What is a reasonable fee?

pixiepie99

We're currently talking to estate agents about selling our house. The consensus seems to be we should put it on for £70k to achieve between £65 and £70k. Two agents have quoted a fee of £1,800 which seems a bit high to me for the value of the house. All the agents have advised that our property is the best of its kind around here and should sell really easily.

Any thoughts?

irishcol

pixiepie99 wrote: »

We're currently talking to estate agents about selling our house. The consensus seems to be we should put it on for £70k to achieve between £65 and £70k. Two agents have quoted a fee of £1,800 which seems a bit high to me for the value of the house. All the agents have advised that our property is the best of its kind around here and should sell really easily.

Any thoughts?

I've got no experience of selling in that range, but a typical well-negotiated fee is around 1 - 1.25% of the final selling price.

I can understand that a fixed fee (which works out at a higher percentage) might be justifiable for houses below £100k, as there will be some similar costs for all sales (advertising, initial promotion, visits etc).

But £1800 feels too high - given that a 1% fee on a house worth twice that would be under £1400....

If you can't get another quote, then try negotiating - I'd be looking to pay no more than £1000 tops.

martinthebandit

pixiepie99 wrote: »

We're currently talking to estate agents about selling our house. The consensus seems to be we should put it on for £70k to achieve between £65 and £70k. Two agents have quoted a fee of £1,800 which seems a bit high to me for the value of the house. All the agents have advised that our property is the best of its kind around here and should sell really easily.

Any thoughts?

I think, but don't know, that the way people look for property has changed considerably over the last couple of years or so.

People used to walk round estate agents and look at the adds in local papers etc, and estate agents used to earn their money. Now people seem to use sites like rightmove etc a lot more.

What I am trying to say is that, if your house is as you describe, it may be worth chancing your arm and putting it on rightmove yourself for a few weeks.

After all what have you got to loose?

googler

martinthebandit wrote: »

What I am trying to say is that, if your house is as you describe, it may be worth chancing your arm and putting it on rightmove yourself for a few weeks.

..and how would you suggest the OP does this, given that RM only accepts adverts from EAs and Developers, and not direct from the general public?

googler

A baseline, minimum figure in £££ will increase as a percentage of the house value the lower the house value goes. Fees vary up and down the country, and it would seem, since two separate agents have quoted the same min fee, that this would be the baseline level for this part of the country.

The OP could always negotiate for £1750, £1700 etc......

pixiepie99

Thanks for the input so far. I've just checked the information the EAs provided and the first one was actually £1,800 plus VAT so that's £2,160. And neither estate agent is very good, in my opinion!

martinthebandit

googler wrote: »

..and how would you suggest the OP does this, given that RM only accepts adverts from EAs and Developers, and not direct from the general public?

Ah! Well that's kyboshed that idea, I did think they did, maybe things have changed or, possibly, I was just wrong.

For the OP, have you considered an online estate agent then? Something like http://www.housenetwork.co.uk/index.asp

pixiepie99

martinthebandit wrote: »

For the OP, have you considered an online estate agent then? Something like http://www.housenetwork.co.uk/index.asp

I hadn't until now - will definitely research it though as it sounds like it might be a good option for us.

HB58

ella, I think it is interesting that you have made only 6 posts since you joined the site in March 2011 - and 3 of those are identical, praising the online agency!

AMO

We use an estate agent in our area that has 1% + VAT selling fees. Other estate agents can charge as high as 2.75% but I don't know any higher than that.

Beware any selling on a specific amount. The reason why is because they will always sell your house high first and then after 6 weeks ask you to lower it because it hasn't sold especially if they have something like a sold in 12 weeks guarantee - they practically chop a 1/4 off your house price.

However, the point is that when you do the maths initially, a fixed rate based on a value range seems okayish, but once the house reduces in price for the fee they charge, it becomes very very high.

martinthebandit

HB58 wrote: »

ella, I think it is interesting that you have made only 6 posts since you joined the site in March 2011 - and 3 of those are identical, praising the online agency!

You seem almost as suspicious and cynical as me