot for their services, while selling DG i'd spend hours in a house an EA maybe 10/15 mins. I think most people would feel happier if you could ask an EA 'how much to sell my house' ........ does it really cost a lot more to sell a 2 bed terrace in a bad area than a 3 bed semi in a good area, why should they benefit from large rises in house prices. The growth in online house selling proves people don't mind paying for a service but begrudge giving a percentage of the value of their home.

googler

SailorSam wrote: »

I agree completley, but EA seem to charge an awful lot for their services, while selling DG i'd spend hours in a house an EA maybe 10/15 mins.

Based on a survey of how many DG salesmen, and how many EAs?

There are those who'd suggest you spent most of those hours phoning back and forth to your manager to see if he'd sign off on the latest discount you were offering the client, when you knew already what the answer was.

SailorSam wrote: »

does it really cost a lot more to sell a 2 bed terrace in a bad area than a 3 bed semi in a good area, why should they benefit from large rises in house prices.

What rises? Prices are dropping all over the country.

SailorSam wrote: »

The growth in online house selling proves people don't mind paying for a service but begrudge giving a percentage of the value of their home.

What 'service' are you referring to, other than placing the owner's property on a website?

When every high street EA in the land has either their own website, or a placing in one or more property portals, how can you refer to a pure online agency as having more of a 'service'?

If you're not happy with percentage-based fees, what charging model do you suggest? Flat fee for everyone? Charging by the hour, including for valuations? Something else? Suggestions, please.

SailorSam

Googler it sounds as if you're trying to defend the indefensible,
can we presume you're an Estate Agent ?