Multi estate agent - your experiences??

hazyjo

ethank wrote: »

I personally love multi-agency. Whilst there is a lot on Rightmove, some houses sell before they even get on on Rightmove. This requires estate agents to move quickly. It allows me as a buyer to speak with both agencies and play them off against each other. I have done this twice and sold within three weeks.

Confused. As a buyer? So you offer with both? That's very risky. The seller could find themselves responsible for two sets of selling fees.


You also mention 'sold within three weeks' so really not sure if you meant 'as a seller'? Or do you mean both - buying and selling using multi-agents for 3 different transactions? You might be able to play them off against each other to get fees down and T&Cs changed to your advantage, but I don't see how that affects getting a buyer any quicker. Also presume you meant 'under offer' within 3 weeks. Lucky as, as you can see, it's not popular with buyers and often results in lower offers.

ethank

hazyjo wrote: »

Confused. As a buyer? So you offer with both? That's very risky. The seller could find themselves responsible for two sets of selling fees.

You also mention 'sold within three weeks' so really not sure if you meant 'as a seller'? Or do you mean both - buying and selling using multi-agents for 3 different transactions? You might be able to play them off against each other to get fees down and T&Cs changed to your advantage, but I don't see how that affects getting a buyer any quicker. Also presume you meant 'under offer' within 3 weeks. Lucky as, as you can see, it's not popular with buyers and often results in lower offers.

To clarify, I meant as a seller. I was SSTC on my property within three weeks of going on the market. Multiple agents on the same property. In our case, our buyer saw something else first, and the EA recommended that they see ours. They had not seen it on Rightmove.

From our perspective, both agents were constantly asking how viewings were with the other agency, and there was a definite increase in activity after such feedback calls.

In our case, we got what we needed, slightly under asking price, but we had increased what we wanted by 10k - so was all was well.

My opinion is based on my own experiences on selling both of my two previous owned properties the same way, and I know a few of you have said they don't like multi-agency, in my experience it worked twice.

I think there is a reason that new build developers will always suggest you sell this way, it works.

Titus_Wadd

Where I've lived for 20 years it seems the norm to swap agent every 2 months or so to appear to be a new listing on RM. I can't speak for the rest of England. The same few houses then disappear for a couple of months only to be re-launched and, to the next raft of buyers, seems to them as new listings (ofcourse there's always a vapour trail of older attempts to sell if you look for it). There's an argument for using 2 agents one that appears on RM and On The Market and a second that features their listings on RM and Zoopla.

When we sold and bought last year we had several agents come to value our house and went initially with a neighbour's recommendation, though our gut instinct was with another agent and a slightly lower price. Once the first 8 weeks elapsed with the first sole agent contract we went with the other agent, at the same commission % on a winner takes all basis. Because his firm advertised further afield we had a new bunch of viewings mostly from outer London heading for the seaside and they thought our bijoux (okay small) cottage was roomy compared with the square-footage they were used to, and would pocket just under £100k in the move. They were super motivated buyers and when their own sale fell through they dropped their price to sell within a day or two. They still can't believe they have 3 double bedrooms, front and back gardens, a garage and drive and no parking permits required. There's someone out there for every house if the price is right and a different approach to marketing it doesn't hurt.

Meanwhile I watch the housing market back in my home town and houses seem to sit for months with little to tempt new interest. Perfectly nice enough properties but there's no trend towards reducing the price or changing agents to make them appear newly listed. I think once a house drops 6 or 7 pages down the list when sorting by "newest listed" on RightMove they're not going to attract as much attention.

From a buyer's perspective I'd say don't discount a house because you think the sellers are desperate; look at everything in your price band, plus a band or two either side and a fair radius from your preferred location. Let the vendor's agent know that you're aware how long the house has been up for sale and try to read his response; stick all contenders in a longish shortlist and see how "motivated" they are to sell when you've SSTC, viewing lots may find you "the one".

results may vary

Davesnave

Titus_Wadd wrote: »

There's an argument for using 2 agents one that appears on RM and On The Market and a second that features their listings on RM and Zoopla.

That's a good point; getting a house on all 3 portals is useful.