Sold Prior to Marketing

BikingBud

Nature_Lover74 said:

I've just remembered (how did I forget?) that our buyer sold her previous house earlier this year through Agent A and that was SPtM as well.  (I saw her a couple of days ago; she's actually a friend and she also said she'd never go with Agent A again and that they've "been awful").  Anyway, there seems to be a slight trend for SPtM in our area at the moment (with this agent at least).    

Do you get a rebate agains the cost as if no marketing has occurred ?

Nature_Lover74

Hi @BikingBud.  If I understand your question correctly (apologies if I haven't; my mind's in a whirl at the moment!), I believe anyone SPtM will still have to pay full agreed agents' fees?  I can't say that for sure though, as we ourselves haven't been in that particular position; we marketed our property the 'usual' way and will incur usual EA fees.  Again, please accept my apologies if this is not what you meant!  

AdrianC

BikingBud said:

Nature_Lover74 said:

I've just remembered (how did I forget?) that our buyer sold her previous house earlier this year through Agent A and that was SPtM as well.  (I saw her a couple of days ago; she's actually a friend and she also said she'd never go with Agent A again and that they've "been awful").  Anyway, there seems to be a slight trend for SPtM in our area at the moment (with this agent at least).    

Do you get a rebate agains the cost as if no marketing has occurred ?

Why? They did the job that they were hired for...

gingercordial

BikingBud said:

Nature_Lover74 said:

I've just remembered (how did I forget?) that our buyer sold her previous house earlier this year through Agent A and that was SPtM as well.  (I saw her a couple of days ago; she's actually a friend and she also said she'd never go with Agent A again and that they've "been awful").  Anyway, there seems to be a slight trend for SPtM in our area at the moment (with this agent at least).    

Do you get a rebate agains the cost as if no marketing has occurred ?

No marketing won't mean no effort.  Presumably it means they already had a list of people looking with details of what each was after, and so spent time cross-checking that list to decide which of them might like it, then called them, set up viewings and so on.  Might have needed to take photos and prepare a floorplan to show them.  It just didn't involve putting it on Rightmove.  Marketing to a private shortlist rather than marketing to the general public.

Edit: the house next door to ours just sold in this way - I saw the EA come round and then I saw a photographer come round (my home office window faces them!) but it never actually made it onto Rightmove.

Mizydoscape

We've just had an offer accepted on a house prior to marketing. We leafletted several streets we were interested in and had a call from an agent who had just that day signed a property and coincidentally the owner had received our leaflet on that day as well. The owner passed the agent my number and they called. We viewed the next day, offered straight after the viewing and now hopefully going through the buying process.

The agent had to do very little here, and I expect they will still take full fees even though they didn't technically introduce us.

BikingBud

AdrianC said:

BikingBud said:

Nature_Lover74 said:

I've just remembered (how did I forget?) that our buyer sold her previous house earlier this year through Agent A and that was SPtM as well.  (I saw her a couple of days ago; she's actually a friend and she also said she'd never go with Agent A again and that they've "been awful").  Anyway, there seems to be a slight trend for SPtM in our area at the moment (with this agent at least).    

Do you get a rebate agains the cost as if no marketing has occurred ?

Why? They did the job that they were hired for...

What was that job and the breakdown of the fees?

If they included a portion of the fees for marketing and it "sold" prior to marketing (SPtM) why are those elements of the fee still chargeable?

Moreover, if the property hasn't been marketed how does the vendor know they are achieving the best possible price?

oystercatcher

I think it's down to a combination of luck and a good relationship with agents. Someone I know well went SSTC and was then looking for the next house , mentioned to the agent they were using they would love to live in 'Road X' and agent mentioned they just happened to have a property coming up there. Viewing arranged and SSTC before any photographs or details taken. This was then put on Rightmove as 'Sold by our discreet sales service' . I have a feeling that the seller was more interested in a quick easy sale than having multiple viewers and maybe obtaining a higher offer. Same thing happened a good few years back with another family member in the same road only this time the seller hiked the price up but the details never went out before the sale was agreed. Road X is very popular with nice houses in a really good location so houses almost sell themselves. It's well worth talking to as many agents as you can so they think of you when new properties come onto their books.

Nature_Lover74

Hi @Mizydoscape; thanks for your reply.  Funnily enough we're leafleting a few properties today ourselves in the hope of getting a response!  I agree, I imagine you'll have to pay EA fees but many congratulations on having your offer accepted on your next property and I really hope the transaction is smooth for you. 

Nature_Lover74

Hi @oystercatcher; thank you for your comment.  I completely agree with you about the combination of luck and having a good relationship with agents.  I'm just not certain about Agent A (aforementioned in my original post) doing us any favours (we orignally tried selling with them in 2019; they weren't great with us, we didn't sell - then took a break from the whole goddamn property merry-go-round! - but have now hopefully sold STC with another local, independent agent).  We personally know the father-in-law of the owner of Agent A and father-in-law has told us in the past that said the owner who runs Agent A wanted some building work done on his house.  This builder had previously dared to sell his house with another agent, so owner of Agent A deliberately went with another builder who *had* sold with him, despite second builder charging £15K more.  Quite a lot of people in our town don't have much time for Agent A, we personally know of a few people who have gone out of their way to *not* sell their house through them.  I can only tell you how it is in our town, hence my reservations.  I know our money is as good as anyone else's but there's a lot of money sloshing round in certain parts and I think they're wealthy enough to not worry about his personal reputation and they don't know the people in the town the way we do!  Ah well, I've registered with them anyway for property alerts; I hope they prove cynical ol' me wrong.  Thank you for your reply. 

AdrianC

BikingBud said:

AdrianC said:

BikingBud said:

Nature_Lover74 said:

I've just remembered (how did I forget?) that our buyer sold her previous house earlier this year through Agent A and that was SPtM as well.  (I saw her a couple of days ago; she's actually a friend and she also said she'd never go with Agent A again and that they've "been awful").  Anyway, there seems to be a slight trend for SPtM in our area at the moment (with this agent at least).    

Do you get a rebate agains the cost as if no marketing has occurred ?

Why? They did the job that they were hired for...

What was that job

To find a buyer for the house.

and the breakdown of the fees?

Hold the invoice up a bit, I can't quite read it from here.

Moreover, if the property hasn't been marketed how does the vendor know they are achieving the best possible price?

You DO understand that it's the vendor who accepts an offer, not the EA, right?