What estate agent commission have you paid?

phoebe1989seb

South Wilts, September 2014 - five EAs with fees of 1.25%, 1.25%, 1.5%, 1.5% and 1.65% on a property with valuations ranging from £385k - £450k.

The two 1.5% and one 1.25% were small-medium local agents, the 1.65% and other 1.25% were larger/national concerns.

The most expensive (Savills) also wanted £525 upfront for the brochure :eek:

We went with the larger EA that quoted 1.25% as they had a London office and we felt our house would appeal to second home owners, although in the event our buyer was local.

martin1959

pinkteapot wrote: »

If you're going to be in a chain, I wouldn't go online. Ours was worth their weight in gold when we had a long chain where all the parties needed chivvying along. They were really proactive. But that might have been because they were selling 3 out of 4 houses being sold in the chain.

Thanks all...


We will be selling as end of chain as we have another property we will be moving into.....once the builders have finished!

MadelinesMum

1.5% + vat. I had 3 agents out to value and each quoted 1.5% and wouldn't budge.

littlelost

0.85% - Kent


The EA is an independent one having worked for a big outfit in the town he has now decided to go it alone therefore I assume the low commission is a result of him seeking to build a reputation; ours sold within a week!! I was however really stressed on the open day (Saturday) as we only had 3 viewings but he managed to secure a sale on the Thursday from a new viewing.


All the others in our town ranged from 1.5 - 2.75%

deanos

1% + VAT in Lincs a few days ago , cant complain they sent 3 people round same day and we sold same day !

Hoof_Hearted

£500 -- Housenetwork

SplanK

Special offer deal of £750+VAT with a small independent in Lancashire. This deal is if you list your property with them in Jan/Feb 2015.


Otherwise their standard deal is 0.9%+VAT.


This includes all photos, floor plan, EPC (if needed), advertising and any additional support work needed to sell the house. They did drop Zoopla for OnTheMarket though.


House on the market for £140k, but will prob go somewhere between 130k and 135k


Standard contract is 6 week with 2 week notice, but I negotiated 4 week contract with 2 weeks notice. Reason for this is because we put our house on the market specifically to go after 1 house and wanted the early option to jump out early if it sold.

rosie383

I'm sure others are like me, wishing they had seen a thread like this BEFORE agreeing terms with their EA. On our sale of £160k we had negotiated them down to £2640 and all of the other agents were more expensive and wouldn't budge. Really wish they hadn't managed to sell for us tbh but we would never say to our seller that we are dropping out of the sale just because of fees even though we have been tempted. Unfortunately they are also the agent for the one we are supposed to be buying but that is going nowhere just now.

martin1959

We will negotiate hard when we put it on the market next month...


But I remember when we were selling in the 80's, and we were selling to FTB's and there were 3 above us in the chain, all with the same agent. The chain took about 3 months to put together and we were paying 1.5%.
We then found out that the people above us were only paying 0.75% to the same agent....so we asked the agent to match this, but they refused.


I waited until a week before exchange then told the agent they could match the 0.75% or stick the whole chain up their a*se and we would find a new buyer with a different agent who treats all sellers fairly. Needless to say they matched the offer......


I do like the idea of offering a higher % if they achieve a higher sale value. Not heard of this before.

Annie1960

I think it depends on the prices in the area. In a higher priced area, you are likely to pay a lower percentage. Here in Herts I' paying 0.75% plus VAT. This is a small local firm. Large national firms advertise their rates as 1.5% but are happy to be negotiated down to 1%. Some of them want an incentive (i.e. 1% if they sell at the advertised price or lower, and 1.5% if they get you a higher price).

I prefer a small local firm rather than a large corporate one, mainly because you'll deal with the same people all the way through the transaction. With the larger companies, they do tend to swap their people around between branches, and you'll have less consistency in who you're dealing with.