Estate agent fees

Pythagorous

Thinking of selling my house in East Belfast and the estate agent fees vary from a fixed 1000 quid to 1% + 250. Would like to hear the thoughts of others on which agencies are good and worth paying the extra fee for and anything (other than the obvious) else to consider when weighing up the different agents.

Specific recommendations and warnings of those to be wary of appreciated as well.

Thanks

janren

Hi Pythagorous

i've got no recommendations apart from this one - when you find a good'un don't accept their standard terms.

as you've indicated below, cost isn't the only consideration, it does boil down to who can get you the best £ for your house, but i interviewed about 5 when i was preparing to sell my house, and was able to negotiate all of them down significantly from their original fee.

Good luck

Janren

aidsy

hi Pythagorous
ive just put a property on the market just off beersbridge road i got 3 local EAs in MCW would not play with their price no matter what 200notes for addvitising and 1% of sale i ended up going with Vision EA fixed fee of 850 this is going up to 950 shortly tho vision gave me the lowest value they put it on the market at what i asked. i also asked for the property to be shown in the front window for the first 8 weeks that they agreed to. U need to ask where they advitise in vision do their own web site , propertynews mag , propertynews web.

cheers aidsy

RooBee

I've noticed a couple of properties in my vicinity have gone on the market with Vision but changed after a few months to other agents (UPS & Pooler 2 that I recall). From keeping an eye on the local market, Vision's valuations seem to be on the high side and not always realistic fot the property. Totally at odds wih what the previous poster said, I know, but just my observations.

I personally wouldn't recommend John Minnis...I had the misfortune of dealing with him when purchasing my present house (he was with Philip Johnston & Co then but has gone out on his own since). The last conversation I had with him ended with me telling him I wouldn't trust him to sell a second hand car, never mind a property. Truly awful experience and he was certainly not acting in the interests of his vendor!

Good luck with the sale.

aidsy

Hi RooBee
Iam not sticking up for Vision here but the way i see it is most EAs charge a fee for marketing ur property (if it sells or not), usally a fee of approx 200notes.(vision do not)
the market is going very slow at the moment , so if ur in a position of selling a house and its not selling and theres no charge to drop and change ur EA u might do it...

aidsy

leftieM

I tried selling last year and went with the cheapest agent, Shanks - 0.5% at the time. They were utter rubbish and got us two buyers who couldn't get mortgages (and it took months for us to know this) so we lost the house we wanted to buy. They did no follow up on the sales. I think they were chronically understaffed during the boom and prioritised bids coming in to the detriment of sale completions. If it was difficult, they didn't bother.
Interestingly, I had the Halifax out last year and negotiated .75%. This year when I considered selling I got them out for a valuation and they said no way would they drop their fee below 1%. Their margins are much tighter now.
Go with whoever has the most sold signs up in your area. Don't be seduced by the highest valuation - this is a marketing ploy to get your business.
UPS don't advertise on Property News which is a weakness imho.

Pythagorous

Thanks guys,

So far I've had out:

MCW - 1% +250 I think. Seem pretty professional and cover East Belfast very well

Moving - 1000 quid. Cheap, but very small and may only get a limited no. of viewers

Halifax - 1% + 250. Like MCW very good and as they also currently have their own paper with the Bel Tel might be a very good bet.

UPS - 1%. Crap website and don't advertise in Property news

Pooler - 0.75%. Yet to make up my mind on these guys. Seem v professional etc, and reasonably priced, but how wide an area would they get customers from?

Bigcammy

You could also consider McClearys on the Cregagh Road and Ballyhackamore, dealt with them a few times for rentals and they seemed professional and keen.

djdarren

I am considering the same had 3 valuations one high (BTWCairns), one mid (Halifax) and one low (John Minnis) they offered the following

BTW - 1% plus £300 marketing fee
Halifax - 1% no marketing fee
Minnis - 0.9% + 300 marketing fee

They all seem to do the usual property news & window displays but not all do Belfast tele and their own publications. Think about who is going to market and advertise it best to get potential buyers in the door

I still havent decided but may go with the agent who is also selling the property I would like to buy.

Can anyone advise what is the total cost of moving on average including estate agents fees & solicitors etc? £5000-£10000?

leftieM

djdarren wrote: »

I am considering the same had 3 valuations one high (BTWCairns), one mid (Halifax) and one low (John Minnis) they offered the following

BTW - 1% plus £300 marketing fee
Halifax - 1% no marketing fee
Minnis - 0.9% + 300 marketing fee

They all seem to do the usual property news & window displays but not all do Belfast tele and their own publications. Think about who is going to market and advertise it best to get potential buyers in the door

I still havent decided but may go with the agent who is also selling the property I would like to buy.

Can anyone advise what is the total cost of moving on average including estate agents fees & solicitors etc? £5000-£10000?

In my limited experience using the agent who is selling the house you want is no advantage (except to the EA). As for moving costs - we were paying 1500 to the solicitor, 2k to the EA, stamp duty of 2.5k (obviously this will be more if you go above 250k), removal costs £350 (quiet market so you will be able to haggle), survey £600, mortgage set up fees £hundreds. Solicitors' fees vary massively. Get a few quotes. There's an old thread on here somewhere recommending solicitors. It's a good starting point.

ginger_nuts

Pythagorous wrote: »

Thanks guys,

So far I've had out:

MCW - 1% +250 I think. Seem pretty professional and cover East Belfast very well

Moving - 1000 quid. Cheap, but very small and may only get a limited no. of viewers

Halifax - 1% + 250. Like MCW very good and as they also currently have their own paper with the Bel Tel might be a very good bet.

UPS - 1%. Crap website and don't advertise in Property news

Pooler - 0.75%. Yet to make up my mind on these guys. Seem v professional etc, and reasonably priced, but how wide an area would they get customers from?

is this including VAT ?