House Selling - Money Saving Tips

harshanl

Have been quoted 1.25-1.5% +VAT by all the agents in Farnham Royal. Seriously considering House Network.
Cheers,
Harshan

Twiggy_34

My partner & I are in the process of buying our first property. It's been a complicated journey that we've only achieved thanks to assistance from parents and I think what I'm about to share qualifies for both this thread and the buying one so I will be posting in both. I'll share the story even though much of it isn't of particular importance to the point of my post.

My OH's parents found a property for sale which used to be a 3 storey terraced house but had been divided into 2 flats years ago and had to be sold as a job lot as it had been a repossession of both properties. This in turn had resulted in lots of failed attempts by other interested parties to buy it as it had to be a cash buy and at speed (as stipulated by the bank) and had additional complications because of the existing freehold/leasehold arrangements on the properties. Aside from the complications, the '2 for 1' opportunity was perfect as they wished to invest in a property as a rental investment as well as helping us to get onto the property ladder.

Thankfully they successfully purchased the properties, have let the 1 bedroom flat, we are now residing in the 2 bed flat upstairs and, having sorted out the leasehold issues, are most of the way through purchasing it from the 'in-laws'.

However, at just over 2 months through the sale/purchase process we suddenly received notification through their solicitor that the bank providing our mortgage had requested a fire risk assessment and asbestos survey on the property.

Because we are keen to complete and secure our mortgage offer before it runs out (1st September), I was annoyed that they had left it so late in the process to make the request, especially as it would incur additional costs (yes, we know these costs should be at the expense of the vendor, but we are covering many of their selling costs as they have embarked on the whole process largely to help us out). So, we contacted the bank to enquire, who in turn said they would need to contact the underwriters who had made the request. Lo and behold, 2 days later we had a phone call from the underwriters to say they had made an error and neither were required. Saving us in the region of £150 and what would have been at least another 2 weeks before we could complete.

The moral? If in any doubt regarding the need for processes which incur additional costs, always challenge it. It sometimes pays off!

Mrjames06

Marcus wrote: »

Greetings all. I’ve been using this site for a while now and have managed to save us a small fortune. Years ago I was an estate agent so I thought I’d see is I could write some bits and bobs in relation to my experiences in the hope that it might save people some cash.

Selling Your House

Methods to Save Money

1) Agents Fees
a. All Estate Agent Fees are negotiable. First, check through the local property paper. See which agents get the most business. Are any members of the NAEA. Busy agents who are members of the NAEA would be my first choices. Select the best 3 or 4 agents and phone them up as potential buyers. See what service you get over a week or so as a buyer - that way you’ll get an idea of how they will market and present your property. A good proactive, busy and well managed agent will still have time and resources to post/email you details and phone you with new properties.

Then get them all to Value your property. Tell each valuer that you have other valuations (BUT NEVER TELL THEM WHAT VALUATIONS OTHER AGENTS HAVE GIVEN YOU - AS THEY’LL MANIPULATE THEIR OWN VALUATIONS) and that you are looking for a fee of 1% with no lock-ins. Most agents will try to lock you in - so that if you instruct them to take your property off the market you will not contractually be able to re-market with another agent for up to 8 weeks (especially with corporates). Make sure you get this down to 1 week after written notice. If you are locked in and you then sell your property through another agent you will get sued for the fees.

Agents are sales persons - they will give you great reasons to lock you in and charge you more... but they also need your business - thus you have the power to ask for and get these things.

b. Once your property is up for sale keep an eye on your agent - mystery shop them ie call them up, give a false name etc. and tell them you are looking for a property that matches your own property’s description - see if they push for you to view your property - are they positive and energetic?

The Duel/Multi-Agency myth.
If you become unhappy with your agent’s efforts it may be time to sack them or go multi agency. Tell an agent that you wish more than one agent to market your property and they’ll try and push up the fees to staggering amounts (2.5%+!!).
Tactics - tell your current agent that you wish for other agents to market your property. Tell them that you’ll keep them as an agent only if they will keep your fees at 1%. If they will not, then sack them (you should only be locked in for a week). I’ve never known an agent not to back down in this situation - they’d lose potential business if they let you go.
Now go to some other agents - probably the other agents on your original list - and tell them that “my agent has agreed to let me go multi-agency and my current fees are 1% - would you like to also market my property at 1% multi-agency?” You can guess what the answer will be...

A 1 % saving on the average cost of a property in the UK (currently £150000) will save you £1500 before VAT.

Duel Agency means you’re marketing with 2 agents - multi agency means you’re with more than two. Agents will try and charge you more for either of these - especially in the case of multi.



2) Solicitor Fees
During you initial enquiries with estate agents, ask them for several recommendations each of good conveyancers or solicitors. You don’t just want the name of the firm, but also the name of the specific solicitor/conveyancer. Remember, some agents will have ‘arrangements’ with some solicitors and some will even have their own - so be warned. A good rule of thumb would be to approach solicitors (by name) who have been recommended by different agents - although some solicitors will have arrangements with more than one agent.

Phone the best solicitors and ask for written confirmation of their charges. Take note of how they treat you - do they speak in plain English, are they friendly and do you get their details as promised the next day. And once again - their fees are negotiable - there’s no reason not to ask your favourite contender to shave £xxx off of their fees if you have evidence of more competitive quotes from other solicitors... they may say “no chance” - in which case you need to make a decision as to whether or not the extra charges are really worth it.

A solicitor can make or break deals for you so shop around. It’s very hard to change solicitors once they start the conveyancing process for you... and it will cost you!

And finally - avoid fee busting corporate conveyancing firms - they will most likely slow down the conveyancing process - these are normally call centre and internet based firms. They can save you as much as £500... but as stingy as I am I would never use them.



I hope this is of use to you and I hope that my info is still correct.
I’ll see if I can write something for buyers when dealing with agents and the like.

Regards
Marcus

Thanks Marcus for sharing up your experienced and knowledge as a former estate agent. :j It's true that it is important for one to look at some ways that might incur savings. Well said with your given methods.

Smithfarnan

A colour TV licence is £145.50 for a year (or £49 if you're lucky enough to have a vintage black 'n' white set). But if you've a full three months left on your licence at the end of the academic year and won't use it before it expires, you can get a refund for this.




thanks for sharing.

skydog

A big thank you to all the contributors to this site, it has been a great source of information.
I've been 'cold-called' by an estate agent to say they have a buyer who desperately wants a house like mine. It wasn't on the market, but has nudged me into thinking of selling. They are bringing their client for a viewing tomorrow. The agent is willing to 'drastically reduce' the fee they would charge me. from 1.75% to 1%. So around £2000 for introducing a buyer!
I think that's outrageous, and told her so, but can anyone suggest what would be a reasonable fee for an local agent in a small North western town?

manuely

Oh thanks a lot for this posting! It's really helpful. I got to know the main advantages of renting a house and save bucks out of it. The real estate agent gets the major source of income. Either he gets 50% or 100% . It has become popular and best business by now.

Texas_Renters

Many thanks for your tip Marcus. The tips are pretty good and it gives awareness about the Agent and the Solicitor fees. I will try to sell my property on my own or else if I use any of the real estate agent means I’ll be wake up and consider your points to save up my money. Can you give some tips on how to search for potential buyers? It helps me a lot while I put up my house for sale.

ITtim

We've asked some agents to come around later this week as we're looking to put our house on the market.

Amazingly the guy opposite has just put his on and with one of the agents we're seeing. Is it a bad idea for us to have the same agent. Its a bit annoying really as no one ever really sells down our road and it seems we're just going to be competing with each other now!

16hm

Steve_xx wrote: »

Yes I think that they could do this and it will be regarded as "lifetime gift" by HMRC. If the son has it for seven 7 years before the parent dies then no inheritance tax would be due, but if the parent died within 7 years of the gift then the value would be deducted from the inheritance tax threshold/allowance I think.

Check this link for further clarification:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/inheritancetax/pass-money-property/exempt-gifts.htm

If I do this then could I use this as an asset when taking out a new mortgage?

robatwork

jackleen407 wrote: »

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So much fail