Estate Agents - does it matter which one i go with

mystic_bertie

i am selling my house and want it on the market in the next 7 days after some work is done, i have had 4 estate agents round, the order is in biggest for this area
slater hogg
goodfellow
countrywide
allen and harris

now they each have varying marketing fees and 3 of them are 1% of sale price, unsure if that includes vat. |Countrywide is 0.75% but has higher marketing fees. Anyway does it really matter which i choose, they all advertise in their window, in local paper and rightmove and their own website, so should i basically go with the cheapest after i play them off against each other ?

I have no preference really although the guy from goodfellow bored me to tears i think he was hoping i would go with him if he just sat there. :mad:

country_sport

I would avoid countrywide. Bad news all round. Dont know about the others but the cheapest is not always the best. Problem is, nor is the dearest!

pickles110564

On the whole they are all as bad as each other, look around the area that you want to sell, see which agent has the most boards and use them. Make sure you haggle on the price that the agent wants to charge you.
best of luck

jimc_2

pickles110564 wrote: »

see which agent has the most boards and use them.

Surely the ones with the most boards are the useless ones? Look in windows for the agent with the most 'Sold subject to Contract' stickers.

Others have advised that if you've got the nerve, to simply go to a property with a 'for sale' board from your short-list of agents, knock on the door, tell them you are thinking of going with agent X and ask them what they think if the Agent.

Hope this helps.

Jorgan_2

Go into each branch and see how they deal with you as a buyer, if they can't get that right, then I wouldn't use them.

You will usually need to add VAT to the 1% fee.

Who do you fell the most comfortable with?

Mutton_Geoff

Watch out for the clause in the Countrywide contract that means you will pay them a commission if you ever sell the house to someone that was ever on their books. Even properly letting a sales agreement expire and cancelling in writing with them, they will chase you for their fee even if it's ever sold through another agent. They have a whole department at HQ that monitors land registry data and agents databases for a match.

Their agents should be called "Hotel California" as you can check out but you can never leave! (See my other threads for more info on how I was sued by them despite their complete incompetence). Avoid them. Sorry I meant to say ..

AVOID COUNTRYWIDE

mystic_bertie

thanks for the advice people, i will phone around and see what best price i can get, i dont have any time left for seeing who would be best, i think it will boil down to best price.

any tips on how to haggle them down ?

sorry to hear about your countrywide problems i really cant belkieve they would do that, i assume they are the only ones who use these dirty tricks ?

Canucklehead

Hi

I would say www.housenetwork.co.uk

Corgi Guy.

ronaldmacdonald

Canucklehead wrote: »

Hi

I would say www.housenetwork.co.uk

Corgi Guy.

+1. Sold my house within 30 days. 1st offer within 14 days. Very professional and all for £500. :T

mystic_bertie

Canucklehead wrote: »

Hi

I would say www.housenetwork.co.uk

Corgi Guy.

they have nothing in scotland :cool:

MadMonkey

All estate agents are snakes - lying snakes.

They lure you in by being all nice and friendly but once the contract is signed they will ignore you completely.

My advice is to find properties on rightmove with all the different EA and click through rightmove to "request details" on the properties and see which ones get back to you the quickest.

Whilst looking for houses we have done this and there are 1-2 EA who just ignore the request.

Go with the EA who post the details out the next day and then follow up with call to see if you want to view. The EA who work for a sale are the ones to go with.

Personally I think all EA should be sent to another planet cause they all seem to live on one anyway.

Bitter ? Me? Oh yes:p