estate agents fees etc help!

wissett73

Hi,
im not very good at this selling business and don't want to get caught out and pay too much!
we are putting our house on the market for 675k , the estate agents wants 2% plus vat and the marketing costs of around 2k inc vat on top. this is a lot of money. i want to negotiate the fees etc
i have said we want to use them and they are sending contracts out but i haven't signed anything. I know i should have said something in that conversation about a reduction in fees but didn't. i wasn't until someone said we could potentially negotiate on them.

im presuming as i haven't signed anything i can still negotiate but i don't know where to start! any tips?! many thanks in advance

greenhill

Why don't you ring around other local estate agents & get quotes from them? Then you'll have something to re-negotiate your fees with the original agent.

I think it's a lot. Around here (East) it's between 1.25% & 2%. NO marketing fees.

Good luck.

wissett73

Hi, I'm in the east too. I have had other quotes and they were all 2% plus vat but inc fees, i like this agent and i think they will do a good professional job which is why i want to use them. its tricky and I'm not very bold but i have to be with money i guess !

CharlieBubble

Normally, the more expensive the property, the more you can get off the fees due to the amount the agent will make. For example around my area you can get an agent to drop to 1.5% on a £200k flat and that's probably their bottom price (agent makes £3k), but on a more expensive house of your level you can probably get them down to 1.25%, maybe 1% as they'd make between £6500 and £8125 if they sold yours for around £650k. At 2% they'd get £13k plus you've also paid them £2k for their marketing, that's £15k + your £3k VAT! 18k to sell your house when with a little bit of negotiation you could do it for almost half that! If I were you I would negotiate and look to get at least .5% off.

Travelqueen

My agents fees are 1% +VAT - maybe London fees are lower because there is more competition though?
2% PLUS marketing sounds high, although on a house that price one assumes they will be putting big adverts in the local paper and producing a glossy brochure??

nikki1520

I'd certainly be expecting a lot of action for that marketing budget -I'd ask what it covers that isn't included in the standard agency fee. Surely advertising/marketing a property is the estate agents actual job?

richardw

Travelqueen wrote: »

My agents fees are 1% +VAT - maybe London fees are lower because there is more competition though?

Does that including listing on the major house selling websites?

wissett73

what it covers is, brochure, advertising, sale boards, epc and floor plan..... hmmm I'm not sure even how to word a letter to them!

Itismehonest

In the SW the fees for properties in the £750,000 - £1m range are around 1.5% which includes a 4-page brochure. It's around £500 extra if you want an 8 page one. This includes listings on major property sites online.

Personally, given the amount of money the EA stands to make from the more expensive properties, I'd push for 1 - 1.25% now around here.

The estate agents should also undertake all first viewings. 2nd viewers may want to ask more specific questions so an owner may want to do those.

Read the contract small print very carefully - length of contract, how to end the contract if necessary, & make sure you know exactly what the EA will want if they feel they have introduced a buyer but the contract has since ended.

Good luck with the sale We think we may well just sit it out for a while.

CharlieBubble

richardw wrote: »

Does that including listing on the major house selling websites?

I would expect that as standard from every half decent agent these days.

ohblimey

I would get quotes from other agents, then use this to haggle, we got our preferred agent to drop from 2% down to 1.25%. We simply said look we prefer you but the other agent is cheaper, they agreed to match the other agent without any quibble, and sold it within 10 days to the second viewer, so an easy few hundred quid for them as it turned out. If your asking price is realistic they are more likely to negotiate the fee.