What do estate agents actually do?

Mr_Singleton

lees80 wrote: »

You must be really, really bored.

Nope, just really really interested to know why the cost of selling a house wether it be a £100,000 one or a 10,000,000 one has exploded out of all proportion to other costs over the past decades.

Just checked with my first EA and they confirmed the same sell rate. That means they would charge 600% more to the present owner in monetary terms to sell the flat than they charged me. Is it unreasonable to ask what additional costs they have to justify the increased cost?

Out,_Vile_Jelly

Mr_Singleton wrote: »

Nope, just really really interested to know why the cost of selling a house wether it be a £100,000 one or a 10,000,000 one has exploded out of all proportion to other costs over the past decades.

Because the cost of houses, especially in central London, has exploded out of all proportion over the past decades.


All your relatives have done is buy a house in the 70s, live in it and ensure it still has walls, a roof and is mortgageable years later. They haven't "earned" that property price increase through stunning intellect, glittering business smarts or back-breaking labour. It's just the state of modern London.


So a business model specifically linked to property values will consequently have inflated profits that aren't linked to any tangible work: reward ratio.

mjm3346

Mr_Singleton wrote: »

Nope, just really really interested to know why the cost of selling a house wether it be a £100,000 one or a 10,000,000 one has exploded out of all proportion to other costs over the past decades.

Just checked with my first EA and they confirmed the same sell rate. That means they would charge 600% more to the present owner in monetary terms to sell the flat than they charged me. Is it unreasonable to ask what additional costs they have to justify the increased cost?

There is nothing that needs to be justified, it's a free market that people can shop around, use fixed fees instead of percentage based ones or even choose to market the property themselves. It hasn't "Exploded" slightly or out of all proportion - it was a similar percentage decades ago compared to the percentage now.

JimmyTheWig

I guess the question is what is to stop a newcomer to the Estate Agency market coming in, undercutting the competition and cleaning up?
The fact that they're not doing this suggests that the fees aren't over-priced.

Thrugelmir

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

I guess the question is what is to stop a newcomer to the Estate Agency market coming in, undercutting the competition and cleaning up?
The fact that they're not doing this suggests that the fees aren't over-priced.

Absolutely nothing. Other than a lack of reputation if you've never worked in the industry before.

If anything overcapacity may be the issue. With not enough transactions to go round.