Estate Agent Selling Fees

magudi

Is there any guide to current selling fees charged by estate agents in London? I have a property for sale but all the ones I have contacted insist on having long telephone conversations about how wonderful they are when all I want is an answer to a very simple question: what fees are you charging?

eidand

Ah the art of negotiation.  I am afraid it requires some patience.

Why don't you invite 3 different agencies over, get them to evaluate your property and then start negotiating their fee. That way you get something out of each one of them, even if you do not proceed with any of them.

magudi

eidand said:

Ah the art of negotiation.  I am afraid it requires some patience.

Why don't you invite 3 different agencies over, get them to evaluate your property and then start negotiating their fee. That way you get something out of each one of them, even if you do not proceed with any of them.

I appreciate the suggestion but I know the market and I know exactly how much the going rate is for the property - it's within a block of flats where they all sell for pretty much the same, being the same size and so forth - so really all I want to do is go with whoever will agree to a 1.5% fee (or less which is unlikely).

hazyjo

You might know the market but 'competition' is what will get their fee down. I'd not pay more than 1%.

eddddy

magudi said:

I appreciate the suggestion but I know the market and I know exactly how much the going rate is for the property - it's within a block of flats where they all sell for pretty much the same, being the same size and so forth - so really all I want to do is go with whoever will agree to a 1.5% fee (or less which is unlikely).

I'm not sure that it's a good strategy to choose an EA on selling fee alone.

You want to hire an EA to sell your flat. You should regard the telephone call as you interviewing the EA to assess how well they are likely to do the job. Similarly, if/when they visit to do a market appraisal, that's another part of your interview process - decide the 'test' questions that you want to ask.

And it's great that you know the going rate for property in your block - it will help you to spot the EAs who are talking nonsense.

Once you have shortlisted the EAs you're interested in - read their contracts to see if there are any terms that are unacceptable to you, and/or any terms that you want to negotiate.

Then finally, negotiate fees and contract terms.