Who has sold a property using an online estate agent?

googler

Lit Up, you started off this thread with;

"Who has sold a property using an online estate agent?
And which one did you use?

There should be a way for owners to sell their own properties without the need for agents. I fail to see why these fees are justified, even for online estate agents."

It's clear that all you want is a free lunch. You don't want anyone to justify their fees, whether that be high street agents, online agents, nor Rightmove. You just want to stamp your foot and get something for nothing, don't you?

How does anyone under discussion here justify their fees? Essentially, they need the fees to;

Pay the operating costs of their business, including ongoing promotion.
Provide a living and pension provision for those in the business.
etc

Yes, you can advertise your property for free if you want, you just can't expect anyone else to provide a selling platform for you, regardless of its size, for no reward. What's in it for them?

And, as I said on the first page - how does your favoured scenario serve the buyers? Does it have any benefits for them?

Hoof_Hearted

Most people don't begrudge paying fees for services. We all have to make a living. I think the problem is with the excessive fees some agents charge. 1.5% on a £400K house is £7,200 (inc VAT) to the vendor and this is pretty typical in the south (although some very greedy agents try for 2%). This is why people are turning to online agents.

richardw

There must also be the 20% VAT effect as well, £650 VAT on a £3250 commission is a lot of money in my book.

googler

richardw wrote: »

There must also be the 20% VAT effect as well, £650 VAT on a £3250 commission is a lot of money in my book.

Yes, but that's not really specific to the businesses being discussed here, is it?

You pay VAT on many products and services.

googler

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

Most people don't begrudge paying fees for services. We all have to make a living. I think the problem is with the excessive fees some agents charge. 1.5% on a £400K house is £7,200 (inc VAT) to the vendor and this is pretty typical in the south (although some very greedy agents try for 2%). This is why people are turning to online agents.

But the OP DOES begrudge paying any fees for services. He said;

"There should be a way for owners to sell their own properties without the need for agents. I fail to see why these fees are justified, even for online estate agents."

lessonlearned

googler wrote: »

But the OP DOES begrudge paying any fees for services. He said;

"There should be a way for owners to sell their own properties without the need for agents. I fail to see why these fees are justified, even for online estate agents."

Spot on. Lit-up is being both greedy and disingenious.

A typical "something for nothing" mentality at work.

Not really worth the effort of trying to reason with him. He's beyond reason.

richardw

googler wrote: »

Yes, but that's not really specific to the businesses being discussed here, is it.

We're talking the total cost of selling, the VAT element of an online EA costs are massively lower than a traditional EA, of course it's relevant.

googler

richardw wrote: »

We're talking the total cost of selling, the VAT element of an online EA costs are massively lower than a traditional EA, of course it's relevant.

Any VAT-liable product or service attracts more VAT as the price increases, it's not specific to Estate Agency.

richardw

Yes, but traditional EA's always quote commission excluding VAT which prompts the potential Vendor to do the VAT maths for the total cost and highlights the significance of VAT.

Lit_Up

googler wrote: »

But the OP DOES begrudge paying any fees for services. He said;

"There should be a way for owners to sell their own properties without the need for agents. I fail to see why these fees are justified, even for online estate agents."

I should not need to go through an agent (either EA or online) to advertise my property online, on say on Zoopla/Rightmove. I should just pay a fee direct to the portals (like a classifieds, but for property).

Googler and his other EA chum in here moan that in that scenario, nobody is going to protect against property misdescriptions. But as I've already shown in post 57, EAs do not guarantee against misdescription anyway.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=59626359&postcount=57

The online agent who I am instructing does fark all as well, the only thing I'm paying for is access to to the portals, an ability to upload my own photographs (I have pro equipment and know how to shoot interiors, most EA's use crappy point-and-shoots) and also write my own description giving a nice indication of the area (most EAs just write like robots as they don't care). That I need to pay agents to access the 'portals', rather than just pay the portals a small fee direct to list the property, is what's a regressive scam.

EAs are depending on their existing monopoly over property advertising (ie the convention of going to an EA to sell rather than DIY online) in order to hold the portals (rightmove, zoopla) in check. However at some point the scales will tip in the favour of the seller, and the agent (whose role is largely superfluous) will decline and die as an industry.

The less dodgy middlemen who don't actually safeguard either party from fraud, but just bloat out the system and cost people money, the better.