StarsEnd Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 Just sold my house for £225. I had all the estate agents come round to do valuations. Same boring speeches from them all about how they were different from the rest. The cheapest I could get was 1% plus VAT. That's £6000 on my £500,000 house. The most expensive was 1.75% + VAT (not negotiable haha), so £10,500. Pretty staggering sums of money for doing not very much. When I think about how many hours graft I have to do to get that... Anyway, I put my house on with an online company. Did the photo's and floorplan myself, took me a couple of hours. All they did was stick it on RM, PrimeLocation etc. Prospective viewers contacted me via their website and I showed them around myself. I accepted an offer in three weeks, was out six weeks later. I've sold using estate agents in the past. What an incredibly simple and easy process it is without them sat in the middle confusing everybody. I've noticed round my way more and more houses coming on with online agents now. They made damn good money for a long time for doing easy work that requires all the intellect of an ant. Some of the antics I've experienced in the past... They are brown bread and it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habitationi Bulla Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 Good, now we just need the same thing to happen to employment agencies who are a far worse kind of parasite imho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NuBrit Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 11 minutes ago, StarsEnd said: Just sold my house for £225. I had all the estate agents come round to do valuations. Same boring speeches from them all about how they were different from the rest. The cheapest I could get was 1% plus VAT. That's £6000 on my £500,000 house. The most expensive was 1.75% + VAT (not negotiable haha), so £10,500. Pretty staggering sums of money for doing not very much. When I think about how many hours graft I have to do to get that... Anyway, I put my house on with an online company. Did the photo's and floorplan myself, took me a couple of hours. All they did was stick it on RM, PrimeLocation etc. Prospective viewers contacted me via their website and I showed them around myself. I accepted an offer in three weeks, was out six weeks later. I've sold using estate agents in the past. What an incredibly simple and easy process it is without them sat in the middle confusing everybody. I've noticed round my way more and more houses coming on with online agents now. They made damn good money for a long time for doing easy work that requires all the intellect of an ant. Some of the antics I've experienced in the past... They are brown bread and it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people Interesting. If you sold your house for £225, surely Purplebricks are ripping people off with their £900 fees? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Option5 Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 3 minutes ago, Habitationi Bulla said: Good, now we just need the same thing to happen to employment agencies who are a far worse kind of parasite imho. Hear, hear, spoken like a true (fellow) contractor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCountOfNowhere Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 There's an anecdotal forum, did you know ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 2 minutes ago, Option5 said: Hear, hear, spoken like a true (fellow) contractor. +1, i wish i was getting what my work placement pays my agency for me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarsEnd Posted August 9, 2017 Author Share Posted August 9, 2017 9 minutes ago, NuBrit said: Interesting. If you sold your house for £225, surely Purplebricks are ripping people off with their £900 fees? If you can be bothered to do a small amount of work yourself then yes, you can get it considerably cheaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Option5 Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 18 minutes ago, StarsEnd said: Just sold my house for £225. I had all the estate agents come round to do valuations. Same boring speeches from them all about how they were different from the rest. The cheapest I could get was 1% plus VAT. That's £6000 on my £500,000 house. The most expensive was 1.75% + VAT (not negotiable haha), so £10,500. Pretty staggering sums of money for doing not very much. When I think about how many hours graft I have to do to get that... Anyway, I put my house on with an online company. Did the photo's and floorplan myself, took me a couple of hours. All they did was stick it on RM, PrimeLocation etc. Prospective viewers contacted me via their website and I showed them around myself. I accepted an offer in three weeks, was out six weeks later. I've sold using estate agents in the past. What an incredibly simple and easy process it is without them sat in the middle confusing everybody. I've noticed round my way more and more houses coming on with online agents now. They made damn good money for a long time for doing easy work that requires all the intellect of an ant. Some of the antics I've experienced in the past... They are brown bread and it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people Presumably there's a market for a free property selling website financed by advertising (house insurance, removals companies, utility suppliers etc). The owners could self value they effectively do that anyway "we're not giving it away" If/when the crash comes people in little or negative equity won't want to spend more cash they haven't got on agents fees. Unless of course the agents agree to only take a percentage of the profits they promised when they bought Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarsEnd Posted August 9, 2017 Author Share Posted August 9, 2017 5 minutes ago, TheCountOfNowhere said: There's an anecdotal forum, did you know ? I'm not sure I'd call it anecdotal. It's a fact I just sold my house for £225. I would think that fairly relevent to the subject matter of this forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarsEnd Posted August 9, 2017 Author Share Posted August 9, 2017 10 minutes ago, Option5 said: Hear, hear, spoken like a true (fellow) contractor. I'm a contractor as well. Yes, be brilliant to get rid of employment agencies but unfortunately not as simple to get rid of as estate agents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Option5 Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 7 minutes ago, TheCountOfNowhere said: There's an anecdotal forum, did you know ? That would require us to know what anecdotal means....................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarsEnd Posted August 9, 2017 Author Share Posted August 9, 2017 Quite happy for the mods to move to another forum if they think there's a more appropriate one. Thought people might be interested though as to how cheaply you can sell your house and what it means for estate agents (the other forums aren't read as widely). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldbug9999 Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 15 minutes ago, Option5 said: Presumably there's a market for a free property selling website financed by advertising (house insurance, removals companies, utility suppliers etc). Such a site cannot be free because the site would be required by law to register as an estate agent (which in turn requires it to be responsible for incorrect details in listings). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivingWithTheInlaws Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 (edited) 19 minutes ago, StarsEnd said: I'm a contractor as well. Yes, be brilliant to get rid of employment agencies but unfortunately not as simple to get rid of as estate agents. I used to be. I got a call from one years ago saying he could get me 300 a day for a particular contract and in the end the client called me direct through a friend of a friend and I found out it was available at 400 a day. So the agent would have taken that difference and pocketed it, on top of what the client had allowed for agency fees. When I took up the job, I actually had to go through that same agent to get paid and he seemed surprised that I had managed to negotiate my own contract. Really? It's not exactly that difficult. Edited August 9, 2017 by LivingWithTheInlaws Typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Option5 Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 1 minute ago, goldbug9999 said: Such a site cannot be free because the site would be required by law to register as an estate agent (which in turn requires it to be responsible for incorrect details in listings). A portal to allow you to advertise your house for sale is probably no different in law than putting it in the local paper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarsEnd Posted August 9, 2017 Author Share Posted August 9, 2017 27 minutes ago, LivingWithTheInlaws said: I used to be. I got a call from one years ago saying he could get me 300 a day for a particular contract and in the end the client called me direct through a friend of a friend and I found out it was available at 400 a day. So the agent would have taken that difference and pocketed it, on top of what the client had allowed for agency fees. When I took up the job, I actually had to go through that same agent to get paid and he seemed surprised that I had managed to negotiate my own contract. Really? It's not exactly that difficult. I said to one of the estate agents that came round that I was thinking of using an online agency. He asked me who would do the viewings. I said I would. He sounded absolutely flumoxed at this like he'd never even considered that was possible. Would it be wrong to email them all and tell them how much I sold for? With a follow up phone call of me sniggering down the phone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longgone Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 1 hour ago, Option5 said: Hear, hear, spoken like a true (fellow) contractor. they are just as bad for permanent roles , everyone wants big money for doing nothing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccc Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 1 hour ago, LivingWithTheInlaws said: I used to be. I got a call from one years ago saying he could get me 300 a day for a particular contract and in the end the client called me direct through a friend of a friend and I found out it was available at 400 a day. So the agent would have taken that difference and pocketed it, on top of what the client had allowed for agency fees. When I took up the job, I actually had to go through that same agent to get paid and he seemed surprised that I had managed to negotiate my own contract. Really? It's not exactly that difficult. Most of the big ones do fixed known margins these days at the request of their big clients. I don't mind that too much. Loriens margin at RBS is apparently very low. Did it to get the gig ahead of the other big boys wanting it. It's something like 2-3% I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Option5 Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 10 minutes ago, ccc said: Most of the big ones do fixed known margins these days at the request of their big clients. True, I've worked for a few Oil Majors and they tell you the rate not the agent who is on a fixed mark-up. Mind you all they do for me is pay the invoice, I get the jobs by word of mouth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCountOfNowhere Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 2 hours ago, StarsEnd said: I'm not sure I'd call it anecdotal. It's a fact I just sold my house for £225. I would think that fairly relevent to the subject matter of this forum. I'm sure it is....as soon as you can post some receipts etc and some land reg listings we'll be all over it like a cheap suit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insertcoinstocontinue Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 2 hours ago, Option5 said: A portal to allow you to advertise your house for sale is probably no different in law than putting it in the local paper. Exactly what I did and it cost me £25 and sold in 2 days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Option5 Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 Just now, insertcoinstocontinue said: Exactly what I did and it cost me £25 and sold in 2 days Pwoperty Twader? Exchange and lose everything? Up a GumTree? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Banks Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 3 hours ago, TheCountOfNowhere said: There's an anecdotal forum, did you know ? come on count surely every one of your "i've found a house that has just been marketed at a lower price" threads are anecdotal. so hopefully you will follow the same tract. Or are you refusing to believe houses are selling again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
“Nasty Piece of work” Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 20 hours ago, Mr Banks said: Or are you refusing to believe houses are selling again. Does the "again" refer to the "refuse", "believe" or "selling"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.