negotiating agents fees

absolute0

I have 3 agents valuing our house on Monday. I know one agent charges a 1.25% fee, but I would ideally like 1% and 1 week lock-in period.

Has anyone got any advice on how I actually go about haggling this fee down? I was planning to see what they all have to say on the Monday, take it all in, then do any haggling on the Tuesday.

It's not everyday one gets to 'haggle', so any advice is greatly appreciated.

Cheers

D

frugal_dougal_3

Estate agents have an uncanny knack of knowing what each other is charging at any given moment in time. Maybe they are all in it together!

Seriously though, it is possible to haggle a lower rate if you try hard. Link Up are charging 1% near to my location and I also know one agent who has a fixed rate of about £800. It's worth trying to find one who does this.

OR alternatively why not try and sell it yourself using various websites (some are free). I have had success doing this.

If you PM me I will send further details.

dougk_2

Remember to not only look at the fee, the quality of service also varies!
Ask questions like what stats do you provide me with (I.e. number of hits to your property on right move etc).
Make sure the agent advertises on rightmove to! This is the biggest property website and the one most people check.
As F_D said advertise on websites yourself as well - I have had several enquiries this way.

gallygirl

It's possible we may be moving out of area and would want to sell own house plus 4 BTL properties at the same time.

Has anyone any experience of trying to negotiate discounts from estate agents in such a scenario?

Any tips?

Thanks.

Elliott_Woods

I sugges try and use an independent Estate Agents they are usually a little bit cheaper, a lot better service and you are a person not a number.

mrcow

My haggling tips (for what they are worth!)....

1. Smile and keep calm at all times. Try to build a rapport with the agent. Don't be rushed into a deal that you are not 100% happy with. If you don't get what you want, you can always call them after the meeting to sign up.

2. Do your negotiating face to face. I personally wouldn't do the negotiating on the phone, as the phone can be a great tool for sales people to hide behind. If you've got hem face to face, they've nowhere to run.

3. Be prepared to compromise. It's what bartering's all about. If you'd be happy with the 1%, but a month's tie-in, then great, but have in mind what terms would not be acceptable, and which ones you'd be happy to give a little on.

4. Take your time, and be confident. The market has really slowed recently for estate agents. They need your business. If one agent won't give you what you want, then there are others that may do.

5. Take a look here for some tips:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1106688587,89908,

And good luck

mandi

As an EX Agent i think its certainly worth negotiating the fee but , a word of warning

1 Dont tell each of the agents how much the others have valued your property.. the reason is simple.. some agents will quote you a higher market value so you will use them as an agent, then after a few weeks will ask you to reduce your selling price

2. Check how long your tied in to the agreement.. some agents tie you in for up to 12 weeks before you can change agents ( this is a long time if your not happy with the service)

3.Check you have a "No Sale NoFee" agreement, otherwise you could end up paying admin fees etc

4.Make sure the agreement does not give the agent "sole Selling Rights" because if for example you sell to a friend or relative the agent will still take their full fee!!!!

5. You could try to sell privately.. it really isnt as difficult as you think... and you could save yourself thousands!!!


Good Luck

reverie

You could also see if they will give you any discount for doing all of the viewings yourself, this obviously would save them a huge amount of time.

That said, I tried to sell my flat in Oct 04 and after having three quotes went for the lowest at 1%. In Feb 05 still no interest! One of the other agents that had quoted called to see how I had got on and I decided to put it on the market with them aswell even though I could not haggle them down lower than 1.5%. They sold it in 3 weeks! I really feel that their extra fee goes into spending time chasing at all stages of the selling process, they are so much more agressive that they were worth their extra fee.

frugal_dougal_3

ali007 wrote:

It's possible we may be moving out of area and would want to sell own house plus 4 BTL properties at the same time.

Has anyone any experience of trying to negotiate discounts from estate agents in such a scenario?

Any tips?

Thanks.

I tried to get a discount selling two at the same time, but they wouldn't offer one. I decided then not to use them at all !

If they won't offer you a discount for 5 properties you could try putting one of the houses on with them, and then do the viewings yourself. When people come to view you could let them have the details of all the properties you have to sell. It's quite easy to make a property information sheet like the agents do.

Alternately use a free web site for some or all of them.

absolute0

OK. Had 2 out of 3 valuations today...

First agent offered 1.25%, sole selling rights and no real lock in period (you specify how long you wish to use them, e.g. 2 weeks), they do not offer multi-agency - they are selling a lot of house near us.

Second agent offered 1.9% multi agency & 1.7% sole, when I tried to haggle the fee I was told that the fee was orginally 2.5%! I wasn't particularly impressed by the agent.

I have one other agent to see tomorrow, which I know are quoting around the 2% mark, and then it's 'make your mind up' time. Both agents have told me that it should be a quick sell (but I suppose they say that to everyone :rolleyes: )

Do you think I still stand a chance negotiating the 1.25% fee down to 1%?

Cheers

D

frugal_dougal_3

The first one sounds the best if they are selling a lot of houses near to yours at the present time, and it's worth haggling to try and get them to come down to 1%.

I'm afraid they do always say that it should sell quickly, but they may well be right in this instance. I hope so.