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why do estate agents charge so much to sell houses?

robinwales
Posts: 134 Forumite

My house is worth £600k. A local estate agent wants 1% plus VAT which is £7,200. Does it really cost anything like that to sell a property? Most houses go onto Rightmove, Zoopla etc so the human activity that used to take place in agents offices is now mostly done online, which must save agents costs. They do an initial valuation, photography (often badly), and arrange viewings. What else do they do? You can't privately register your property sale on Rightmove, you have to be an agent.
And they wonder why pensioners with a valuable property don't like the idea of downsizing.
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The answer is "because they can" and it's been a common complaint since the 1970s (at least).
N. Hampshire, he/him. Octopus Intelligent Go elec & Tracker gas / Vodafone BB / iD mobile. Ripple Kirk Hill member.
2.72kWp PV facing SSW installed Jan 2012. 11 x 247w panels, 3.6kw inverter. 33MWh generated, long-term average 2.6 Os.Not exactly back from my break, but dipping in and out of the forum.Ofgem cap table, Ofgem cap explainer. Economy 7 cap explainer. Gas vs E7 vs peak elec heating costs, Best kettle!2 -
robinwales said:My house is worth £600k. A local estate agent wants 1% plus VAT which is £7,200. Does it really cost anything like that to sell a property? Most houses go onto Rightmove, Zoopla etc so the human activity that used to take place in agents offices is now mostly done online, which must save agents costs. They do an initial valuation and arrange viewings. What else do they do? You can't privately register your property sale on Rightmove, you have to be an agent.
The reality is that estate agents charge what they market will tolerate.robinwales said:And they wonder why pensioners with a valuable property don't like the idea of downsizing.
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Whilst I’m by no means a member of the Estate Agents’ Union, these people do have to earn a living. Whilst there are doubtless some estate agents who earn good money, I don’t think most of them are likely to be in the highest bracket of earners, especially outside London and the South East. Property sales take a long time to go through, so you need to sell a lot of houses to make a business viable.5
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robinwales said:My house is worth £600k. A local estate agent wants 1% plus VAT which is £7,200. Does it really cost anything like that to sell a property?And they wonder why pensioners with a valuable property don't like the idea of downsizing.
And they wonder why pensioners don't like idea of downsizing to ease the housing problem. How much will a pensioner pay for downsizing from, say, £600K to £400K? - Much more than to a EA.
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grumpy_codger said:robinwales said:My house is worth £600k. A local estate agent wants 1% plus VAT which is £7,200. Does it really cost anything like that to sell a property?And they wonder why pensioners with a valuable property don't like the idea of downsizing.
And they wonder why pensioners don't like idea of downsizing to ease the housing problem. How much will a pensioner pay for downsizing from, say, £600K to £400K? - Much more than to a EA.
Downsizing doesn't always mean a reduced property price. I was considering a more expensive but smaller property but in a more expensive area. The stamp duty would be £33k, plust £7k for EA costs for selling, plus removal costs - a total of about £44k, which is TOTALLY crazy.3 -
Most houses go onto Rightmove, Zoopla etc so the human activity that used to take place in agents offices is now mostly done online, which must save agents costs.0
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robinwales said:
why do estate agents charge so much to sell houses?
Good luck finding anyone...
Bought and sold probably 20+ properties in my 77 years. (Industry average length a mortgage survives for is about 7 years: Yes I realise they are usually signed for eg 15, 25, 30 years). Always used an agent: Yes, I may well have been stupid.. I still have a mortgage which doesn't expire until I'm 80: I don't live in it.
BTW IMHO always be nice, polite, friendly and prompt dealing with your chosen agent (or anyone else you want to do something for you) . And smile !! Usually creates a much better relationship, and feels better anyway.. And leave a good review (if justified).
Speaking as a pensioner I'd be quite happy downsizing.
Best wishes to all.1 -
once sold 2 houses using 2 line adverts in the local newspaper (£7 each ad) - it was 1988 and there was a significant change in the tax allowance for mortgage interest about to happen - houses were under offer within a day of going on the market and these properties sold for good price on day one.
however when the market has been slow I have been very glad of the services of the estate agent1 -
I’m in the process of selling. My estate agent is charging 1.2%, down from their normal 1.25, on a 650,000 house.My experience has been mixed. They valued it at £625k, I insisted on it being £650 and we’re STC at asking price. So not brilliant at valuing.Marketing has been good, they found the right people to view and several offers have been made. Although they are working for me they have been less than truthful on a couple of occasions (about the position of potential buyers, length of chain etc) and I have found the EA I am buying from surprisingly more helpful and honest.
I emailed my EA on Monday noting I would be away soon and asking if our purchaser was having a survey. Chased by phone for a response yesterday. Still no reply. So after sales service pretty poor too.
I’m downsizing, buying at £585k. The biggest complaint I have is about stamp duty, not the EA costs.Downshifted
September GC £251.21/£250 October £248.82/£250 January £159.53/£2000 -
Take a couple of pictures of your house and shove it on Facebook.
Job done.3
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