Estate Agents fees v Solicitors fees

bukup

Why are people happy to pay an agents fee of at least 1.25% + VAT but argue the fact of the solicitors costs which is nowhere near the fee of the agent!! Especially when the solicitor does the most intensive work !! This is an area which infuriates me and your responses will interest me indepth!

eg. £200k property estate agents fee for selling 1.25% = £2,500 + VAT
Solicitors fees = £645 + VAT (and I know as this is a fee I would charge)

BrixMorta

Because solicitors charge for abortive work where as EA's work on 'no sale, no fee'. If EA's charged per hour then their fees would be far less.

bukup

BrixMorta wrote: »

Because solicitors charge for abortive work where as EA's work on 'no sale, no fee'. If EA's charged per hour then their fees would be far less.

Not all solicitors charge for abortive work - the rule of thumb is to charge if the matter proceeds to exchange of contracts then the cost we would normally charge is only £50 + VAT so with this in mind the agents would still win!!

BrixMorta

All I can tell you is that over the years all businesses have found the best model that works commercially. I would say that in my experience most partners of law firms are on the whole better of than proprietors of EA's.

A_Nice_Englishman

My experience is that estate agents have so much abortive work because they don't vet sellers and buyers properly in the first place.

HIPs should discourage non-serious buyers. If estate agents only accepted potential buyers onto their books once they had proved their ability to raise the funds their costs would be cut and they would have time to deal with the serious sellers and buyers properly.

It is a shame Tesco's entry into the market was aborted recently.We could do with an efficient company like that to shake things up a bit.

bukup

BrixMorta wrote: »

All I can tell you is that over the years all businesses have found the best model that works commercially. I would say that in my experience most partners of law firms are on the whole better of than proprietors of EA's.

Obviously you need to change the agents you work for - solicitors are not better off than agents and never will be .

BrixMorta

bukup wrote: »

Obviously you need to change the agents you work for - solicitors are not better off than agents and never will be .

How do you know this?

bukup

I know this as I work for a firm of solicitors in a conveyancing department - and on many many occasions I deal with other solicitors and estate agents and know from personal experience what solicitors and estate agents charge. Many years ago solicitors used to charge a percentage but due to Law Society guidelines this was changed. Unfortunately estate agents are not covered under the Law Society guidelines and only have to follow MNEA. We often laugh at work saying that one day we would like to re-charge on the basis of %.

BrixMorta

Heres an example. There are 5 EA's in my town and one solicitor/conveyancer. Each EA' completes on about 80 sales a year whereas the conveyancer does about 5 times this much. In addition to this the spin offs for the legal practice are pretty good as they now have a ready made client base for which to provide more lucrative leagal advice.

bukup

I would also like to add that people who instruct solicitors think that they have the bad deal and think they have the right to abuse us. Most estate agents do not even realise the protocol for a sale and purchase and therefore the only reason the agent is being instructed is purely for the sale. I was recently asked "why do you need a mortgage offer and cant you exchange without it" and this was asked by the selling agent @ £535K !!!! I asked the agent if in turn he would take the property off the market without closing the deal ! Likewise he told me not to be so stupid ! but who was the stupid one !!

bukup

BrixMorta wrote: »

Heres an example. There are 5 EA's in my town and one solicitor/conveyancer. Each EA' completes on about 80 sales a year whereas the conveyancer does about 5 times this much. In addition to this the spin offs for the legal practice are pretty good as they now have a ready made client base for which to provide more lucrative leagal advice.

This has to be a one off scenario - as normally there are a few more solicitors practices in a town. All I was trying to say is the law of averages = estate agents minimum 1.25 % + VAT - solicitors fixed price min £595 + VAT. Sorry but it is true and will continue to argue the fact.