Using Quicklister to sell a property

dhokes

I've been quoted 0.95% + VAT to sell my 2 bedroom semi detached house. However, with so many tools now available online, I was thinking of doing it myself. I already have an existing EPC certificate and I don't mind doing viewing myself, especially as some estate agents don't even do viewing in the evenings/weekends when that's ideal for some prospective buyers. I have seen there's a service offered by Quicklister who charge £299 for 3 months listing on Rightmove/Zoopla. Has anyone used this service or anything similar? If so, how did it go?

Albermarle

I have not used them, but probably the key thing to think about is how you would feel about negotiating directly with buyers, arguing about the price, asking them to prove they can afford any offer etc.

It can get a bit tense, especially when the inevitable issues arise during the process. Plus of course there are some strange people out there !

Bigphil1474

I was glad to pay the EA to do the affordability and ID checks with the buyers, and generally do all the phone calls and liaising. Up to you of course, but I wouldn't do it. We sold our old house for £180k, so the fee we paid was around £2k. Not worth saving that for me.

Herzlos

0.95%+VAT is pretty decent for an estate agent, too.

OldScientist

Never heard of quicklister before, but on a quick look they appear to offer a range of services (e.g., including viewings) that will handle the sale up to the point of accepting an offer. A few questions:

1. What does the £299 include?
2. Do they offer sales progression? Most EA (even small ones) have specialised sale progression teams since it is, generally, recognised that getting an offer accepted is the easy part - the hard part is getting the offer through to completion (my understanding is that EAs tend to deal with each other up and down the entire length of the chain, while solicitors only deal with adjacent links).
3. If your house doesn't sell in 3 months, will you have to stump up another £299? Some houses in my area (largely those with, IMO, unrealistic price tags) have been up for sale for nearly a year.

I'd agree with another comment, 0.95%+VAT is pretty good (in our region, headline fees inc VAT seem to lie between 1.0 to 1.5%)

saajan_12

Is the 0.95% + VAT on a no sale no fee basis? Different areas may vary but where we are in the outskirts of London, the going rate for full service, no sale no fee agents is ~1-1.2% + VAT.

I wouldn't go for an online only outfit for close to the same amount if you ever pay before contracts exchanged, or if there's no dedicated person to follow up.

Re sales progression, I don't think its the be all and end all, in my experience they've been pretty useless. But before the sale, a full service agent can give buyers the impression that it'll be a smooth sale, whereas some may stay away from properties advertised by the likes of Purple Bricks.

Re the £299 option, doing the tasks eg pictures, floorplan, viewings yourself aren't the hard bit.. its how it appears to the buyer.. sometimes people are put off by vendor-run viewings. The EPC is the easiest bit, not usually anything to do with the agent.