What is a reasonable fee?

Hoof_Hearted

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!

Well I have made hundreds of posts and I totally agree with her. Online agents save a fortune for the vendor.

Hoof_Hearted

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?

Er... by using an online agent?

HB58

martinthebandit wrote: »

You seem almost as suspicious and cynical as me

Indeed!

property.advert

The_Pilgrim wrote: »

I'm hoping to get £99k for my place, i was going to try for sole agency with an EA, £175 up front, then 1% if they make the sale. I know I'll need them to do all the viewings after I leave England

And would anyone in their right mind go running around for £175 (presumably including VAT) with an expectation of a potential £1000 later on ?

pixiepie99

Thanks for all the advice everyone; brilliantly helpful as always. We're having our fourth and final estate agent valuation tomorrow so we'll see what they say but I'm 99% positive we'll got with housenetwork.co.uk. Having looked at their website, a few sample properties they're marketing on Rightmove and the thread on here about them, it's a bit of a no brainer, in my opinion.

I'll try to remember to come back on here and let you know how I get on!

Good luck to everyone else selling and buying houses.

Emma18

Not sure where you are in the country OP, but we managed to negotiate our EA down to .75% - there's no way I would pay an EA the fees they are quoting to you. If they are 'so sure' that they are going to sell it quickly - then my logic would say that they aren't going to have to work that hard to sell it in the first place so why should you be paying them over the odds?

As AMO said - if they are getting a fixed fee, then they have no incentive to sell your house for the highest possible price - as it's YOU who is going to lose out - not them! They'll market it at your asking price to begin with, but if you get no interest, they'll just tell you to lower the price - while they laugh their way to the bank....

Haven't used online EA personally, but it sounds a good option to me. I agree that so many people look for houses off their own back on the internet now, you'll reach your potential buyers that way, I'm sure.

john_white

Ella_1981 wrote: »

Hi Pixie

To be honest, having used an online estate agent, i think people are mad to still be using high street agents. They are SO expensive, and not nearly as efficient or effective as the online agent we used. Yes, they have local knowledge, but who has better local knowledge than you yourself?

We used House Network who were brilliant. They replied to our queries etc straight away, the Right Move post for our flat was fantastic (and looked far better than any competing flats which were all being marketed by high street agents!) and provided a lot more information than the high street agents did.

You can get 5% off by using this code: DVWLXPRXOW.

The only downside is that you have to do your own viewings. We only allowed viewings on weekends and evenings, as we both work full time during the day. However, we found that this weedled out any time-wasters who wanted to come “this afternoon”! Indeed, the man that ended up buying our flat was so keen on it as he didn’t have to deal with an “often slimy, often dishonest” high street agent. If you have ever bought a property I am sure you would agree!

I would probably advise against going anywhere that sounds too cheap. At the end of the day, you get what you pay for.
House Network starts from £495 + VAT.



I would thoroughly recommend House Network.

Ella

How do they value it?

googler

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!

Click spam button...?

googler

john_white wrote: »

How do they value it?

Their website says they have "Regional service" in Birmingham, Essex, London, Manchester, South Wales, Surrey, Yorkshire - so if you're outwith these areas, they're unlikely to have any significant local knowledge, wouldn't you say...?

googler

martinthebandit wrote: »

You seem almost as suspicious and cynical as me

.. And me .....