Diesel

House is going on the market, and apart from the surprise at spread of the valuations we have got (+/- £80k) my other issue is the commission.



Nothing wrong in a decent rate for a day’s work, but, after VAT their fees @1.5% are approaching 5 figures



1% sounds fairer to me (esp as mine is soon to be a vacant possession) but I struggled to negotiate it with my preferred agent today…



Going in to see him Weds (with flowers a stick and a Dinky model TT ) & would be good to know what are people paying in the SE/Surrey.



Cheers

David Lock

We paid 2.5% to a Surrey (Cranleigh) agent and that was discounted because they were joint agents! Rip off but that was the going rate for the market we were in. DL

Wish

iTrader: (2)

Just put one of my rentals up for sale

£149,995.00 Commision is £2750 plus the VAT
And they wanted 16 weeks with me too.... And would not budge! Ive always done well out of estate agents but this time its there turn.

(South East Kent)

Pastor

1% flat fee, sole agency, SE England with some haggling. Any more is a rip off.

Regacy

That's my experience as well.
However the market is flatter than a flat thing so they're going to have to work quite hard to get it sold and will therefore incur higher costs so I'd aim for a 1.15 or 1.2 level and give them 4 weeks max. Also explain that once the price is fixed you won't consider dropping it with them, so if they've over-valued to get the business they should think about their price now not later.

pslewis

0% is what you should pay an agent

Honestly, its simple selling yourself - its about the easiest pile of money I have ever made in my life ................. remember to put your own sign in the garden, get the details printed up (digital photos of rooms lets the buyers re-visit it in their minds later)

Get your Solicitor sorted out then just exchange details with your buyer, end of story!

One house I sold was brilliant - a similar house was for sale further into the cul-de-sac, everyone who drove to that one went past my superior offering!! the Estate Agents went mental Ha Ha Ha!!

I got 3 people out-bidding each other to get it, got £10% MORE than the Agents reckoned it was worth AND saved myself 1.5% in commission ...... and ..... of course ....

Theres no VAT if you sell it yourself!!

Its the simplest, easiest job I have had in my life and it took all of 5 hours!!

DO IT!!

Pete

Diesel

1% seems reasonable then - especially as they 'have loads of buyers on their books looking for properties sinmilar to mine'!!!. Dont have the time for DIY sell as I have to be away within two weeks . I can live with 1% - well those TT's have big servicing costs after all

gareth123

If that's the case it shouldn't take them more than 4 hours work to sell it, so offer them 2500 - easy money for them with all those buyers queued up

Or suggest that you'll give them their 1.5% if they sell it for (say) 10000 more than the asking price, 3% less than the asking gets them 1.25%, 5% less gets 1.0%.....

Scum the lot of them IMO. Parasitic scum.

pslewis

A quick word from an old git - 'IF' they have loads of people on their books after a house like yours then I would WITHOUT QUESTION sell myself, as it will take less than 2 days to sell.

Or do you think all those buyers are ONLY on that agents books??? NO they are looking around the streets, asking friends and family, reading adverts, all you need do is put a FOR SALE sign in the front and its done.

OR, offer them a flat fee (if they have queues of buyers then they WILL take it) as other agents will have the SAME buyers on THEIR books too!

Don't get stitched up!

Pete

Dazzler

Go with Pete's suggestion. My Gran sold her place very quickly by just putting up her own sign in the front garden, witha contact number to arrange viewings. No commision paid, job done!

Dream Weaver

Haggle with them, ours wanted 1.5% recently, and then reduced it to 1.25%. Just before I finally signed up with him I talked him down to 1% which is the std rate around here.

Chrisgr31

Personally I would disagree with all those going with the haggle, and sell it yourself theories. Selling it yourself may work in a good market and if you are in a location where people will see your board. If people don't go past they won't see the board!

Selling it yourself is very dependent on the type of property and location.

As regards Estate Agents ina lot of areas it is a very difficult market. If Estate Agents have scores of buyers on the books I'd be suprised. Who wants to move at Christmas and early in January?

Personally I would test the estate agents as a buyer, see who sends approriate particulars, calls, encourages viewings and finds out what your opinion was after the viewing. Oh but they mustn't be too pushy!

At this time of year they'll need longer than 4 weeks to sell the house, allow at least 10. The more you are paying them the keener they will be to sell your house. If thy have two houses identical price one paying 1% the other 1.5% logic says they will try harder to sell the 1.5% one!

hail-hail

I have my house on the market at the moment, agents fee is 1.25% on a property that is valued at 275k. They have failed to sell it in the time stipulated by me, 8 weeks I think. I have now brought in another agent.

Agent 1 still at 1.25%, still trying to sell the house.
Agent 2 at 1.5% moving to 1.25% if not sold in 6weeks.

I was originally told 3% for duel agency, but negotiate and you will get what you want, to a point anyway.

Dream Weaver

Thats all sweeping generalisation - how can you disagree with haggling? It saved us 0.5%.

As for who wants to move at Xmas, we've just moved into our new house, and sold ours very quickly (4 days). The market is ripe around here.

It all depends on your area, but there's nothing wrong with beating them down to a good deal.

scoobyjimbo

I got 1% inc vat for my recent house move, which i was well happy with.. They started off wanting 2.25% ... if you haggle and play them off against each other suprising how much they will give in..

J

pslewis

If you think about it, their commission has gone up in line with house prices!!

House A they would sell last year for £X commission is this years House B, so they can afford to charge £X - (thats a minus!) whatever you can haggle off

For example, the house they charged £1000 to sell last year is now attracting a £1750 fee (due to house price increase) therefore it makes sense that they can still sell for £1000.

Anyone who doesn't haggle is completely mad! Chrisgr31 must have too much money in his pocket!

Pete

Diesel

That's what I hoped for - well what with having 6 agencies in line of sight of each other!!!

Thanks for all the advice guys.

pslewis

They know each other well remember!! and drink together, so don't expect too much in the way of competition ......................
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you just play their overinflated ego's off against each other!!

Pete