Estate Agent Fees

eddddy

BACKTOBACK said:

They don't seem to do much.

FWIW, I've had estate agents who...

• Talked-down a very angry seller who went ballistic when I reduced my offer by £50k following a survey - by explaining that I was being fair. (I'm certain the sale wouldn't have happened if the estate agent hadn't spent months nursing the seller through their multiple tantrums)

• Talked a first-time BTL investor into overpaying for a house I was selling (TBH, I felt a bit bad for the buyer)

• Plus an estate agent who did things like look up different bus route options to show a potential buyer how they could get to work. And walked with the potential buyer from the property to the bus stop to demonstrate how short the walk was.

km1500

In my view the main reason people don't 'do it themselves' is they don't have access to Rightmove

if rightmove opened up to private sellers I think you would see a massive drop in the estate agent instructions

Smalltownhypocrite

km1500 said:

In my view the main reason people don't 'do it themselves' is they don't have access to Rightmove

if rightmove opened up to private sellers I think you would see a massive drop in the estate agent instructions

I don't, you only have too look at purple bricks to see that most people don't have the first clue how to photograph, form a coherent advert, respond timely to inquires or be realistic about pricing.

If the self sellers where as good it would rival rightmove, there is a reason it doesn't.

diggingdude

I've had 3 in my local area come over. 2 were 1% plus VAT. They then wanted £200 for photos, EPC (which I didn't need I have an 11 month old one) and a floor plan they will likely copy off the old listing. 

The third came in at 0.85% plus VAT including pictures etc and a 360 degree walk through photo presentation. They sell plenty of houses in my area and etbh should probably up their price a little. Needless to say I have signed with them and just had the photos done. I suggest contacting them all and asking their fees. 

RHemmings

km1500 said:

In my view the main reason people don't 'do it themselves' is they don't have access to Rightmove

if rightmove opened up to private sellers I think you would see a massive drop in the estate agent instructions

It is possible to get your property on Rightmove using some online estate agents that provide a very minimal service at a low cost. As in @Smalltownhypocrite's post above, if it were easy and effective, everyone would do it. 

I don't want to advertise specific firms, but it's certainly possible to get your property on Rightmove for sale for £75 a month. I'm not saying that's the cheapest/best deal. But, that is possible. 

km1500

Thanks for that!

 is it possible to give some kind of hint as how one might find an online estate agent that would do that for £75 or thereabouts?

What kind of Google search should I do thanks

RHemmings

km1500 said:

Thanks for that!

 is it possible to give some kind of hint as how one might find an online estate agent that would do that for £75 or thereabouts?

What kind of Google search should I do thanks

I searched for 'cheapest way to get your property on rightmove' (without quotes) on Google, and the AI overview included a list of such online agents. 

I'm still loathe to name one, because I have no particular reason to believe that these are all good companies that won't have contract clauses likely to catch the unwary or otherwise have unfriendly business practices. Nor do I have any particular reason to believe that they are bad companies. Please research any company you are interested in. 

BACKTOBACK

Thank you everyone, some really useful information for me and anyone else in my position

saajan_12

Smalltownhypocrite said:

'they don't do much'... then sell it yourself and don't pay an EA. 

If your not willing to do all that work yourself then you are admitting they do actually do a lot and have massive benefits and for that 1.5% is really not a lot of money.

The opposite of "not much" isn't "massive benefits". They do have the ability to place properties on Rightmove, draw up a floorplan and hold viewings, which is some work, just not necessarily worth £x000 when there are competitors that'll do it for less. 

1.5% can be huge for a higher value property, even though the effort and skill doesn't really scale. 

ExEstateAgent

I sold a house once literally minutes after we were instructed by the vendors. I had a buyer in mind that I knew, from previous conversations and viewings, would love the house. They went straight round and came back to my office to offer full asking price. 

The vendors should have been deleriously happy. They were selling to retire abroad too. 

The next day they came into the office, grim faced. They complained that we had sold it too soon, we hadn't taken photos or had to do any viewings, if it sold that quick we'd underpriced it, etc. etc. Upshot was they wanted to cancel the deal and take it off the market. 

A few days later I found out that they were trying to sell it themselves. They'd made a for sale sign and stuck it in the garden with their phone number on it. 

Many weeks later and the house hadn't sold. They came back, tails between their legs asking if the buyer we had would still be interested (they were very upset with the vendors and we found them another property in the meantime). We put the house back on the market and eventually sold it but they had to accept a lower offer this time.