Estate agent selling fees

diggingdude

Also find out what they will do to earn this commission as opposed to someone like Purple bricks. Don't believe their list of buyers for your house bull

macman

The selling fees are whatever you negotiate. There is no requirement to pay the quoted rate. Outside of London, 1% + VAT seems to be the current base rate.

kangoora

I'd imagine there would be less leeway to disount much depending on the house vaue also. 1% of £500k is a lot more than 2% of £100k for essentially the same job.

Tiglet2

Mutton_Geoff said:

Tiglet2 said:

A client of our firm paid 2% to Savills on a £500k London flat in 2019.

Was that +VAT? In which case they paid 2.4% (£12k - ouch) since most vendors are not able to claim the VAT back. I've negotiated a rate half that with my local Savills who are currently marketing my house.

Yes, + VAT and yet people accept these extortionate fees and then moan about having to pay up to a £1000 for the conveyancing!

eddddy

Tiglet2 said:

Yes, + VAT and yet people accept these extortionate fees and then moan about having to pay up to a £1000 for the conveyancing!

I hope you're not suggesting that solicitors get a raw deal!

Overall, solicitors typically earn much more than estate agents.  Which suggests that people are paying their solicitors much more per hour than they're paying their estate agents - on average.

steampowered

eddddy said:

I hope you're not suggesting that solicitors get a raw deal!

Overall, solicitors typically earn much more than estate agents.  Which suggests that people are paying their solicitors much more per hour than they're paying their estate agents - on average.

I'm not sure about that. When you are buying a property, the people you deal with are mostly paralegals or conveyancing assistants - not solicitors. Especially if you go with a lower cost option. If you do deal with solicitors they are likely to be lower paid than solicitors in other fields.

If you look at the conveyancing jobs section on reed (https://www.reed.co.uk/jobs/conveyancing-jobs?parentsector=legal), most of the jobs on there are paying £20 - 25k.

Admittedly supervising solicitors and managers get paid more, there are roles on there for more experienced conveyancers that pay a bit more, but none of it is big money.

davilown

Negotiate - we're on 0.75% inc VAT but the house is on at over £500k

Tiglet2

eddddy said:

Tiglet2 said:

Yes, + VAT and yet people accept these extortionate fees and then moan about having to pay up to a £1000 for the conveyancing!

I hope you're not suggesting that solicitors get a raw deal!

Overall, solicitors typically earn much more than estate agents.  Which suggests that people are paying their solicitors much more per hour than they're paying their estate agents - on average.

I do think conveyancing solicitors' fees for a client/seller are considerably cheaper than the seller pays their Estate Agent because the work is often charged as a fixed fee, not by the hour, whereas Estate Agents charge a percentage of the sale price.  I was comparing the fees charged to a client for the work undertaken by both conveyancing solicitor and EA, not what they earn (as in salary), so yes they do get a raw deal!

Flugelhorn

last 2 I have sold were 1% inc VAT and 0.9% + VAT - appears they both wanted the business and knew others were being considered 

rik111

Aim for 1% including VAT top wack. Also let them tell you they have people queuing up for you type of house then cross out the 16 weeks on their contact and give them 6 weeks. Don’t get yourself tied up for 4 months.... I guarantee they will put more effort into shifting yours quickly than someone who gives them 16 weeks. And please don’t fall for their crap they charge more because they are the best !