Proper Estate agents or online company

googler

SherryF wrote: »

I'd prefer online company Amn. Because they are more flexible and more quicker.

Would you explain why?

spender717

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4695179

I wrote my experience on this thread. Afterwards our buyer couldn't secure his mortgage...house went back on market Friday, Saturday had 3 viewings, 3 offers and sold at asking price. Online Estate agents did all negotiating for us. We do chase up things now and then, but for the thousands we're saving, I think it's a fair compromise!

A friend of ours is now selling with hatched too due to our good experience

googler

amn wrote: »

I just find it hard to believe the would have a book of people waiting who wouldn't see the property via other means. Even if we had an agent I wouldn't be keen on them showing people around and would rather do it myself.

Again, your lack of vision is clouding your judgement. It's not just a 'book of people'. The good EAs will be cross-selling each house they have listed from every viewing and from every encounter with the public.

If someone expresses an interest in, or views, house A, which is similar to yours - house B - then, regardless of whether the viewers know about your house B, the agent should promote it to them and try to generate interest in it. Former EAs have said here before that more often than not, the buyers don't buy the house that they first enquired about, and sometimes buy the house that they didn't expect to buy, and which didn't actually match what they outlined as their requirements in the first place.

The online companies can't do this, because they don't have passing traffic, and they don't actually meet prospective buyers. Oh, and your 'local' agent is better placed to do this because all of their properties are clustered around their office(s), i.e. still in the area that the buyers are looking in. With the online companies, they take listings from anywhere, so may have one in Leeds, another in Whitby Bay, another in Hull, etc. - too scattered to do this effectively

You're looking at the high street EA as a totally reactive operation, whereas the best of them are pro-active.

cavework

So why should it cost more to sell say a 300K house than a 150K house through a high street estate agent?
We used Estates Direct (seems I can name them)

amn_2

Well thank you everyone for the opinions, very insightful. To be honest I was expecting the response to swing in favour of the online agents as this is a money saving site but it seems to have edged the other way instead. Food for thought!

I'm still unsure which way I will go, as I said at the start I have a few months to decide yet. I intend to talk to the local agents and get a feel for what they can offer. I guess depending on how that goes will decide what I do.

I guess I was fazed by the bad threads on here that I see about estate agents, I guess you only tend to hear the bad stories rather than the good though.

Yorkie1

A significant proportion of negative threads on here come from prospective buyers, who have seen the other side of the EA - forcing them to use their in-house broker, putting pressure on where it is unjustified.

Ask any prospective EA whether they require prospective buyers to see their in-house mortgage adviser or not. One who forces buyers to go through this screening process is likely to be a turn-off for buyers.

ethank

amn wrote: »

Having never been in a chain this is the bit I'm not experienced with. Would you put the value of that service at £1000+? Could the same thing be done by yourself or your solicitor?

Yes I would certainly value this at more than £1000! My time is valuable, and you as a vendor you are not allowed to talk directly to the buyers solicitor - there is a conflict of interest if they speak to you directly - So if you don't use an EA to do the progression calls - you will rely on your solicitor......... and they will go at their normal pace.

My EA pushed everything forward. She said I will have us exchanged within 2 weeks of our mortgage offer - and she was right!

googler

cavework wrote: »

So why should it cost more to sell say a 300K house than a 150K house through a high street estate agent?

What pricing structure would you suggest, if it's not to be a commission percentage-based structure?

If you assume that the agency needs to charge an average of £X per sale in order to cover outgoings, and pay everyone in the business, then the EA could charge £X to each client, but that would result in those at the lower end of the market paying significantly more than they do at present, and they're the least able to pay it. It would also mean those at the higher end would pay less, and they're the ones most able to pay.

Put another way, take three sales

1% of £75,000 = £750
1% of 350,000 = £3,500
1% of 750,000 = £7,750 total £12,000

Average fee = £12,000/3 = £4,000

If the EA charges £4,000 to each one, that disadvantages the two lower-end sales and gives a big reduction to the higher-end. Is this what you would want?

If you introduce a sliding-scale of flat fees based on house value, that's no different from percentage-based commission.

The charging basis is complicated by the fact that EAs spend the majority of their time and expense on and with people who don't pay them - viewers, buyers and enquirers - and less of their time with the folks that pay - the sellers. So that rules out charging by the hour.

Hoof_Hearted

seangrimshaw wrote: »

Hi OP,
I was in a very similar position to yourself a few weeks back and got stung good and proper. I went with an online based company who pitched the sale to me as 'we are young, the buying market is young. Everyone uses the internet these days.'
And for the most part that is true, but there are so many sharks picking up on this fact and throwing together companies ready to milk you for your cash by putting the property on a few websites (how hard can that be?) and claiming a still substantial fee.
In my opinion the fees you pay anybody are a bit excessive but for me, having been stung by one of these online companies, I'd rather pay a bit extra and have the piece of mind of being able to walk into a shop of an established company, with a reputation to lose if things start to go wrong.
On paper you are right, if someone sees your house and wants it..they'll take it without going in a shop. But they have the experience in doing this sort of thing, you can go see them if things go wrong and if nothing else, they need to free up window space and get your property off their books rather than it just being sat on a computer!
I'm trying my best to get out of an online nightmare and get back to traditional means, wish Id have stuck with what works!

This does not sound like a conventional online agent. For anybody going down the online route, I would always recommend the cheapest flat fee option. The main aim is to get on the websites.

The agency you used seem like complete cowboys if they took photos with a mobile phone.

We used Housenetwork. We had good quality photos and plans and a speedy result, getting well over what local agents thought we would get. We saved thousands.

Remember agents fees are also subject to VAT, so add 20% on.

Sean, I think you picked a bad one there.

spender717

'This does not sound like a conventional online agent. For anybody going down the online route, I would always recommend the cheapest flat fee option. The main aim is to get on the websites.'

Agree. We used Hatched and pay about £260 in advance and the other £260 or so on completion.

Good photos and floor plan too.