How relevant is the location of an estate agent office?

googler

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

...... local agents will give you a free valuation. You will save a lot of money with an online agent

One of the reasons the local agents have to charge more is because they're expected to give lots of 'free' time to buyers and sellers, as you're proposing here. Whilst that time may be seen as free to the enquirer, it has to be paid for by the agency, as you well know.

And, as you well know, the OP isn't just asking this from the point of view of the valuation.....they're "meeting with 3 different estate agents to see what they offer"

julieb1987

Have a look on Rightmove and see which EAs other properties in your area are with. Your local EA is, of course, going to say it would be better to go with them...they want your money!

googler

Playboy_69 wrote: »

High street estate agents have had a license to print money way too long. ..................I had my house valued by 3 local agents

How does dragging three agents to your house, then not employing even one of them, amount to them 'printing money'? All three have had preparation, travel time, time spent at your house, and travel expenses for absolutely nil return.

Even if you had used one of them to sell your house, the other two are still out of pocket.

Or did you pay them all for their time?

They only do what you can do by looking at other houses for sale in your area & what have been sold at etc.

...add to this their knowledge of what hasn't sold and why (which you won't have), their knowledge of general buyer's attitudes and current sentiment, which they'll gain from meeting buyers/viewers of other houses, and again, which you won't have done..... their networking with other agents and financial professionals, which you won't do.....

googler

julieb1987 wrote: »

Your local EA is, of course, going to say it would be better to go with them...they want your money!

The online agents are, of course, going to say that only providing an online service is 'the future' and that sellers will be better going with them - they want the seller's money too!

(or are you suggesting they're not in it to make a profit, and are operating a charitable endeavour?)

googler

Jrhid wrote: »

Also, I know that this local EA also have another exactlyidentical flat up for sale in my small block which has been on the market forabout a year now. So to have two identical flats up for sale with the same EA,would this be a good move?

Any advice appreciated!

I'd say you're better off with having the two flats with the same agent so they can cross-promote. If agent A shows the other flat, and you're listed with agent B, unless the viewer notices your flat, agent A has no incentive to mention yours.

If both are with the one agent, you'll benefit from anyone enquiring about the other, and the other benefits from anyone enquiring about yours (assuming of course, that the viewers have only seen the adverts for one; if they see both, they know already.)

julieb1987

googler wrote: »

The online agents are, of course, going to say that only providing an online service is 'the future' and that sellers will be better going with them - they want the seller's money too!

(or are you suggesting they're not in it to make a profit, and are operating a charitable endeavour?)

Not at all, the OP was asking for advice and he'd been told by his local EA it would be better to go with them. I'm not suggesting go with an online company (I don't think I'd be brave enough to do it) but to look around and do some research. Each EA is going to say "you should choose us because..." as they want the money. After all, they are a business at the end of the day.

googler

Playboy_69 wrote: »

It is costing me £219 +vat & EPC to sell my house & the agents do everything & more that a high street do. If I was to use a high street agent it would have cost me £2,800.

I'll wager you're paying the £219 upfront. Y/N?

The £2800 would only be payable on successful sale. The high-street EA is taking a risk when they sign you up - a risk that they may put a good few months of work into your property, and that, through no fault of theirs, you may not complete - you may decide to withdraw your house from the market; you may get an offer that falls through, you may get multiple offers that fall through; your buyer may have mortgage approval, the lender withdraws that before completion; your sale may fall through because of other sales falling through, due to no fault of your agent or yourself; meanwhile the EA still has their running costs to be paid.

How does this equate to 'printing money' ???


Go on, tell us what the 'more' equates to, in your 'doing everything and more' than the high-street agent does?

Mallotum_X

googler wrote: »

The online agents are, of course, going to say that only providing an online service is 'the future' and that sellers will be better going with them - they want the seller's money too!

(or are you suggesting they're not in it to make a profit, and are operating a charitable endeavour?)

The key is they can make a profit on significantly lower costs and therefore lower fees

googler

Mallotum_X wrote: »

The key is they can make a profit on significantly lower costs and therefore lower fees

...and by taking the money upfront, on a non-return basis if the house doesn't sell

Curlywurli

We're only looking on websites as we're not actually currently in the county that we're going to move to. I wouldn't be too concerned about where the actual shop is, more the opening hours. We went on a trip to see where we want to move to and the estate agent was shut. I suppose for the area it's normal but it was strange to us and we had wanted to get some info.