House going on market

A bit later than planned, but the estate agents are finally coming round next Wednesday... is there anything I should know regarding negotiating their commission?

If the agents pop your details on 'right move', is there much of an advantage going multi-agent?

 

They usually make a reduction for sole agency, but if you want a quick sale this isn't really an option.

 

Thanks Sheal... I'll see what they say Wednesday and go from there. Dreading having to keep the house spic and span in case of a short notice viewer... blasted dog don't help!

 

Firstly, ask them what their fees are, sounds so obvious but people seldom do. As Sheal says, there's often (and I would expect) a reduction for sole agency. Fees vary enormously throughout the country and can range from 1% up to a whopping 3.5%. Make sure you ask the Agent what's included in the fee (although by law he should tell you).

Other things you can do ....

Find a 'fixed price' Agency - some places do handle properties for a fixed fee no matter how much it actually sells for.

I'd get 3 quotes from 3 different Agents, tell each you're getting other Agents in and see if that makes one of 'em think about dropping their fee - nothing like a bit of healthy competition!

Haggle, haggle, haggle. Yeah, I know, we're Brits, we don't 'do' haggling, we tend to hear the fee go 'Oh, I see, well OK, if that's what you charge ... that's what you charge' whilst inside seething at what we see as 'easy money'. However, in the current economic climate Estate Agents are desperate for people to buy and sell houses so, when he says 'We charge 2% ...' and then suggests putting your house on the market for (say) £190,000 - look confused and slightly aghast and say '£3,800? ... ' pause, then add '.... is that the best you can do?' then say nothing until he brings his commission down a bit.

Personally, I wouldn't use an online Agent all sorts of horror stories therein lie.

Just one other suggestion - once you've got a valuation that seems reasonable (bearing in mind your location, buoyancy of the market in your area, price of comparable properties etc., etc.) go to your Solicitor and ask him for an estimate of his fees for the conveyancing - he won't mind and it's something else you can factor in when deciding which estate agent to use.

Of course there is always Plan B - remember, whilst you wouldn't want to sell and buy property without involving a Solicitor (unless of course you are one), you don't have to employ an Estate Agent and .. it's not illegal to have someone come and look at your house, make you an offer and for you to say, 'Well, I'll accept your offer if we do it without involving the Estate Agent.'

 

Many thanks for the useful information Fidgetsmum. I'll give some feedback once I've spoken to the first agents. I know that I'll hate the feeling of being in limbo until the property sells.

 

Good luck to you Kazzie.

 

Thank you Redstar x

 

Many thanks for that Shiney... an excellent link.

 

2 chaps arrived from the same agent and had a wander round. I bought the house through them, so they wanted me to point out any changes I've made (lol, so they can tweak their previous info). Anyway, when it got to that tricky part - valuation and commission, they said that it would be 1.5% for sole agency. There is no way I'd go above 1%, but I didn't say anything other than I have another agent coming round and I'll be in touch. The valuation was also incredibly vague, so I'm none the wiser.

 

Ah, y'see there's the rub. Property, as with everything else, is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. I've known people say '... they reckon my house is worth ...' without realising that that extra 5K they've stuck on the price means extra commission for them or, that whilst it's nice to believe their house is worth more than an identical one for sale two streets away, it's not so nice when the other house is sold while theirs struggles to attract viewers.

 

This will be my 7th move... you'd think I would have some clue by now on how things are done! But, everything feels different this time round... maybe it's because it is the first time I've tried to sell when the house market is generally struggling.

I'm waiting for the second agent to call me back to confirm a visit tomorrow.

For me, Zoopla is hopeless because I've made a great deal of expensive improvements to the property and I honestly don't know whether the work has had any impact on the value. It is also difficult to compare the house price to others selling in the area. It feels terribly confusing at the moment.

The shop front position of the local agent is reasonable... they have a very small chain of offices in this county. They said they have an office in London too, but I couldn't find it on a street search (not saying there isn't one, but I've heard that some agents use London addresses).