AudiMan

Now the housing market is spiralling downwards out of control, obviously the EA's are having to make their money some other way,
Firstly by valuing your house at a price they know it will sell at quickly.
Secondly by charging higher fees !.

I had my house valued 9 weeks ago, (nice sized 3 bed detached) valued at £305k (by 2 separate EA's), with 1.5% fees,
Valued today by another EA £275k 2.0% fees.

just wondered if I should discount this slimey little mini driving parasite, and get back in touch with one of the others, or is the market really that bad ??

What rate are people paying ??

Thanks

Ian

PeteBrant

Doesn't surprise me that they are upping thier fees. I mean, after all, they did reduce thier fees to virtually nothing whilst the market was good...

Oh no, hang on, no they didn't. The parasitic leeches made hay while the sun shone, and now expect every one else to pay for the bill now that life isn't so easy.


Man, I ****ing hate estate agents.

GazTheHat

We've just put our house on the market. We had 3 estate agents out. The fees were 0.75% - 0.95% and about £250 to start-up and advertising.

BlkKnight

£99.99 + 0.25

Used them myself:

Hatched Online Estate Agents, Sell Your House Online With Hatched.co.uk Estate Agents & Save £1000's - Sell Your House With An Estate Agents Online - Hatched.co.uk, The New Way To Sell Your House With The Nationwide Estate Agents Online. Over 60 Mill

They ONLY list you on Rightmove & put you in contact with prospective buyers.

d5hof

if you feel so strongly about them, why don't you try selling it yourself?

AudiMan

I regard them as a necessary evil, I just don't have the time or the inclination to do it myself, but don't expect to be treated like a plank.
Don't mind paying for a service so long as I get value for money, the next question will be about removal firms (hopefully).

Gordo

go for a ratchet on the fee - flat 1.25% on £300k, 5% above that (or choose numbers that work for you but act as a strong incentive for them to deliver). If they baulk at the idea, then they're bull****ting you on the price to get the work in the first place.

G

lozgti

Well,if they are only closing on average five deals a month at the moment,can't imagine many of them will be around for much longer.

al4x1

the problem is houses aren't selling so if they value low they have more chance of selling. As for fees bargain hard you should be able to get 1-1.5% but will have VAT on top. Unless you fancy going to someone like Hatched who charge far lower rates but you do the work yourself

Julio Jordio

We usually charge 1.25% and will on occaisions go to 1% but this is due to advertising costs etc.

Not all Agents are valuing houses on the low side at the moment, they are simply saying that the ONLY properties selling at the moment are ones requiring lots of work, and are going for very keen prices indeed. This is due, I believe, to Vendors realising if they dont accept an offer slightly lower than they want to achieve now, they could potentially sit on the market for a further 6 months, and with an average drop around 1.8% month on month, be kicking themselves they didnt accept first time round.

On the same point, people buying now, are very keen to protect themselves against negative equity and are only buying well below the current value, on the understanding things will continue for the next 12 months, and obviously want to safeguard themselves against further drops.

lozgti

Isn't the biggest problem

1.Sellers scared to put things on the market,afraid of being told their £250k house is now worth/should be marketed at £200k which makes life difficult because they owe £249k on their mortgage

2.Buyers thinking,why should I even look in an agents window because those properties will have lost 25% if I sit tight for a bit.Further,I couldn't get a mortgage even if I sold my grandmother?

Its a really rotton time at the moment and I can understand why buyers and sellers are staying out of the market for a bit.Presume agents would fall overthemselves/cut each others throats on a % front?

In fact our local agent suddenly has a majority of 'To Let' properties in relation to sales

ScoTTyB

Remember a big portion of EA incomes is rental which is apparently 'booming' according to them.