Choosing selling agent/fees

hanfrangipane

Hi,


I'm looking to put my house on the market and have had 4 market appraisals in the last week and I'm now at the point of having to choose an agent and asking price so was just wondering if anyone had any advice or experiences to help me make my mind up?


I'm looking for general advice but will also put some info up regarding the appraisals for a bit of background:


Agent 1 - £175k, 1% + VAT selling fees, photography fees £125.
Agent 2 - £185k, 1% + VAT selling fees, photography included
Agent 3 - £185-190k, 1% + VAT selling fees, photography included.
Agent 4 - £185-190k but has suggested possibility of using guide pricing of £180-190k, 1.35% + VAT selling fees, marketing package of £150 including photos and premium listing on rightmove etc


I've already discounted Agent 1, I wasn't too enamoured by their sales person and think their strategy is volume of low priced sales, doesn't seem to have the best presence in the area.

Agent 2 sold a very similar house on my street for £185k last year and has another on my street marketed at £180k which has been listed for a year (it needs a LOT of work, has had offers around the £160k mark to account for this but he bought for £180k and can't afford to budge).

Agent 3 is a good local agent. I'm not too fond of their website but they do sell a lot of houses in the area and have a good reputation, I bought my current house through them.

Agent 4 is a national agent which I think could benefit me since my house has great transport links (rail, bus and motorway) and therefore the area seems to be attracting out of area buyers a little more at the moment.They have less houses for sale in the area than agent 3 but their marketing seems good and their listings do stand out as looking good and well presented.


Typically, I'm leaning towards Agent 4 which is most expensive! I'd aim to negotiate the fees down, do people generally find they are successful with this? Ideally I'd get them down to the 1% of the other agents.


I have friends who are house hunting in the area at the moment and their preferred agents from the buying side are 3 and 4, who they say have both been nice to deal with.


Any thoughts or tips?


Thanks

Surrey_EA

hanfrangipane wrote: »

Agent 4 is a national agent which I think could benefit me since my house has great transport links (rail, bus and motorway) and therefore the area seems to be attracting out of area buyers a little more at the moment.They have less houses for sale in the area than agent 3 but their marketing seems good and their listings do stand out as looking good and well presented.

Is there any reason to think EA3 would not attract these buyers also?

If you instruct a national agent with 101 offices, they won't be marketing your property from 101 different offices. Almost everyone who is serious about buying a property looks on Rightmove, as long as your chosen EA puts your house there it is irrelevant how many branches the company has.

From the information you've given here I would favour EA3, but sometimes it comes down to who you get on with best.

Hedgehog99

I'm unimpressed by Agent 4's "marketing package". Decent photos should come as standard and I had a premium listing from my local agent with a fee of less than 1%.

I don't think the national advertising aspect of Agent 4 matters - rightmove is where everyone browses and buyers will search there for the location they want. They might be put off by some of the online-only agents, but they wouldn't have anyything against dealing with a local agent and would probably appreciate their local knowledge if movig from another area.

hanfrangipane

Hedgehog99 wrote: »

I'm unimpressed by Agent 4's "marketing package". Decent photos should come as standard and I had a premium listing from my local agent with a fee of less than 1%.

I don't think the national advertising aspect of Agent 4 matters - rightmove is where everyone browses and buyers will search there for the location they want. They might be put off by some of the online-only agents, but they wouldn't have anyything against dealing with a local agent and would probably appreciate their local knowledge if movig from another area.

Surrey_EA wrote: »

Is there any reason to think EA3 would not attract these buyers also?

If you instruct a national agent with 101 offices, they won't be marketing your property from 101 different offices. Almost everyone who is serious about buying a property looks on Rightmove, as long as your chosen EA puts your house there it is irrelevant how many branches the company has.

From the information you've given here I would favour EA3, but sometimes it comes down to who you get on with best.

Thanks both for your input. Just to clarify, EA4 is not an online only agent, it's a local branch of national agents that seem to have franchises covering regions.


Totally understand what you're saying regarding RM being the prime place people will be looking and I know it won't be marketed from more than one branch. I guess I just thought it maybe a small advantage if people from the neighbouring city might be moving across but perhaps that is a smaller advantage than I thought/they make it out to be.


Also agree that good photos should come as standard and is something I would've factored into my negotiation with them. If you take out the price factor I do think the photos/listings of EA4 are better than EA3 and I think I just got a slightly better feel from their agent, they seemed to 'get' what I was thinking a bit more but I guess that's their job to sell their services! It's definitely a close call between the two.


Regarding the fees, I have no benchmark to go by other than the fact that they are all 1% other than the national agent. Is this about average?

Surrey_EA

hanfrangipane wrote: »

Thanks both for your input. Just to clarify, EA4 is not an online only agent, it's a local branch of national agents that seem to have franchises covering regions.


Totally understand what you're saying regarding RM being the prime place people will be looking and I know it won't be marketed from more than one branch. I guess I just thought it maybe a small advantage if people from the neighbouring city might be moving across but perhaps that is a smaller advantage than I thought/they make it out to be.

I would say it is of no advantage whatsoever. If people from the neighbouring city are moving over they will likely go on Rightmove and look for a property that interests them. It would be most unusual for the prospective buyer to be more interested in the property if the size of the company marketing it is larger!

If you are drawn towards EA4 ask if they will lower their fees to 1%, and throw in the photography package. If the won't chuck the photos in, see if they will refund the charge on completion if you pay upfront.

hanfrangipane

Surrey_EA wrote: »

I would say it is of no advantage whatsoever. If people from the neighbouring city are moving over they will likely go on Rightmove and look for a property that interests them. It would be most unusual for the prospective buyer to be more interested in the property if the size of the company marketing it is larger!

If you are drawn towards EA4 ask if they will lower their fees to 1%, and throw in the photography package. If the won't chuck the photos in, see if they will refund the charge on completion if you pay upfront.

Yes, I see what you mean. I've only bought my house (by looking on Rightmove irrespective of agent like you say!) and have never sold before so it's not something I'd really considered. I guess I'm thinking back to when my parents have bought which was done more in person in branch which is clearly out of date!


I'll speak with EA4 and see what they say re. fees and have another chat with EA3 and see if there is much in it preference wise after another round of speaking with them. They (EA3) also gave me RM stats which showed that they were by far the agent with the most sales in the area in the last year (44 in total, with the next best having only half that) so they clearly have a good presence in the area.

Surrey_EA

hanfrangipane wrote: »

I'll speak with EA4 and see what they say re. fees and have another chat with EA3 and see if there is much in it preference wise after another round of speaking with them. They (EA3) also gave me RM stats which showed that they were by far the agent with the most sales in the area in the last year (44 in total, with the next best having only half that) so they clearly have a good presence in the area.

Sounds to me like you're going to need a jolly good reason not to go with EA3!

ThePants999

Even if you're the kind of person who goes to an EA branch instead of just looking on Rightmove, if you're looking to move to a different area, you'll talk to EAs in that area, you won't just go to agents in your area and say "what have you got in this other area?".

hanfrangipane

Thanks to everyone for your responses - it all sounds so sensible when you see it written down. It's very easy to get wrapped up in sales talk and fancy brochures and lose a bit of logic.


Supposing I chose to go with EA3, would you attempt to negotiate at all from the 1%? To me that sounds fairly reasonable and what I was expecting.

ReadingTim

What's the tie in period? You want the shortest tie in period and the lowest commission (of the final selling price, not the initially advertised asking price). 12 weeks and 1% should be the max, but the shorter and lower the better.

Nos 2 and 3 seem equal, No.1 wants money for photos, No. 4 has a higher commission rate and suggests a 'guide price' which puts people off. I'd go with whoever of 2 or 3 shortens their tie in period the most

G_M

1. Don't go by the guy selling this to you. He (probably) won't be the guy you deal with day-to-day once they start marketing/find a buyer (though it's worth asking).You might be swayed by a great salesman and end up with a cr*p negotiator (or vice verse)

2) Negotiate on the fees.

3) check the minimum contract period and negotiate it down. 8 weeks max (less is better). some will tie you in for 16 or more weeks

4) check the notice period. 2 weeks is OK. 4 weeks is a long time if you're unhappy

5) ask where they advertise. How many websites (and which?)

6) look at their websites and compare with the others- which look best?