Which estate agent to choose?

ironlady2022

Hi Everyone, 

Rang up 3 EA and here below summary. 

1) 1%+vat fee but she's said offers over £280k. William H Brown. 

2) £2k+vat fixed fee, valued my house at £285-295k. Manning Stainton. 

3) 1.25%+vay fee, valued my house £290-300k (came out March 2020, only did a desktop valuation recently) - these sold the exact same house in June last year for £288k. Hunters. 

My house is an easy sell, i want to achieve £300k and WHB is my fav, but she's got lowest valuation. Personally, i feel i can def achieve more than £290k based on the house that sold in June last year. She said £300k would put a lot of first time buyers off (im not just aiming it at them). She wants to attract lots of bidders and then do a mini bidding war. The other advantage is, she lives on the estate, which is exactly where I wish to move to! 

Which would you go for? I don't need a good Sales person to sell my house as it'll sell itself but I need the right buyer, as I have not found my next home yet, so they need to be super patient. And i want to ask each for a cheeky discount to test them out. Thoughts?

jonnydeppiwish!

If you think you can achieve £300k then sell via an online EA as it’s the cheapest fees.

Given, however, 3 EAs have valued it less than that price, it’s probably worth going with the local one as you might be in the market for a long time via the online EA. Go back in and barter them down to 0.9% inc VAT. That’s the going rate in the South Easy where I live.

Thrugelmir

Meet them in person. Not just a question of obtaining offers. What services do they offer to facilitate the transaction. Do they employ an inhouse progressor? 

eddddy

Ask for copies of the contracts and read them thoroughly, including...

• Are they 100% 'no sale, no fee'

• Or are there other fees like withdrawal fees, marketing fees, etc

• Check the minimum contract period - you can usually negotiate this down to 8 weeks

• Check for "Sole Agency" vs "Sole Selling Rights"

• Check for "Ready, Wiling and Able Buyer" Clause - and try to get removed

Fees are generally negotiable - almost all estate agents I've dealt with will price-match to cheaper competitors.


Good "sales progression" can be hugely important, did you discuss this with the agents? Did you get better 'vibes' on this from a particular agent?

waribai

All of the above is sound advice. Also, as much as you like an agent on a personal level, if they have valued your house at £280k and you value it higher then it might be difficult getting them to give it their all on the sales pitch etc.
Also, remember that with a first time buyer, there is only one person behind you in the chain. This might not seem like a big deal now but once you have found your dream property you’ll want the chain to be as short as possible!

TheJP

waribai said:

All of the above is sound advice. Also, as much as you like an agent on a personal level, if they have valued your house at £280k and you value it higher then it might be difficult getting them to give it their all on the sales pitch etc.
Also, remember that with a first time buyer, there is only one person behind you in the chain. This might not seem like a big deal now but once you have found your dream property you’ll want the chain to be as short as possible!

My EA valued my house at £10k lower than i felt it was worth, we went with my valuation and we got £500 over the asking price the day after it went live. I agree with others though that the local EA will help in getting the higher price.

ReadingTim

You, as the customer, choose both the EA and the price they market your property at, and whilst they've all made suggestions as to a price, you don't have to heed their advice. That said, given they're all coming in at below what you'd like to get for it, you might want to adjust your expectations a little here... 

The lot I sold my place with last year suggested marketing at £260k - I had a look online as to my competition (ie similar properties within a quarter of a mile) and came up with £275k.  The EA was reluctant, then got me the full asking price, to an investor - perhaps I should have tried it at £280k... He did have the good grace to admit he was wrong with his initial price though.  The valuations I got before choosing agent ranged from £260-290k, so I got slap bang in the middle of that range which I was happy with.  

ironlady2022

Thank you for everyone's comments. 

So my preferred estate agent is fixed at 1%+vat after i tried to negotiate. She's not confident in achieving the £300k following her to me this morning. 

So the next preferred was £2k +vat, they knocked it down by £100 but i added it on again to include professional photography. When I mentioned £300k, they seemed ok and their valuation was more in line with my expectations. 

So at the moment, I'm inclined to go with EA no 2.

To make it more confusing, my preferred EA who lives on the estate I want to go on has done since digging and got me an early bird viewing this Sat. I've scoped out the house on social media and it's literally everything i want, including timings to move for school etc. Do i grin and bear it and go with her in case I can get this house by keeping it all under one roof. I would be paying an extra £1300 for the privilege. A valuation is due to be done soon, so the business has not been given out as yet. 

Not sure what to do. Think I'll have better idea following house viewing this weekend. 

youth_leader

Do read the contracts thoroughly and use them to determine who you go with.  I didn't realise I was tied in for six months when I left my  EA, and nearly had to pay them as well as the auction house because someone that viewed through them bought it. 

carrotstick_2

You can put the house up for any price you want, the EA just provide a valuation based on what they think it would sell for. 
Go for the best terms and conditions!
Our EA went above and beyond in my opinion, they didn't have contract so we could have ditched them at any time. Another popular EA in our area offer high valuations but lock you in for 6 months, Customer Service isn't amazing and they are quite slow  (We also didn't go with the valuation our EA suggested, but got three and went somewhere in the middle) 

LHW99

The first house we sold, the EA came and said - What do you think its worth, I don't know?

It was a slightly unusual house, but not that out of the way, so not all EA's have knowledge of every part of the local market (and yes they were a local firm).