Estate Agent Fee's (in particular, William H Brown)

PRDMKT

Hi,
I am about to go on the market and am currently meeting with all 4 of my local estate agents. Currently, I have met with William H Brown, however, the bloke was really good- and he has done his research, supporting everything he said.

I am keen to go with them without even meeting the other 3 as speaking to these they do not seem as good.

This being said, I am unsure of the rate they will try and offer me and would be curious to see if other people have used them and what rates they achieved?

Cheers, 
Cam 

eddddy

Often the easiest way to negotiate fees is to see what fees all 4 estate agents quote - then tell your preferred estate agent that you'll go with them, if they price-match whoever is cheapest.



But all estate agents' contracts are not equal.

I would strongly recommend that you get a copy all 4 agents' contracts and compare them before choosing.

Look out for things like:

• All types of fees - like marketing fees, withdrawal fees, etc
• Is the contract 100% 'no sale, no fee'
• Minimum contract period (which is generally negotiable)
• Notice Period
• 'Sole Agency' vs 'Sole Selling Rights'
• 'Ready, Willing and Able Buyer' clauses

Plus anything else that is different between the contracts.

FlyMeSomewhere79

Read customer reviews on Google because that's important, some estate agents might chase a lot less than others but only put a fraction of the effort in to sell it. See how you feel once you've spoke to all of them, see which seemed the must well
Informed and also positive, you want them to have enthusiasm for selling your house.

Also check whether they offer to do viewings at evenings and weekends or when you are away etc, there are estate agents out there that don't do evenings and weekends and it stops a lot of potential sales to people that work for a living.

propertyrental

Bear in mind the bloke who was really good was a salesman selling his company to you, probably a senior negotiator.

The bloke who takes buyers round might be very different and not have a clue - he just gets paid to unlock the door......

missimaxo

I have a particular aversion to William h brown, they have a shop in my village but when I bought this house and I was a naive first time buyer, they forced me to see their mortgage broker before they would put my offer forwards. I already had agreement in principle.  They harassed me a lot when I refused to use their mortgage guy and I only had the appointment so they would put the offer forwards. They may not still be like this but it put me off them for life and now I'm back on the market I didn't even consider them.

dinkylink

I got 3 quotes, 1 of which was from William H Brown. The other 2 were 1% or under including Vat. William H Brown were higher than this and wouldn't budge when I tried to negotiate. Needless to say I didn't go with them!

NameUnavailable

All of them will (should - check) advertise on Rightmove so any potential buyers will see your home there.

Ask each about what they do once an offer is agreed - look for an agent with a proactive sales progression team as that's when the work really starts.

BobT36

missimaxo said:

I have a particular aversion to William h brown, they have a shop in my village but when I bought this house and I was a naive first time buyer, they forced me to see their mortgage broker before they would put my offer forwards. I already had agreement in principle.  They harassed me a lot when I refused to use their mortgage guy and I only had the appointment so they would put the offer forwards. They may not still be like this but it put me off them for life and now I'm back on the market I didn't even consider them.

Just say NO. They can't actually force you lol. They also can't refuse to put your offer forward because of that, either. 

Of course they'll try to hard-sell you on it, because that's their job and they make a lot of commission / profit, but it's up to you to just reject it. I had one do the same on the phone and I just had to say "We will NOT be strong-armed into this, we'll be sourcing our own advice, that is the end of that.". And I'd not even had a viewing at that time! 

uralmaid

Most estate agents have a financial team and will try and press you to have an appointment with them. They do make money from it.  I used to work as a negotiator for Halifax Property Services.  When I first worked there we used to have to ask the question but if someone provided an agreement in principle from their lender then no problem.  After a couple of years, the powers that be insisted we had to make an appointment for the mortgage advisor and try and persuade the buyer to use them , which we weren't happy with.  The worst times were when we were selling a repossessed property.  Because of the nature of the sales - the prices were less and so appealed to young first time buyers.  I used to try and steer them away, because they invariably needed a lot of money spending on them and the surveys were quite poor which meant the first time buyers didn't have the money ( but the Halifax wanted us to accept their offers and get them to take out a mortgage and insurance etc.) It would often end in tears and they had spent money on valuation fees etc.  I was the person handling all repossessions in our branch and got into many arguments with my manager for not accepting their offer. The other thing I would say is that cheapest isn't necessarily best.  Sometimes fees may seem higher, but a good agent will work for you to get the best outcome , thus saving time and money.

PRDMKT

Ended up at 0.85+VAT with a local agent after 3 agents kept undercutting one another.

annetheman

I just came out of a contract with William H Brown's little brother, Brown and Merry - all part of Sequence, which is in turn part of the Connells Group.

It was an absolute shambles. I got x3 asking price offers and they absolutely bungled them all - agent didn't understand how to sell Shared Ownership above the RICS valuation - even though the very same agent had sold a neighbour's flat for almost exact same price in the exact same scenario less than a month prior. I had to escalate to regional manager and thank god I was only online with them for 1 month before the sole agency period expired.

One guy basically sabotaged my entire sale and wasted 3 months of my life - everyone else in the team was great, though. He joined the team in recent months and I feel truly sorry for the rest as he is their manager; absolutely shambolic.

So I would say avoid! I chose them because they were cheapest (though still not THAT cheap at 2%, which is high when you're talking about Shared Ownership prices of around £100,000 or less). If you do go for them, make sure you half the sole agency time from 20 weeks to 10 so you can get out ASAP when they mess up, like I did.

I've gone with another agency that is slightly higher at around 2.4% (around £2,500) but they're so far doing a decent job; I wrote them off initially because higher %age. Time will tell. I guess you get what you pay for sometimes!

Edit to add: I really think we should band together as customers and start publishing this data because the variation needs serious questioning. Glad you asked this, OP - if there is someone with the skills willing to start a database of this info, I would more than happily help to collate info!