Final week of estate agent contract

Feebs77

eddddy said:

Feebs77 said:

I think I'm just extremely suspicious about the shady way my 1st estate agent has dealt with me (zero updates and no feedback unless I ask for it - amongst other dodgey things I won't go into!)

I believe they're banking on the 2nd agent to put in more networking / marketing work and wait for any prospective buyers to be reverted back to them.

Why do you believe that?

TBH, your posts here sound like you are over thinking this. 

It might be worth think in some other directions. maybe perhaps...

• Your property has been on the market for x weeks, why have there been no viewings?

The 1st Estate Agent said the feedback was that it was overpriced. But when they valued my property they told me they had interested buyers at the asking price, and they had total confidence in achieving it.

• Ask the 1st estate agent, the 2nd estate agent and other local estate agents what the current level of viewings is like in general

The 2nd Estate agent said that the price, marketed by 1st Estate Agent, needs to be reduced to get people through the door to then see what people are prepared to offer. I.e. In the hope that it achieves more than the marketed price.

I need to check if I am liable for 2nd Estate Agent fees if I reject asking price offers! As I can only consider the asking price offers if I had an onward purchase. I need more to sell chain free to pay for rental.

• i.e. Is the market 'pretty dead' and nobody is getting viewings, or is everyone else getting viewings - which suggests that there is a problem with your property (usually the price)

Yes the asking price is an issue, as it's putting people off of booking a viewing.

• Similarly, are other properties like yours going under offer? If so, why isn't yours?

There are rarely similar properties in my area. But when there are, they always go over the asking price, but have been marketed lower.

• What was it you liked about the 1st estate agent that made you choose them? Did you make a misjudgement, do you feel they misled you? How will you avoid the same mistake with your second choice of estate agent?

When the 1st Estate Agent valued my property they told me they knew of buyers who would be interested at the asking price, and that they had total confidence in achieving at least the asking price, if not more.
They are also a smaller agency, and I thought I would be getting a more dedicated service.

• What is the 2nd estate agent going to do differently from the1st estate agent to get viewings and offers?

2nd Estate Agent wants to drop the price to a level that will encourage buyers through the door. However, it's £50k less than what I need to move out chain free.
The 2nd Estate Agent is the biggest in my area.

Hi Eddddy,

I replied to your valid points above (in bold italic text)

Many people have said that all estate agents are the same, and so I don't want to bounce around different agents.
But the 2nd Estate Agent are marketing most of the properties in my area, and have the shortest contract out of their biggest competitors.

Feebs77

My 1st agent has now told me they want to drop the price to match the 2nd agents valuation.

They have also just given me data of the numbers of people clicked on my property marketing page - which is almost 1000 in 3 weeks - and so I can only guess that the photos don't do the property justice (which Ive already been told by friends) or that the price does not reflect the quality of the property represented in the photos.

The 2nd agent has asked me to remove all online marketing with my 1st Agent, so that there is clear air between them, and so they can market online immediately after the end of my contract with my 1st agent.

Does anyone foresee any negative repercussions in allowing my 1st agent to drop the price and getting the 2nd agent to wait until I'm done with the 1st agent? If I did this, I would want to replace their photos with mine, which I'm told are better. This might give my 1st agent a better chance of booking some viewings.

Is it worth asking my 1st agent to confirm their terms if a potential buyer is referred back to them by the 2nd Agent?  i.e. would they still provide same services and fees as agreed in the expired contract?

eddddy

Feebs77 said:

They have also just given me data of the numbers of people clicked on my property marketing page - which is almost 1000 in 3 weeks - and so I can only guess that the photos don't do the property justice (which Ive already been told by friends) or that the price does not reflect the quality of the property represented in the photos.

Is that a high or low number? How does it compare to other similar properties? Do you believe the estate agent?

Why just guess what it means? Why don't you ask the estate agent for their professional opinion on what it means?

Feebs77 said:

The 2nd agent has asked me to remove all online marketing with my 1st Agent, so that there is clear air between them, and so they can market online immediately after the end of my contract with my 1st agent.

Either the 2nd estate agent is a bit daft, or they're having a bit of fun with you.

It sounds like they want you to say to the 1st agent "Can you stop advertising my property before my contract ends, in order to reduce your chances of finding a buyer, and increase your competitor's chances of finding a buyer."

FWIW, I occasionally come across estate agents who try to get clients to say daft things to other competitor estate agents. They see it as a kind of sport.

Feebs77 said:

Is it worth asking my 1st agent to confirm their terms if a potential buyer is referred back to them by the 2nd Agent?  i.e. would they still provide same services and fees as agreed in the expired contract?

As I've explained, you've already agreed those terms.

For example, if you have agreed to pay them 1.5% of the sale price in respect of a buyer they introduce - they have no reason to change those terms now.

Feebs77

The 1st Agent said they thought there was good interest on Rightmove and are blaming it on the price being too high....I will ask for a market comparison with similar properties.

Their explanation doesn't make sense, as people are still clicking on the property webpage, so the price for this type of property is within their search parameters.

So something puts them off, after they have viewed the online marketing, and I think it's more likely that my property is poorly presented in the photos.

Not sure what to do. My own photos are better than the estate agents, so I was thinking of asking them to replace with my photos, and drop the price, to encourage viewings, in the hope that I would receive higher offers?? 

However, I am worried I will be liable for estate agent fees if I reject offers over the new lower marketed price, and my contract ends without me agreeing to any offers.

I understand that some agents do ask for compensation if this happens.

Feebs77

Reading through the details of the contract, there are other clauses that seem a bit unfair. Are they standard?

I thought I would only need to pay estate agent fees on completion. This doesn't seem to be the case......

"If, for whatever reason, the sale of the Property fails to complete after exchange of contracts has taken place, the Fee shall be paid when the contract is rescinded"

"Should we introduce a buyer who is ‘ready, willing and able’ to unconditionally exchange contracts and the seller refuses to do so, save for when an existing onward chain is not ready, then we will be due a fee of 50% of the agreed fee."

"Termination: Upon receipt of written instructions from the Seller or by us to terminate this Agreement, we will write to the Seller explaining any ongoing liability to pay commission. This will include confirmation of potential buyers who may subsequently proceed to exchange unconditional contracts for the purchase of the Property which would, subject to paragraph 2 of this Agreement, oblige you to pay the Fee to us pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Agreement."

eddddy

Feebs77 said:

"If, for whatever reason, the sale of the Property fails to complete after exchange of contracts has taken place, the Fee shall be paid when the contract is rescinded"

That's fairly standard in estate agents contracts.

The theory is... if you exchange contracts, but the buyer fails to complete, you can sue the buyer for your losses.

So you pay the estate agent their fee, then sue your buyer to get the fee back. (But it's extremely rare for buyers to fail to complete.)

Feebs77 said:

"Should we introduce a buyer who is ‘ready, willing and able’ to unconditionally exchange contracts and the seller refuses to do so, save for when an existing onward chain is not ready, then we will be due a fee of 50% of the agreed fee."

Again, many estate agents have "ready willing and able buyer" clauses like that in their contracts. But I try to avoid estate agents who do that.

The idea behind them is... the estate agent finds a buyer, you accept their offer, everything is going great,.... but then you decide that you don't want to sell anymore, and you walk away.

The estate agent feels they have done all their work, and so you should still pay them.

But it wouldn't apply if the buyer changed their mind, and walked away.  (But there might be arguments about who walked away first - the seller or the buyer.)

Feebs77 said:

"Termination: Upon receipt of written instructions from the Seller or by us to terminate this Agreement, we will write to the Seller explaining any ongoing liability to pay commission. This will include confirmation of potential buyers who may subsequently proceed to exchange unconditional contracts for the purchase of the Property which would, subject to paragraph 2 of this Agreement, oblige you to pay the Fee to us pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Agreement."

This is exactly what we have been discussing in this thread. It's completely standard.

The estate agent will write you a letter explaining that you must pay them a fee, if somebody they introduced goes on to buy your property.

And they will give you a list of people (potential buyers) who they have introduced.

(You would then give that list to the second estate agent - except that you expect that list to be empty.)


So everything is great! They've said they'll give you the list without you even asking them for it! 






Edit to add...

Ideally, you should have scrutinised the estate agent's contract before you signed it - rather than now.

Hopefully you'll scrutinise the 2nd estate agent's contract in this much detail before you sign it.

 

Feebs77

Thanks for explaining. Yes, I did read the estate agents contract but didn't realize the implications of all the clauses, and some of the them are worded in a way I find confusing - so thanks for your help.

I've only bought and sold once before - everyone was chain free - and it went smoothly.

But my brother is also selling - and is 3rd down in a chain of 4. The seller at the top has "changed their mind", and its going to have a cost implication for everyone.  It's only when situations happen does the inexperienced, non legal minded, person starts to understand the implications of some of the clauses in the contract. 

Grumpy_chap

Feebs77 said:

They have also just given me data of the numbers of people clicked on my property marketing page - which is almost 1000 in 3 weeks - 

I would have thought that to have virtually zero significance.

Feebs77

Grumpy_chap said:

Feebs77 said:

They have also just given me data of the numbers of people clicked on my property marketing page - which is almost 1000 in 3 weeks - 

I would have thought that to have virtually zero significance.

I guess, on it's own the figures would be fairly useless information.  

Ive asked for their professional opinion on how the figures compare to other similar properties in this area around this price bracket? 

The estate agent told me that something puts the buyers off after they actually view the advert.

I think reasons could be:
- they don't like the property
- the photos are rubbish
- there's a load of window shoppers
- uncertainty until the governments budget is confirmed

GrubbyGirl_2

Feebs77 said:

eddddy said:

Feebs77 said:

I think I'm just extremely suspicious about the shady way my 1st estate agent has dealt with me (zero updates and no feedback unless I ask for it - amongst other dodgey things I won't go into!)

I believe they're banking on the 2nd agent to put in more networking / marketing work and wait for any prospective buyers to be reverted back to them.

Why do you believe that?

TBH, your posts here sound like you are over thinking this. 

It might be worth think in some other directions. maybe perhaps...

• Your property has been on the market for x weeks, why have there been no viewings?

The 1st Estate Agent said the feedback was that it was overpriced. But when they valued my property they told me they had interested buyers at the asking price, and they had total confidence in achieving it.

• Ask the 1st estate agent, the 2nd estate agent and other local estate agents what the current level of viewings is like in general

The 2nd Estate agent said that the price, marketed by 1st Estate Agent, needs to be reduced to get people through the door to then see what people are prepared to offer. I.e. In the hope that it achieves more than the marketed price.

I need to check if I am liable for 2nd Estate Agent fees if I reject asking price offers! As I can only consider the asking price offers if I had an onward purchase. I need more to sell chain free to pay for rental.

• i.e. Is the market 'pretty dead' and nobody is getting viewings, or is everyone else getting viewings - which suggests that there is a problem with your property (usually the price)

Yes the asking price is an issue, as it's putting people off of booking a viewing.

• Similarly, are other properties like yours going under offer? If so, why isn't yours?

There are rarely similar properties in my area. But when there are, they always go over the asking price, but have been marketed lower.

• What was it you liked about the 1st estate agent that made you choose them? Did you make a misjudgement, do you feel they misled you? How will you avoid the same mistake with your second choice of estate agent?

When the 1st Estate Agent valued my property they told me they knew of buyers who would be interested at the asking price, and that they had total confidence in achieving at least the asking price, if not more.
They are also a smaller agency, and I thought I would be getting a more dedicated service.

• What is the 2nd estate agent going to do differently from the1st estate agent to get viewings and offers?

2nd Estate Agent wants to drop the price to a level that will encourage buyers through the door. However, it's £50k less than what I need to move out chain free.
The 2nd Estate Agent is the biggest in my area.

Hi Eddddy,

I replied to your valid points above (in bold italic text)

Many people have said that all estate agents are the same, and so I don't want to bounce around different agents.
But the 2nd Estate Agent are marketing most of the properties in my area, and have the shortest contract out of their biggest competitors.

Not all agents are the same.  I had my last house on the market with one agent for nearly a year,  I didn't change because the market was quite flat.  A new agent started in business with 2 young guys.  They were 1/2% more expensive but it was noticeable how much better their listings were both in the photos and descriptions.  

They were confident in their ability to sell so they would not negotiate on fees.  I decided I would give them a go.  My house sold in 3 weeks for full asking price.  They are now by far the top agents in the area and they still charge 1/2% more than the others!