No Sale, No fee Online Agents

rufus86

Hi

I'm swaying towards selling through an online agent but thinking of going with one that does no sale, no fee.

I just don't understand the pay upfront model for the majority of online agents.

You pay them at the beginning (or at completion slightly more), but the point is you pay whatever the outcome. Not really an incentive for the agent to really push your sale is it?

A no sale, no fee term sounds a much safer option

Or am i just being too cautious?

dimbo61

No you are right.
You would have paid the fee and the online estate agents get to keep the money Sale or No Sale

G_M

That is precisely the point.

Why do you think it is so much cheaper? Answer - they get paid whatever the outcome, by everyone who signs up.

A high street agent only receives fees from those clients he finds a buyer for, so those fees have to cover the costs of the clients who fail to sell (through him). So the fee is higher.

ACG

I paid a local agent to sell my house upfront. It was £500 regardless of the outcome, they were pretty good.

The alternative would have been to pay 1-1.5% of the sale price which would have been £1500-2000 on completion. If it is on rightmove and priced right, it is going to sell regardless of how good or bad the agent is.

kinger101

rufus86 wrote: »

Not really an incentive for the agent to really push your sale is it?

The agents do little "pushing" in reality. In fact, experienced ones tend to keep their gobs shut when doing viewings. If you ask me, the online agent no-sale no-fee is the worst of both worlds. Fees at the level you could have probably negotiated with a high street agent, by you still have to do all the viewings.