BlkKnight

Hi Guys,

I've had two estate agents round to value my flat.

They both gave my very different fees & valuations:

Connells
Fee: £2000 - fixed works out to be 1.8% ish
Value: £110,000 > £115,000


Philip Greene
Fee: 1.25% - works out to be £1600 ish
Value: £125,000 > £130,000

Connells gave me the impression they will "hard sell" a mortgage / financial advise to any prospective buyer.

Both agents use Right Move & local Rag - Philip Greene usually a 4 page spread.

Please can someone shed a little light on the large value differences & fees.

Or if anyone can recommend another agent to get round to have a look (High Wycombe area).

Alas

No idea about the difference in value but know I never use an Estate agent to sell my house. Always do it privately through the newspapers. easy enough to knock up the info with a digi camera & computer. Have'nt failed to sell yet

fast bloke

you should be able to get an agent to do it for less than 1%. The differences aren't that big. I would get a couple of the big names to give you a valuation as well and then put it on for the average price

Account deleted by request

You like most peope who do this have probably failed to reach the full market value due to lack of exposure.

I work in the property market and have bought two houses of people selling privately, they both made me money without lifting a finger.

Wish more people were stupid enough to do this-i'd make a fortune.

chop

Account deleted by request

If you live in a block of similar properties try www.propertypod.co.uk - you can normally register free for 7 days.

This site is linked to land registry and will give you actual sale prices of other properties, this should give you a good idea of what people are paying.

If you don't want to register pm me your postcode & email address and I will do it on my account and send over to you.

Remeber it is not just about cheapest fee, you need good market coverage, advertising and most of all confidence the agent will sell for a good price.

Why say if you get me over 115,000 i will pay 1.5% but if under 110,000 i pay .75% between the two figures 1%. It is a good incentive for them and you then know that they will try their very best to get best price.

chop

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

Beware agents who come in at higher figures - a lot of these will over value a house in the hope someone buys it, and they make more - an agent can value your house at £500K, but if nobody even views its pretty meaningless.

Have you compared your house to others locally that HAVE sold ( rather than ones that have been sat on the market for 6 months with some daft made up figure ) - see what they went for and go with the agent that has valued it realistically as they are more likely to sell for you.

Greenes may want £400 less in fees, but if they cant sell the flat its pretty academic.

Alas

I love people like you who make assumptions. Don't be so quick to criticise.
Did I say that I did not get valuations of what the properties were worth?? At the minute I'm sitting in my house with no mortgage. Must be doing something right.

BlkKnight

Can I as a home owner use rightmove.co.uk?

I see no option to list my property

I like the idea of sliding scale fees I'll see what they way.

I looking at the market, it's easily worth 120 / 125 as it's a nice big flat.

How difficult is it to actually sell your own place?

davyboy

We're paying 1.75% of about 165k so that does not look so bad.

The fact is, I want to sell my house quickley for the highest price, and not try and save a few hundred quid by going with the cheapest agent.

Alas

Hi m8
I found it no problem as I got the houses valued, checked on what similar had sold for in the area, picked where I was going to advertise (local papers) and. Made up the info on the house for prospective buyers. Then arranged viewings for people. I set a closing date on my places with offers over the minimum I would accept with bids going to my lawyer. As it is Scotland the system is different and the minimum price quoted is nearly always exceeded by a good amount. I also tried to arrange viewings so the customers would see others also looking at the house.
Its like selling anything else, just needs more care.

BlkKnight

Scotland is very different from the UK.

An offer is binding for a start!

Account deleted by request

Your in Scotland, probably worth 50k, south of the border that ain't much of an achievement

chop

Jonathan Davies

Exclusivity is usally an issue with fees, I think. I.e. they'll charge less if exclusive, more if you use several agents... presumably because an exclusive agent is more likely to end up getting paid.

As for valuations, personally I have little faith in them. The market sets the price, agents just guess at it and can be influenced by a number of inappropriate factors... like valuing high to secure the mandate, as mentioned above.

Agents are unregulated and generally unqualified - don't expect consistency or professionalism.

Chrisgr31

Before placing your house with anyone, go and try the estate agent as a prospective purchaser.

That way you will get a feel as to what they are like, and whether you would want to buy a house from them.

As regards value you'll have to find out prices houses similar to yours sold at.

speedking

Free house price info. No registration required.

www.nethouseprices.com

or

www.myhouseprice.com
www.ourproperty.co.uk

V1CK1

I love the way estate agents are portrayed

Get at least 3 valuations.

Decide which agent you actually like, they are who your prospective purchaser will be dealing with

Commission is negotiable but if you pay peanuts you get monkeys

How will they advertise; how often in the paper? how many internet sites are there, do they send details out regularly, do they email details out regularly

Register as an applicant and see what service you get. That should help.

NOT ALL ESTATE AGENTS ARE NASTY!

Tiggs

1% is a nice target but bear in mind the house value - at only £100k ish they arent making much as it is.

Account deleted by request

post a piccy of yourself and we can then decide (judging a book by its cover and all that )

chop

davyboy

They are all unqualified, thats what annoys me about having to pay them so much.

One of the sales guys was around our house yesterday - he said he never says much when showing people around, he just lets them get on with it......well , I might tell them where the boiler is!

Dave

Jonathan Davies

Some are chartered surveyors I think... I was trying not to do a blanket hatchet job on estate agents 'cos I do think there are good and bad. If I was betting I'd say the good are in a minority though.

A proper chartered surveyor should give a more reliable valuation, in that there are published guidelines on how to do it which bind them. But they generally want to be paid for valuations... free estimates from an agent are more finger in the air stuff.

Account deleted by request

[quote=Jonathan Davies]A proper chartered surveyor should give a more reliable valuation[quote]

Rubbish - all surveyors do is look round then ring estate agents for comparables or their opinion on value.

chop

Patt@firstime

Yup, all the time a surveyor/valuer calls estate agents

Jonathan Davies

[QUOTE=chopper.][quote=Jonathan Davies]A proper chartered surveyor should give a more reliable valuationSome surveyors might, but they ought to be valuing in accordance with the RICS guidance on valuation, which is a reasonably detailed thing. I doubt your statement is completely accurate... there are competent surveyors out there, and the Red Book guidelines don't just say "phone an agent".

I'm not a surveyor btw, but some of my clients are. To be fair they're all commercial property specialists, and residential stuff is lower value and probably done a bit on the cheap.

Huw Jorgan

The flat may be worth £125k to you but getting someone else to pay that much is a different thing all together. Bear in mind that stamp duty now kicks in at £120k (£150k in an exempt area), most buyers will look to come in with an offer under the £120k. Get a few more quotes from other agents & see how they compare.

pslewis

0.75% all the way, unless the market is sluggish - then 1%

NEVER pay more than this - no need to - the Agents will ALWAYS drop their commission BUT get in writing what advertising they will do, for how long and how often.

Or go private!! I have done both Agent (in tough trading times) and private (in easy times) ........... and it's SIMPLE!!

Pete

R1916v

Define qualified? My step dad has been an estate agent for just over 20 years now, he was also one of the youngest fellows of the NEAE, and he's only just turned 36 lol.

You'll know after talking to an agency if they are any good or if they are total crap, not somethign you can really give advice abotu unless you also know the same area.

And echo the comments not all agents are ****s, if they were people wouldn't give them the business. Saying that, my folks have had a girl who used to work for them then left to manage an office directly over the road come to them to value her flat as she didn't kow where to start, and also the director of another agent use them to sell his house rather than his own company. He was later sacked for doing it lol.

davyboy

Anyone can be an estate agent with very little training, and certainly no further education.

I am happy to pay carpenters, plumbers, solicitors etc good money to do a job as they have trained, and are doing a job I could not do.

I could be an estate agent tomorrow - and do a better job than most!

So what do I get for my £3300.

A bit of advertising on the local free rags
Some floor plans a 5 year old could do
A picture in a window
A 2 page document to send to people
And someone to walk people around my house and show them where the boiler is

eeerr.......great value that is!

R1916v

So sell the house yourself then if you're so good :P

Although (and this doesn't apply to **** agents) do you have the customer base? The good reputation as nice people to deal with? Good track record etc?

Not saying I disagree with what you are saying but if you think you can do a better job then do it, the money seems to be very good :P

davyboy

If I had more time I would......but as I already said, I have seen a house I want to buy and they will not take it off the market until we sell ours.

I'm paying someone good money for little work, but for a quick sale I have no option.