Estate Agents Fees for a low value Property

Mark2412

Hi All,

First post and I'm in the need of a bit of guidance before I lose "my rag" with estate agents.

I have my late mothers house to sell (probate granted), and the house is only worth about £70k. I thought I would be able to sell the house with estate agents fees of anything from 0.5% to 1%, but NO !!!! I've rang several estate agents in the area and they all want a minimum fee (ranging from £1500 to £2000 - effectively anything upto 3%).

My question is this - Is this normal practice ??

Thanks in advance to all those that reply.

Mark

JQ.

If you've rung several, then it certainly would appear to be commonplace in your locality. It certainly makes sense, as I'd imagine there's a fee level at which it becomes uneconomic for them to take on an instruction. Marketing a property for potentially 2 years for £350 (0.5%) doesn't sound very appealing to me.

Have you tried the internet agencies, there's loads of threads on here with recommendations, and they are generally all less than £500?

Mark2412

Thank-you JQ for the quick reply.

I'm going to press those agents to reduce their minimum price - I'll keep you informed.

It just seems unfair that a house for £120k would pay £1200 in commission, and a house valued at £70 would pay £1500 in commission. I paid 0.5% commission on my house worth £75k 10 years ago.

Suspect it's a local factor thing !!

googler

As JQ says, you seem to have found what is normal practice for the agents in your area.

There obviously comes a point where a percentage of the sale value of a house becomes a break-even or loss-making point, and at this point, their expenses exceed the income that will come from the sale.

Which would you rather have? A profit or a loss?

googler

Mark2412 wrote: »

It just seems unfair that a house for £120k would pay £1200 in commission, and a house valued at £70 would pay £1500 in commission.

I don't follow your logic - if the minimum is £1500, surely the one valued at £120k will pay £1500 too?

Mark2412

I would have got away with it, if it wasn't you for pesky kids. I missed a vital piece of information off. It seems that the benchmark for minimum pricing in the area is £100k, anything over that it's 1% commission.

Thanks for replying googler.

shiny76

In my experience EAs only reduce their commission rate for more expensive properties rather than cheaper ones. They typically have a policy whereby their fee is £xK or y% of the sale price - whichever is greater.

As JQ suggests, your best bet is to use one of the internet agencies. I've just sold my house through one (albeit a localised version), saved a packet and would recommend to anyone!

Russellq

Have a look at eMoov.co.uk. The lowest cost and with coverage on all of the main websites like Rightmove, Zoopla etc

geoffky

houseladder seems to be one that people have sold with on here...emoov...what a crap name...

geoffky

Russellq wrote: »

Have a look at eMoov.co.uk. The lowest cost and with coverage on all of the main websites like Rightmove, Zoopla etc

Reported as spam as you have posted this four times out of four posts..

PAY FOR YOUR ADVERTS YOU CHEAPSKATE

Tiddlywinks

They will have to work just as hard (maybe harder) to sell at the lower end of the market - why should they work for a lot less? The selling requirements are the same.