Has anyone negotiated a discount on estate agent fee?

Irishpearce26

thriftytracey said:

Lots of useful information here, thanks.  I am going to scrutinise the contract before deciding.  I definitely wouldn't go with PB although PB did advise that you don't have to pay the fee until sold.  Also I didn't realise there was VAT on top!  All the estate agents around here appear to charge 1%.  They all said EPC report and premium listing would incur a cost.  Never thought of floor plan I thought that was included.  Also not sure of "virtual tour" whether that is at a cost.  Virtual Tours are much better than photographs although some of them appear awfully amateur.  What's the best way to frame it?  "Is there any flexibility on your fee as we would like to instruct you?"  type of thing?

If you ask it this way im pretty sure there will be no negotiation. I would say 'We have met with 3 EAs and are asking each one what their best offer is?' EAs usually have a tired approach when it comes to what they offer, if you want a virtual tour then that will be the premium and hard to get a reduction. We went with the premium but asked the EA to pay for the EPC. We paid 1% fixed on the price we market, we had an offer over the price but paid what we marketed for.

Also bear in mind that if you get a reduction you might get a reduced service.

GDB2222

@Irishpearce26 I agree that you don’t want to beat the estate agent down too much. You want him to be keen.

There are online estate agents that are much cheaper than purple bricks and offer much the same. Why do people pay PB so much?

jimbog

thriftytracey said:

 What's the best way to frame it?  "Is there any flexibility on your fee as we would like to instruct you?"  type of thing?

Re-phrase your question to avoid the 'no' answer. e.g. "If, as you say, that this will sell so quickly if we were to sign up today what is the best reduction on the fee that you would be able to offer us?"

Irishpearce26

GDB2222 said:

@Irishpearce26 I agree that you don’t want to beat the estate agent down too much. You want him to be keen.

There are online estate agents that are much cheaper than purple bricks and offer much the same. Why do people pay PB so much?

I would never use PB or a solely online agent. Our house sold before it was even marketed. The agent contacted 2 buyers (on their books) which our house matched their needs. By the time in went live on right move it was sold.

We paid 1% on the marketed price (£3882), they paid for the EPC which was expired, floorplan, pictures and virtual tour. They were worth every penny, they even kept the buyers expectations in check after a survey. She was getting divorced and it was her first purchase she had done by herself and too everything in the survey as gospel. The EA made sure that she understood that the house was valued as is in her survey and that it was unlikely that i would re-negotiate. We had a smooth sale throughout.

davilown

Octothorpe said:

Also concentrate on length of contract and notice period. Max 8 week contract, why do they need more if they're confident in selling?!

Ours included floor plan, premium listing and video tour.

We told them they were our favourite but a bit too high price. They knocked off .25%. Still more expensive than others but so far extremely happy with their service and communication!!

After trying to book viewings with other agents and doing some vieings we weren't impressed,  so glad we chose who we did.

1% and under fees....WOW! No estate agents are going that low round here except the rubbish ones 😂

Totally right on the contract for 8 weeks!

I think it depends on area - south east on the Southdowns border and Chichester harbour has lots of EAs (20+) and the Ave house price is in the region 530k in the village we currently live in. This allows them to still make £4-£5k depending on sale price

boots_babe

After meeting various EAs, our chosen one was 1.2% fee as standard. We suggested a stepped deal to them, such that if they got the asking price for us they would get 1.2%, if they got less than that they got 1% plus a %age of the additional sale price, and if they got less than a further lower amount, they only got 0.8%.

They accepted our proposed deal without much difficulty and it seemed to work, as they were very motivated and active EAs for us. They got us a small amount under our asking price so we paid them the middle tier of fees. And so a good discount on their standard amount.

NatNat77

The local agent we're using charges £1800 upfront fixed fee, or £2800 fixed and you pay later if you sell. They have a local branch as well. Less than half the fees of our previous agent with dedicated sales progressors and we went SSTC within a week I was a bit wary as it seemed too good to be true but my sister recently used them and recommended them highly. Hopefully more agents will go the same way as they offer what seems to be the best of both worlds, other agents in the area will have no choice but to compete. I wouldn't touch purple bricks with a bargepole 

Speedbird676

I have sold two properties.

The first, sold in 2018, I paid 0.6% + VAT. The second, sold last month, I paid 0.87% + VAT.

thriftytracey

Update - I didn't need to negotiate a discount in the end as I requested a valuation from a well-known estate agent in our area who hadn't been out to our property.  Their website stated fee of 0.75% - 1%.  So when I booked the appointment I asked about this.  When the chap came he confirmed 0.75%.  He was very professional.  

Thank you to everyone who posted their experiences.

davilown

thriftytracey said:

Update - I didn't need to negotiate a discount in the end as I requested a valuation from a well-known estate agent in our area who hadn't been out to our property.  Their website stated fee of 0.75% - 1%.  So when I booked the appointment I asked about this.  When the chap came he confirmed 0.75%.  He was very professional.  

Thank you to everyone who posted their experiences.

Was that with or without VAT?