appointing further estate agents

nelsons_column

So, our buyer has pulled out and I'm keen to get a shift on with moving. So planning to ask one or two other estate agents to join the party.
See this link for our EA T&Cs, 'Terms of Agreement' seems the section - https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_FCEApx-P8PcDZacVNPOU9rck0/edit?usp=sharing

Seems to me that all I have to do is give them the courtesy of telling them I'm going to appoint other agents - there is no need to e.g. formally write 7 days in advance? (I'm not planning to terminate the agreement altogether, I'm broadly happy with them, just add a further option or two to the mix)

Also, I own the copyright to the pics that has appeared in the EAs advert (did originally go with an online estate agent, so they're my pics). I'm not aware that I've signed over the copyright to this EA, but if anyone has any 'beware' signs to hold up in my direction on this point, please do!

Cheers for any input
Mike

Richard_Watters

Risk is you have 2 or 3 Agents who all give this less focus/priority than the other properties they have sole agency for, because they know they have less chance of getting the fee/full fee.

What do you think another Agent can do that the existing one can't?

A good Agent should have local presence, be on all the major portals, communicate well and generally be proactive in marketing. Has the existing Agent met these requirements? If so I'd keep them as sole agents. If not I'd terminate the contract and appoint another on on a sole agency basis.

The only exception is if your property is unusual/rural, where it might be worth having a local agent (who might have loyalty with local people), as well as a national Agent.

DaftyDuck

Agree with RW above. Dual agency smacks of desperation. If a second agent brings something to the party that the first agent lacks, then dump the first agent. Or find a third. Or insist on short contracts, and go from one to two to three.

I have used dual agencies - successfully when I've had a Grade II* listed property in Suffolk that was vastly overpriced to sell to a gullible Londoner, priced lower (and not listed on RM in those days either) with a local agent, covering Lavenham & Bury to catch the local trade. Sold to a Londoner, who probably wouldn't have seen anything on Rightmove anyway, but was "fed" the property by a London agency.

I have also used dual agency twice when I was in a blind panic (:(:mad: :D:D), and "not of sound mind", trying to move for a job relocation. In both cases, each agency brought the same client list (just a matter of which agent a viewer contacted first), virtually the same advertising, and exactly the same style of showing the property. It also came at a slight premium on the fees charged (as you'd expect, and quite fair really). Both houses sold, but not at much profit. (Luckily the day was saved in those cases by the relocation allowance from work, but I was an idiot for using dual agents!).

Do get the new agent to redo the photos. It's what you pay them for, and (some) agents take excellent photos, and are quite expert. After all, in some respects and with a pinch of salt, the pics you took must be bleedin' useless, as the house hasn't sold. If using a different agent, having a different photoset maximises the chance that, on clickthrough, I'd reject your house from agent 1 ("hmm bedroom small.. not keen on the kitchen... "), only to click through to agent 2 ("Ah, that's nicer... lovely view from kitchen, lots of storage in that bedroom.."). Let them market the house their way. If they don't do it right, dump them, and use another one.

hazyjo

I'm always very wary of properties on with more than 2 agents, (as above) does indeed smack of desperation.

Try another agent maybe?

Some will charge higher fees for joint agents rather than sole agency.

Jx

Richard_Watters

Yes, very good point about the photos DD. If you change Agents you also want the house to look like it's new to the market by having different photos.

Also, discuss with them the best features and how to shoot them and ask to see the photos before they go live. If you don't like them or think they could be better ask them to redo them before the property goes live.

I recently sold a house and one of the photos was of a door knob, which was one of a number of period features in the house. The buyer said it was that photo that caught her eye and made her want to view the property. Most agents just take the obvious photos.

Smith_007

Genuine question......
If is it already on Rightmove, what is the point in another agent?

It's not as if another agent will cause more people to see it advertised. (As it was in the days before the interweb, and when you could play different markets.)

If it 'aint selling these days, there is usually only one reason why

nelsons_column

Hmm, not a case of the flat not being close to selling and the pics being bleeding uselss... very first line of my post says "our buyer has pulled out..."
We were a few days before exchanging, so left a sour taste in the mouth (common though this is, of course. Still very annoying though). We had three separate bidders, alas the other two have now found somewhere else.

But useful points about whether a second agent would do anything different. My main thought along this line was to reactivate the online EA (for which I have already paid for and got some months marketing left with them if I choose to use it). If a buyer comes through this means, I can accept a lower price as I'm not paying somewhere around 2% commission.
Does that sound like a more reasonable line of thinking for using a second EA?

DaftyDuck

Yes, re photos, but I think you get my point; if using a second agent with a High Street presence, let them do their job, their way including new photos.

But you will still be paying the 2 %commission to the agent you are currently with... even if you manage to sell through the online agency! You'll only avoid that by dropping the agent. Dual agency (nearly) always comes with that penalty. If your current agent has, however, got you so close to a deal, I'd wonder about the validity of changing at this stage. They'd still want their fee, for anyone they've introduced so far....

nelsons_column

Eh? If an enquiry comes in through the online EA, why would I be paying the commission to the high street EA?
Unless I've missed something quite spectacularly here, then surely multiple agencies cannot mean paying them all their commission when one or more of them had naff all to do with the introductions and the sale?

DaftyDuck

But that's where you may well be wrong, and it's a costly mistake if it is one. Check your contract carefully. As sole selling agent, the current agent will expect to make money when they sell your house. If, after the minimum term, you remove your house, they'll have lost out, but that is their calculated risk.
If you announce you wish to go dual agency, they'll increase their fee (say from 1% to 1.5%) to cover the increased risk they make no money from their non-sale when the opposition succeeds on the sale.

If you don't tell them, and the house goes for sale through the online agency, and you are still under contract to them, you may well be chased for the full original fee by both agencies.
I'm not going to comment on the specifics of your contract in the link as, without the full contract, it's difficult to be clear exactly what is the case there.

So, yes, you'll either pay an increased fee to one agency, or pay the complete original fee to both agencies. You can negotiate when two High Street agencies are involved, and often get a minimal or no fee increase, but I doubt that will be the case if one is an online agency.

nelsons_column

Right, that makes sense, thanks. Yeah, appreciate the commission will rise when going from sole to dual agency (now well beyond the initial contract period of 8 weeks). Will investigate the nuances of the existing contract.