TopBanana

Selling two houses soon, never actually sold one before so wondering what sort of deal I should be going for with the estate agents?

Tiggs

1%

TopBanana

Just spotted the flat sale thread - does 1.2% seem about right then?

TopBanana

Do I hear any advance on 1%?

polarbearit

1% and try and get them to reduce the fee over time...

The Zohan

Anything between 1-3% on sole agencies, more on multi agencies. Get at least three to look at your house before deciding, also have a look in the local rags at adverts see which stands out.

Just changed agents, the first where cr@p IMHO

Neil Smalley

jlanng

YHM

TopBanana

I might say 1% for sole agency rights.. but rights expire after 6/8 weeks

Olly

Norm in our area is 1.25% + VAT, but a mate who is **** about saving money has just haggled down to 1% including VAT on his house sale. Estate agents want your business.

chiark

Our agents wanted 1.25 - we haggled 'em down to a fixed fee. OK, it might mean they're not wanting to max your price, but OTOH you know what you're paying

Old_Fart

I went with a flat-fee £1k+vat but think I got a pretty useless agent (last time my bro-in-law does the business end of things)
I'd say check out the local papers and see whose ads catch the eye..get a couple quotes and try and negotiate a little.
Cheapest definitely isn't best in todays buyers market.
Chuck

Terzo228

here in surrey it's about 2-3%

MarkO

When we sold in Kent (last summer) we negotiated 1.25%, which was much lower than the 2.5% usual rate of the agent in question. Other agents offered us 1% to get the business, but we didn't have much confidence in them. In return for the lower rate we did all the viewings ourselves, so really the agent just marketed the properties.

Bearing in mind the fact that since then the SE market has gone from very bouyant to flat (or dropping) I'd say that there should be even more room for negotiation now, as they'll really want your business. Anything more than 1.25% would be really taking the proverbial, and you should be aiming at 1%, really.

On the other hand, because the market's slowing, your property might need a bit more effort expended on its marketing, so you might have to pay a bit more.

Best thing to do is probably to offer 1% if they sell the property within 3 months, increasing to 1.25-1.5% if they find a buyer within a month. Guess it really depends how desperate you are to sell though - have you found a property to buy yet?

TopBanana

My girlfriend and I are moving in together Mark, and we're renting for about a year until we move somewhere more permanent. There are loads of rental properties on the market right now so it shouldn't be a problem finding one once the houses are sold. I think offering an incentive for a quick sale could be worthwhile - especially as the market always drops after the summer.

bigsinky

i negotiated £800 on £99500 sale plus £50 per 1000 over that amount. break even for me was £105k. guess what the house sold for. yep £105k so i was no better off for my negotiating.


my advice shop around. if they want your money make them work for it. feckin racket anyway, robbin bastids.


cheers

big sinky

Clarebabes

Like people have said I'm sure, (can't be assed to read it all), it depends on where you are in the country. Sold our house in Northampton recently for flat fee of £1200 + VAT.

However, similar priced house in Hinckley which I am selling now, I have negotiated £600 INCLUDING VAT!! They must be crawling over each other to get houses there, so all trying to out do one another.

RON

We had 6 agents round, they were all aboput 2%, one turnd up, who I was a schopol with, so got a deal of 1.6%
Ain't sold yet though!