Estate agent selling fees

eddddy

steampowered said:

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.

You forgot to check the Estate Agent Negotiator section on reed (https://www.reed.co.uk/jobs/estate-agent-negotiator-jobs), most of the jobs are paying £15k to £25k - and that's OTE

So that's essentially minimum wage plus bonuses for the properties they sell.

Tiglet2 said:

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!

I'm no fan of estate agents - but your logic is flawed.

When I sell a property, I'm pretty sure I end up paying the estate agent less per hour than I pay the solicitors per hour. (Even though the estate agents fee is a percentage and the solicitors fee is a flat rate.)

That's why solicitors earn more than estate agents - because they earn more per hour, even for fixed fee work.

Maybe as a starting point...

• a senior EA will do a "home visit" to do an initial market appraisal / valuation
• (perhaps that senior EA will have to do 4 or 5 "home visits" to win each client)
• perhaps a more junior EA will conduct the viewings - EAs suggest that on average, they have to do 8 viewings to get a sale
• (but sometimes the seller will move to another EA, so the first EA gets nothing)

A senior conveyancer doesn't visit potential clients at home (with maybe 75% of those clients not instructing them or paying them anything), and similarly a junior conveyancer doesn't follow up with an average of 8 home visits (and sometimes find that those 8 home visits end up paying them nothing).

And that's just the start - I've dealt with EAs who spend tens of hours progressing a sale from offer to exchange.

onyx911

We agreed a fee of 1% and sold for £950k. So £9,500 plus VAT. Makes me cry just thinking about it, particularly as someone on my street sold a month later for the exact same price using Purple Bricks (£1,250 plus VAT). 

The conveyancer was paid £900 plus VAT. 

CKhalvashi

0.75% when downsizing in December, however this was having made an offer another house through the same branch with financing already in place the previous week, and on a reasonably high value property that was easy to sell (I suspect the buyer may have already been on their books). The agent was aware I have friends in the business locally, which may or may not have brought the price down a little.

amandacat

I thought I did well to get mine down to 1% plus VAT but now I’m thinking I should’ve haggled lower!! 

Tiglet2

eddddy said:

steampowered said:

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.

You forgot to check the Estate Agent Negotiator section on reed (https://www.reed.co.uk/jobs/estate-agent-negotiator-jobs), most of the jobs are paying £15k to £25k - and that's OTE

So that's essentially minimum wage plus bonuses for the properties they sell.

Tiglet2 said:

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!

I'm no fan of estate agents - but your logic is flawed.

When I sell a property, I'm pretty sure I end up paying the estate agent less per hour than I pay the solicitors per hour. (Even though the estate agents fee is a percentage and the solicitors fee is a flat rate.)

That's why solicitors earn more than estate agents - because they earn more per hour, even for fixed fee work.

Maybe as a starting point...

• a senior EA will do a "home visit" to do an initial market appraisal / valuation
• (perhaps that senior EA will have to do 4 or 5 "home visits" to win each client)
• perhaps a more junior EA will conduct the viewings - EAs suggest that on average, they have to do 8 viewings to get a sale
• (but sometimes the seller will move to another EA, so the first EA gets nothing)

A senior conveyancer doesn't visit potential clients at home (with maybe 75% of those clients not instructing them or paying them anything), and similarly a junior conveyancer doesn't follow up with an average of 8 home visits (and sometimes find that those 8 home visits end up paying them nothing).

And that's just the start - I've dealt with EAs who spend tens of hours progressing a sale from offer to exchange.

Conveyancers also spend tens of hours progressing a transaction to completion, and additionally the post completion work - registering at Land Registry, dealing with Notices to Freeholders, administering retentions and other post completion matters.   A high percentage of their work also doesn't reach completion and with no completion, no fee deals, this results in no earned fees, so like Estate Agents there is a significant proportion of work done and time spent for which they will never get paid.

badger09

davilown said:

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

Same here. Shropshire.

knightstyle

So has anyone beaten my £1200 + VAT to a high street estate agent to sell their house?

Thrugelmir

Fundamental difference between the 2 professions, is that solicitors recover their time from the client once the clock starts ticking. Whereas EA's incur abortive time and costs for properties that are withdrawn. This cost can only recovered from the properties that eventually go through to completion. Good EA's also employ sales progressors as part of their service offering. 

Speedbird676

knightstyle said:

So has anyone beaten my £1200 + VAT to a high street estate agent to sell their house?

Equalled but not beaten.

My EA's standard fee is 1%+VAT subject to a minimum of £1,200, so I'm essentially getting their minimum.

Ted_01

1% + VAT to a local high street EA. The sale hasnt completed yet, (things are moving very slow).

Before chosing the agent I emailed about 6 different local agents to ask their fee in my case. I chose the agent with the lowest fees. I now regret not negoitating to get the fee lower. It's a flat in a north london suburb and sold within about 2 weeks of marketing after a couple of viewings for £220,000. So the estate agent has done virtually nothing and he gets paid £2,640  :-(