Estate Agent Fees

[munimula]

Parents are looking to sell their house, valued at £450K.

The estate agent is asking 2% - a whopping £9K. This is reduced from the usual 2.5% (3% multiple agents)

How can they justify keeping the percentages the same when prices have gone up so much? Their costs won't have gone up anything like as much.

What should my parents do?

I told them to go no higher than 1.5%. Is this realistic?

[gilf]

Parents are looking to sell their house, valued at £450K.

The estate agent is asking 2% - a whopping £9K. This is reduced from the usual 2.5% (3% multiple agents)

How can they justify keeping the percentages the same when prices have gone up so much? Their costs won't have gone up anything like as much.

What should my parents do?

I told them to go no higher than 1.5%. Is this realistic?

It all depends on what the competition is like in the area, are there many other agents around? If so you can play them off each other.

[bubbleturbo]

My parent sold a house for £450,000 last year.

Agents fees were £4K.

South East.

[Surrey cash buyer]

I sold through a pefectly good high street agent las year. Normal rate 1%, got him down to 0.75%. Simillar value property but good loaction and relatively easy to sell.

[Gbob]

Find another Estate agent. I think I paid 1.25% when I sold my flat last year.

[benjamin]

give them an incentive.

2% (or whatever) if sold in 4 weeks

3% (ditto) if sold in 2 weeks

if, when they get to the 0.5% stage after not selling in say 10 weeks, they may lose interest. at that point, so do you & appoint another estate agent. simple - and start again.

[Long Game]

Use their spin against them. No doubt they'll have said "we'll sell this really quickly", "flying off shelves", "we're great". So that means little effort for them and hence lower fees are appropriate.

Also tell them you'll go elsewhere.

Are your Mum&Dad not particularly aggressive? Ask them how many hours they have to work to clear 9k net of tax - that sometimes puts things into perspective.

Pitch for 1 to 1.25%

[backtoparents]

Could you agree the 3%, but whack the price up with this agent to compensate. Then tell them you'll be offering a lower price with another agent who takes a smaller slice?

What is your reason for sticking with this agent?

btp

[munimula]

Use their spin against them. No doubt they'll have said "we'll sell this really quickly", "flying off shelves", "we're great". So that means little effort for them and hence lower fees are appropriate.

Also tell them you'll go elsewhere.

Are your Mum&Dad not particularly aggressive? Ask them how many hours they have to work to clear 9k net of tax - that sometimes puts things into perspective.

Pitch for 1 to 1.25%

No, my mum and dad are financially illiterate. I'm trying to help them.

Mum however did ask the agent if they would do it for 1.5%. The reply was that 2% was already a reduction on the usual 2.5% and they reduced it further to 1.9% in good faith. There aren't many agents in the area and mum seems to think that this agent is the best in the area. Another agent did say they would do it for 1.5% in 2004. Perhaps with the price increase they would do it for less than this now.

I think their 1.9% (potentially just under £9K) is taking the f*cking piss. I told mum to offer 1.5% or walk away. From what some of you are saying 1.5% looks a bit high.

I don't want to get them in trouble and mention the agent but the area is Padstow, Cornwall.

Edited February 20, 2006 by munimula

[SarahBell]

Collate all the data from other estate agents. Do the legwork for them - ask if you can have the money you're saving them?

[Pablo-silver or lead?]

Negotiating skills lesson one.

Prospective vendor “So you like the house?”

EA “Yes it’s lovely”?

Prospective vendor “you’ve priced it accurately for the market?”

EA “Yes we have”

Prospective vendor “In you’re sales pitch you’ve told us how efficient you are at marketing houses like this and it shouldn’t take too long to sell?”

EA with smug look on their face “that’s correct”.

Prospective vendor “so why are you proposing to charge me a ridicules amount of commission that’s above the market rate”?

EA Blushes and talks a load of bo££ocks.

Prospective vendor “If you want the instruction it’s 1.5% or I will go to one of you’re hundred competitors, now wind you’re neck in, NEXT”!

Pablo Silver or Lead?

[Father Fred]

Generally speaking the better the agent the less likely they'll be prepared to reduce their fees.

Also, you want a tough negotiator on your side when you're selling the place, not someone who'll drop 1.5% off their commission fee after a couple of phone calls.

When I used to work as a high street agent I would make a note of the commission I would earn on each sale assuming a sale at asking price. I would work on the expensive properties, or the average priced ones with higher fees first. If someone had negotiated a low fee on a studio then they would be well down the list.

[eternalnomad]

Ours went on market a couple of weeks ago.

One agent wanted 1.75% - claimed this was already a discount from their usual fees - I told him where the exit was

On the market with agency at 1% commission (and if they dont get it sold soon I will take it off the market, pay them their £100 "fee" and put it on with another agent who has offered to do it for 0.75%)

Edited February 20, 2006 by eternalnomad

[munimula]

Generally speaking the better the agent the less likely they'll be prepared to reduce their fees.

Also, you want a tough negotiator on your side when you're selling the place, not someone who'll drop 1.5% off their commission fee after a couple of phone calls.

When I used to work as a high street agent I would make a note of the commission I would earn on each sale assuming a sale at asking price. I would work on the expensive properties, or the average priced ones with higher fees first. If someone had negotiated a low fee on a studio then they would be well down the list.

For £6750 (@1.5%) I reckon they will still do their best to sell it don't you?

Their 1.9% fee (£8550) seems ludicrous no matter how good they are.

I think £6750 is ridiculous and that a 'realistic' fee should be 1% or £4500 which still ain't bad.

[Given Up]

When we chose our agent, there were loads of things we considered.

The price an agent suggests can vary widely if they price too high tey really really want your business.

Regarding the fee, it depends what they include in their price such as type of details and advertising. Ask where they advertise and how they will advertise your parents house.

The only agent I found that would not negotiate at all is the little green car mob.

They need to have a think about who would buy their house and then where those people would look. Are they selling to young professional couple with kids? If so maybe they are both working and busy and likely to search on internet so important to work out which websites they advertise on which varies a lot.

Are they selling to retiring coulple? if so they are more likely to ring up agents or wander around looking in agent's windows.

How many agents are they using? 2 will fight and generate gazumping which is what happened to us.

What sort of response do they get when they ring up the agents? is it ages for phone to get answered? because that is what it will be like for a buyer.

Do they like the staff, all of them? or just theh manager who did the valuation. The team the agent has is the team that prospective buyers will meet. how long have the team been at the affice? are they new? do they know the area?

At the moment, the key is getting the price right I was told that if you haven't had an offer within 6 weeks, drop the price by 10% and repeat until sold.

At the end of the day 1.5% of nothing is not a better deal than 2% of full asking price.

[Pablo-silver or lead?]

The only thing you should want you're EA to do is sell your house at the best (market) price as quickly as possible. Its a 'nice to have' if they don't lie to you, but don't hold you're breath!

Facts of Life.

If you're an EA you sell up/add value/and negotiate the highest fee possible.

If you're the vendoor you negtiate the lowest fee possible from the best EA and just because you beat them down from 2.5% to 1.5% dosen't mean you expect any less of a service.

Estate Agency always has been and always will be a tough old way to earn a crust (anyone that thinks otherwise hasn't done it) but that no excuse to lit them take the Pi$$.

Pablo Silver or Lead?

[Father Fred]

Generally speaking I was more tempted to drop the fee on a big house, whereas a studio I'd be much more likely to say "2% take it or leave it"... as even then it'd only be £2k fee

[IMupNorth]

Things must be picking up for the EAs if they think they can get away with this.

I was charged 1% 18 months ago. That was by the Halifax Estate Agency, but all the others were the same.

[Given Up]

I find EAs are much more likely to negotiate on fees if they think the property will be easy to sell. This can be a balance between the asking price, the level of stock and the desirability of the property. Also, some agents want to take on a property as they think that having it on theri books will help them get more properties of that type) if it was say in a very good location). Our property had offers very quickly as we priced it sensibly.

[Bingley Bloke]

Is it possible to buy/sell a house without employing an EA at all?

[Given Up]

You can stick a sign up outside your house! Weren't Tesco going to do some sort of cheap do-it-yourself service?