which estate agent to use ?

sjw101

have had 3 estate agents view our property this week and we are unsure which one to use. 2 agents came in with the similar values one at £160,000 and other at £165,000 the third valued in at £175,000. The first 2 agents also charged the same commission 1% +VAT,whilst the third has a fixed fee of £2500inc VAT. The main dilema is that we liked the third agent best even before they came to meet us their office was the most helpful when we called to arrange appointment and they seemed to have the better market knowledge they even give us some constructive criticism of the property to help sell, whilst the others said it ws perfect as it was. The qusetion is do we risk over pricing the house as we like the agent (due to the higher fee we wouldn't want to put it on market much lower with this agent) or use one of the other agents who basically came across as lazy. I called all three this morning as a potential buyer and only the third agent mentioned a house which sounded like ours which he hoped would be coming on the market and took my number to call if it did, so they seem like they will work harder for the extra fee. Any comments/ suggestions would be a great help, we're not greedy but obviously would like more money oi we can get it

dubsey

When we sold our last house we contacted 4 agents, only 3 turned up for the appointment :rolleyes: .

We liked one agent over the others but they valued higher than the others which we thought was unrealistic so we told them what we wanted to market at (5k less than they told us).

Have you looked at other properties similar to yours that have sold to get an idea of a good price? Do you need to sell or can you hang on because you could be waiting for a long time if you price even just a little too high.

si-mate

Ask them to match the other agents fees, or at least negotiate a reduction.

If you think that you won't get viewers at £175,000 then tell them you want £170,000 as your asking price (or whatever YOU choose).

Remember that I could market your house for a fixed fee of £200 inc VAT. But I can guarantee that you won't get any offers :rotfl:

In my experience go with the agent that you like and think will work best for you. Chances are that they are the ones who will sell your house the quickest for the most money. And you may get the difference in fees back (and more) in the negotiations.

sjw101

Thanks for reply, we have looked at prices within the area the problem is that our house is different to all other hoses in our road. Our house is a semi at the start of the road and all others are terraced (apart from next door obviously!) the typical price for the road is £150,000 which is lower than average because there is problems with parking higher up the road. we however have 3 offroad parking spaces and have extended our house so have lots more space than other 3 beds in whole village where typical price is between £170,000 and £180,000. Not in any real hurry to sell and we are looking at making £100,000, but don't want to be hanging aroung for ever have made decision to move and now want to get on with it

cheltenhamgirl

Defnitely definitely go on with the third agent. In todays market, you need to choose the agent who you believe will sell your house, not the cheapest, as it's only the hard working agent that will sell in this climate. Yes its an extra £700, but as somebody else said, all that agent has to do is get you a thousand pounds more in negotiations than the othner agent would, and you come out on top. I would suggest putting it on at 170 with the third agent, and be open to offers. Anything they get you over £160k is more than the opther cheaper agent promised. I never understand the quibling over small percentages on fees, as if you believe the agent is so much better, they will easily make up the difference by getting you a good buyer who will pay more. In a market where prices are dropping, getting sold quickly is imperative. If you go on with the other agent, and they don't sell it for three months, you could potentially have lost far more than £700 as your house drops in value.

Defnitely always go on with the agent who you believe will sell your property. Oh, and see if you can get them to drop their fee a bit and everyones a winner!

xx