Choosing which Estate Agent to go with?

Rarchy

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone can offer advice picking an estate agent. We saw 3 and they all seem good for different reasons. House has to be sold (and new one bought) within 6 months to pay back a debt on the mortgage. Every £1k counts because ultimately it will decide how much can be afforded on a new place (will be without a new mortgage)

I have summarised the agents below, they all seemed to do the same usual marketing and are all part of the ombudsman scheme

Agent 1
Value - £275k (offers in excess of)
Commission - 1.5% sole for 8 weeks (2% multi)
Suggests doing an open house viewing
Pros - very local (5 mins walk), established for 25 yrs, guy showed much knowledge of the area and other houses in our road, have interactive floorplans
Cons - independent agency with 1 branch, higher commission

Agent 2
Value - £270-275k
Commission- 1.5% sole 8 weeks, 1.5% multi
Against doing an open house
Pros - also v local, they put together v extensive brochures done on every house (for free) with much local info, cheaper commission
Cons - also only got 1 branch, less established, felt younger and less experienced

Agent 3
Value - £300k
Commission - said it varies depending on how many relevant buyers there are at the time, from 1.25% - 2%
Said open house a good idea but up to us
Pros - established for 25 yrs, good reviews online, won EA of the year in 2011 and 2012 with sunday times awards, part of relocation agent network so can tap into other area inc London which is key as this is a commuter town, has 18 branches in local area they share data with
Cons - bit further away (in town centre so still same area), bit vague on commission, worried high value was to get us to pick them (although in their brochures they talk extensively about not over valuing)

We are new at this so any advice is appreciated. I think 3 are my preferred because of their coverage and confidence of getting a good price, but then 2 are v. established in this specific neighbourhood so don't know if that's more key. Could we haggle with them to get 1% as offered by other ? And is 8 weeks exclusivity a long time?


Thanks for any thoughts!

R

anselld

Go with the one which best explains how to address the issue of the stamp duty threshold at £250k. Then haggle them down to 1 or 1.25%

pinkshoes

Which one represents the properties best online (photos, description, floorplan etc. ..)?

Which can persuade people to pay over £250k?

Is it worth over £250k?? Are you willing to accept this?

Hoof_Hearted

Agent 4

Online agent. Do your own viewings. £600 all in.

Dan-Dan

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ that

Rarchy

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

Agent 4

Online agent. Do your own viewings. £600 all in.

Looks interesting, but having no/little experience in buying or selling a house I am not sure this wold be easy for us, especially as we really need to get the maximum price from this house to be able to get something semi decent to move into.

With regards to stamp duty, one agent mentioned it, but none really went into detail about the effect of a house at £275k. I have researched similar houses in the area, there are not many 4 bedroom (or good sized 3 bedrooms) on the market, and seems quite a few between £250 - £300k have sold or are under offer with only one mentioning stamp duty incentive so would hope that being a sellers market ppl with houses selling quickly are willing to just have to fork out for this.

Given all 3 agents valued it on average of about 285 and having checked out similar ones I think it's a reasonable price. We can't go for 250 because it basically means, once we have reduced the debt owed to the mortgage company, there's no where affordable to move to!!

ACG

Im not a massive fan of estate agents in general but for a property worth £250k plus i dont think i would be doing my own selling.

One thing i tend to find with estate agents, are that they push their own conveyancing/mortgage advisors (ok i am slightly biased here) their own services are rarely upto the job and because theyre that busy they often offer a slow and poor service - so i would be inclined to avoid any that do that... although small independents may offer a better service than the bigger chains.

The smaller independents will be relying on the sale for their income where as the bigger network will be getting a wage no matter what - who do you think is more likely to sell it?.. especially if they are still in business after the worst recession in god knows how many years.

Have they said why they are for and against an open house? If the others are for and one is against that makes me think they maybe do not have enough people to try and sell it to?

I think i would try to negotiate on the fee 1.5% if they get an offer in excess of £250k within say 4 weeks or 1.25% if below or after that?

Again, from a personal perspective... as a Mortgage Advisor i charge a fee (im more expensive than the majority of advisors in manchester... although much less than down south). Because i charge a decent fee for my time, i take on less work so i can dedicate more time to each client and i do my upmost to get it through where as other brokers do the mcdonalds method stack em high and if one falls off they have another to replace it with... my point being that you get what you pay for and if you negotiate too far down, the estate agent will lose interest as they will be earning more from other properties.

After all that rambling I think im leaning towards number 1.

benson1980

Who does the best online ads- do any of them do professional photographs? Some of the agents round our way do absolutely rubbish ads/pictures. Other than that do you know anyone who is looking to buy near you and has experience with these agents? One particular agent round our way were appalling when doing viewings/negotiating and we positively hated dealing with them as potential buyers. Some on the other hand were really good and upfront and actually made us want to buy from them.