First time seller - advice please!

UsernameAlreadyExists

Hi,

I have an estate agent coming round tonight for the first step "free appraisal". I guess this is for him to suck air through his teeth and pluck a figure out of fresh air to value the house.

I've only picked this estate agent as it's them selling a house I am interested in buying (not able to view till the new year). Given that I personally think that it doesn't matter which agent you use as everything ends up on rightmove anyway, I'd consider giving them sole agency?

I think the seller fees are supposed to be 1%, but does the sole agency demand much of a discount? also, is there any possible benifit given that I am possibly going to move into a house being sold by them?

What questions should I be asking him?!!

/noob.

suestew

OK, I went through this recently and my advice to you is:

Get 3 local estate agents round to value, don't go with the highest as they may be overvaluing, you should have an idea of what prices things are going for in yourarea

Pick an Estate agent that looks like they are doing well in your area, not just one that has loads of properties on their books, but one that is selling

Sole agency cost wise is better as they will reduce their fees. As an idea if you go with multiple they can charge up to 3%. Sole agency is around 1.5% but you can get lower.

UsernameAlreadyExists wrote: »

Giventhat I personally think that it doesn't matter which agent you use aseverything ends up on rightmove anyway, I'd consider giving them sole agency?/noob.

It does matter actually,like anything you can have good & bad Estate Agents. Some have a much larger database of clients than others

Lovelyjoolz

Pam_and_Pete_Revell wrote: »

The Great 'what you wish you'd known before selling your house' Hunt

Absolutley ^^^^^

In particular, post #15:

airgead wrote: »

Things I wish I'd known...
That the person who eventually bought the house would be someone who found out about the sale via word-of-mouth from my Mum, yet the Estate Agent still got their percentage fee from the sale.
Next time I will advertise privately first before I go to an Estate Agent. They didn't show anyone around and they didn't even put a For Sale sign up. They had money for nothing from me.

googler

I'd say having both you and the one you're looking at on their books means that they have extra incentive to sell yours. They sell yours, they're virtually guaranteed that you buy the other one, and they get two fees at once. So, yes, that's good.

You seem quite disgruntled at the prospect of the EA giving up a good part of his evening to spend it at your house, for, at this time, no reward or payment at all..... FREE valuation, you said.

How do you think the EA feels about this?

googler

Lovelyjoolz wrote: »

In particular, post #15:

why this one in particular?

UsernameAlreadyExists

googler wrote: »

You seem quite disgruntled at the prospect of the EA giving up a good part of his evening to spend it at your house, for, at this time, no reward or payment at all..... FREE valuation, you said.

Not at all. The sucking air comment was tongue in cheek ... but at the same time he can only really suggest a value based on similar properties in the area that are on the market at the same time - which I can do myself. I already have in my head a figure because the house next door was appraised a couple of weeks ago.

I am quite keen on getting his input/comments though.

In terms of him "giving up his time", it's no different to any other sort of salesman that is contrained by selling their wares to people that work normal office hours. The evening is unavoidable ... and of course there's always the risk that I may go elsewhere.

That other thread is an eye-opening and interesting read!!

Lovelyjoolz

googler wrote: »

why this one in particular?

Because if you're being MSE, it can be a very good idea to have a go at selling it yourself before getting an EA in. Saving £000's

googler

UsernameAlreadyExists wrote: »

Not at all. The sucking air comment was tongue in cheek ... but at the same time he can only really suggest a value based on similar properties in the area that are on the market at the same time - which I can do myself.

I'd suggest the EA can also factor in;

Those houses which were brought to market and didn't sell - have you been keeping an eye on these?

Those that have sold recently which haven't reached the public sites like Zoopla yet - you won't have access to these

The internal condition/survey reports of those in all the above categories - which, unless you've looked at everything in your area, you won't have access to

etc etc

Better_Days

Don't sign up with this EA tonight.

Have at least 2 others round (possibly more) and make sure at least one of them is an Independent and not part of a chain (Chains are the likes of Abbotts, Haart, Connells etc) The chains tend to be less flexible with fees and tie in periods - after all they have to pay for all the fancy marketing and gimmicks.

What you want is an agent who will market your property effectively AND advise you regarding negotiation on price AND work hard on sales progression. It took me ages to find a good EA, but the one I found has been excellent, especially on the sales progression front. But - I had to sift through a lot of chaff to get to the wheat. I found it easy to negotiate 1% in fees, and a tie in of no more than a month. Be especially careful that you don't find yourself signing up to a 20 week contract with a months notice or the like. If they are doing a good job, and managing expectations well, they don't need to worry about you going elsewhere, so there is no need for a long tie in.

Some of them do put quite a bit of pressure on to use them, so be aware of this, and tell them you have other agents to see before you decide. Plus it is a good idea to get at least 3 valuations, and don't tell an EA what the other EA's valuations were.

I found my agent via personal recommendation, so it is worth asking around, as much for the ones to avoid as for the good ones. For many this is the biggest asset they have, it is really worth spending some time and effort on finding a good EA. They are out there, but not always easy to find.

SecondTimeBuyer

My advice is download Property Bee on Firefox. Type in your post code and look at the prices of similar properties in your area (include Sold Subject to Contract in your search), and look how long they have been up for sale. You will then have an idea of how long it is taking to sell properties in your area and at what price.

Remember when an Estate Agent is coming round to you, it is YOU that is deciding on them, not them deciding how much your property is worth. Ask them how they will market your property (Right Move?), will they have a professional photographer taking photos, are there any exit fees if you don't sell, etc.

I would also shop around and play them off each other, at the end of the day you don't just walk in to a car show room and buy the 1st car that the salesman offers you, you try a few show rooms and try a few cars out. You will be spending the same kind of money as buying a car selling your property so shop wisely.

UsernameAlreadyExists

Well he's been round, and it's seems that the Saturday girl let slip with the 1%, because the MD/Partner of the business told me it was 1.25%, and had a bottom limit of £2200 + VAT. and he also said £2400 + VAT, and then later £2000 + VAT. So clearly his pricing model is creative, easily forgettable and inconsistent
They can also do the EPC certificate thingy at a cost of £99 + no vat.

Seems like an awful lot of wonga for selling a 190K house?