Mick

iTrader: (1)

Estate agents round here still seem to be charging 1 1/2 % on sale price to put up a few ads and a board outside. With property prices having doubled in the last 5 yrs it seems a bit excessive £3000 forselling a £200,000 house!

Are they they good VFM or is it easy enough to do it yourself?

Any advice appreciated.

Cheers

Mick

Scooby96

Knock em down - you should be able to get a 1% deal or 1.1/1.15%

Brendan Hughes

If you're VERY organised (get an answerphone to stop calls at funny hours) and VERY patient (many people will be an hour late, even more just won't turn up) you can DIY, though dunno about the legal side of things.

Otherwise, as S96 says, barter them down a bit. "Is that your best price?"

Other thing is, cost isn't everything. My agents charged me 500 quid more, but as they sold the house for 7k more than all others offered to price it at, I ended up definitely quids in.

Goochie

always remember though, an estate agent will push a house harder if he's going to get more commision

Dracoro

Or try selling by yourself (on internet, local papers, your own for sale sign etc.) for a month or so to see if you get any interest or offers. If no luck, then use an agent and try to get the %age down. 1% is what I paid when I sold my flat.

RON

Mick,
we were going to go down the DIY route when we put our cottage for sale at easter last year, went for the highest valuation but he was a school mate aswell, no joy, changed agents in July, still no joy, this is frustrating enough with someone else selling it, imagine if we were dealing with it, people are morwe honest about whether they like a property with an agent, but they talk all sorts of crap when you're showing them around!

Tiggs

use an agent....£3000 is no big deal to you when your getting £197,000 but its enough to motivate an agent. (although 1% is prob achiveable)

T

ps- if your agent just "puts up a board" then you have a retard not an agent and i suggest you get a better one!

Scooby96

try halfapercent.com