Much much to pay an estate agent?
Discussion
StuntmanMike said:
OP, how quickly so you want to sell? If you find the fees so distasteful you can advertise the property yourself.
If it is a desirable residence rather than a house worth that much because of the area then it will sell.
The last time I moved the whole estate agent experience was so bad I would never use one again.
+1If it is a desirable residence rather than a house worth that much because of the area then it will sell.
The last time I moved the whole estate agent experience was so bad I would never use one again.
I am finding it increasingly hard to work out what estate agents do. The idea that they will provide £10k of value is laughable.
Of the two houses I've bought agents have been nothing but obstructive, one the vendor & I decided to stop dealing with and just started speaking directly to each other, only thing they did to help the vendor was take some crap wide angle photos and put them on Rightmove, vendors did viewings in both cases. Rightmove does the advertising not the agent these days, I struggle to see how more than £1000 can be justified even if they do viewings for you.
TheBMWDriver said:
I want to sell up and move down to London, I had savills come over and expect to get £1 to £1.1m for my place but they are asking for 1.65% + VAT which in my view is too much.
So is it worth paying them to have this sort of name behind the markings of my property or just use a cheaper agent and offer them £2 to £4k?
Use a cheaper agent if they manage to obtain the right price for you anyway?So is it worth paying them to have this sort of name behind the markings of my property or just use a cheaper agent and offer them £2 to £4k?
Edited by TheBMWDriver on Sunday 24th August 23:45
In real terms you expect anywhere from 1m to 1.1m that means that a 10% variation or 100k is your acceptable range yet 1.65% is not. Not too logical. But even worse when you accept that you will be paying an agent anyway so if the rate were to go down to 1% then it's your 10% price variability versus the 0.65% "extra" that you would be paying Savills.
You should try selling a property in some other countries, where 5% and 8% commission is the norm!
StuntmanMike said:
TheBMWDriver said:
I want to sell up and move down to London, I had savills come over and expect to get £1 to £1.1m for my place but they are asking for 1.65% + VAT which in my view is too much.
So is it worth paying them to have this sort of name behind the markings of my property or just use a cheaper agent and offer them £2 to £4k?
OP, how quickly so you want to sell? If you find the fees so distasteful you can advertise the property yourself.So is it worth paying them to have this sort of name behind the markings of my property or just use a cheaper agent and offer them £2 to £4k?
Edited by TheBMWDriver on Sunday 24th August 23:45
If it is a desirable residence rather than a house worth that much because of the area then it will sell.
The last time I moved the whole estate agent experience was so bad I would never use one again.
Everyone looks on rightmove these days, and you can do your own advert for less than a grand. Agents bring very little value to the whole deal. Look at what a solicitor charges to to the actual important stuff.
I've bought and sold many times over the past 4 years, more than once without an agent involved. It made no real difference to the process.
I would suspect that a significant number of people looking to buy a £1 mill+ house would be expecting to find it marketed by a high class agent such as Savills. The advantage of Savills is that they are a national agent with offices in a number of towns. They will probably have a list of potential buyers for houses costing this much in many parts of the country. Those buying houses in this bracket may not have the time or inclination to be searching Rightmove, or any of the unknown online agents.
For whatever reason Estate Agents are a hated profession and it certainly appears that there are some unscrupulous agents around (or were) however no one is ever going to know whether they could have done better by selling their house through an agent or not, and those that failed to sell without an agent are unlikely to shout about it from the rooftops.
Irrespective of what estate agents do one needs to consider the costs of running an estate agency to see why charges are what they are. Rent is going to depend on where in the country and where in the town you are, but the average estate agent not in London is probably paying somewhere in the region of £40k in rent, add rates of 50% gets you to £60k. Repairs insurance utilities probably add £15k to that so £75k. Staff costs, for a 7 day a week operation what £100k? So we are up at £175k which is £480 a day and haven't covered costs of websites, advertising etc. There will also be significant abortive costs for houses that dont sell, are taken off the market etc.
Like any other business Estate Agents go through good times and bad, there was a time they were being bought up by banks, building societies etc, however most (if not all) have been sold on or gone bust.
Personally I am not a great fan of seeking to cut fees to the bone as what incentive does the agent have to sell the house? Just down the road from me 2 neighbouring house, pretty much identical are on the market with the same agent. No idea what the fee basis is but surely the agent will do their utmost to sell the one paying the higher fee first?
For whatever reason Estate Agents are a hated profession and it certainly appears that there are some unscrupulous agents around (or were) however no one is ever going to know whether they could have done better by selling their house through an agent or not, and those that failed to sell without an agent are unlikely to shout about it from the rooftops.
Irrespective of what estate agents do one needs to consider the costs of running an estate agency to see why charges are what they are. Rent is going to depend on where in the country and where in the town you are, but the average estate agent not in London is probably paying somewhere in the region of £40k in rent, add rates of 50% gets you to £60k. Repairs insurance utilities probably add £15k to that so £75k. Staff costs, for a 7 day a week operation what £100k? So we are up at £175k which is £480 a day and haven't covered costs of websites, advertising etc. There will also be significant abortive costs for houses that dont sell, are taken off the market etc.
Like any other business Estate Agents go through good times and bad, there was a time they were being bought up by banks, building societies etc, however most (if not all) have been sold on or gone bust.
Personally I am not a great fan of seeking to cut fees to the bone as what incentive does the agent have to sell the house? Just down the road from me 2 neighbouring house, pretty much identical are on the market with the same agent. No idea what the fee basis is but surely the agent will do their utmost to sell the one paying the higher fee first?
currybum said:
I recently sold a house in London and offered the agent a £5k bonus if he met the massively inflated asking price and 10% of anything we got over it..I would rather the agent had an incentive to get the best price for me than just want to get it shifted as quickly as possible.
The arrangement was very profitable for the agent and myself, it also means that your property is top of the selling list when a new buyer comes in to the office.
You're living in dreamworld if you think you made a profit on that deal. What do you think the agent actually did? Lie to buyers? Show them around a different property? Houses very largely sell themselves, especially in London. The price a punter is prepared to pay will not be affected by what an estate agent says, not least because we all know they have no incentive to tell the truth or do the buyer any favours!The arrangement was very profitable for the agent and myself, it also means that your property is top of the selling list when a new buyer comes in to the office.
I'm not suggesting the estate agents make huge profits. They generally don't, because they have high costs. But they are largely irrelevant to the deals that get struck these days (especially in London) and can't hope to justify their fees on most transactions.
Chrisgr31 said:
I would suspect that a significant number of people looking to buy a £1 mill+ house would be expecting to find it marketed by a high class agent such as Savills. The advantage of Savills is that they are a national agent with offices in a number of towns. They will probably have a list of potential buyers for houses costing this much in many parts of the country. Those buying houses in this bracket may not have the time or inclination to be searching Rightmove, or any of the unknown online agents.
For whatever reason Estate Agents are a hated profession and it certainly appears that there are some unscrupulous agents around (or were) however no one is ever going to know whether they could have done better by selling their house through an agent or not, and those that failed to sell without an agent are unlikely to shout about it from the rooftops.
Irrespective of what estate agents do one needs to consider the costs of running an estate agency to see why charges are what they are. Rent is going to depend on where in the country and where in the town you are, but the average estate agent not in London is probably paying somewhere in the region of £40k in rent, add rates of 50% gets you to £60k. Repairs insurance utilities probably add £15k to that so £75k. Staff costs, for a 7 day a week operation what £100k? So we are up at £175k which is £480 a day and haven't covered costs of websites, advertising etc. There will also be significant abortive costs for houses that dont sell, are taken off the market etc.
Like any other business Estate Agents go through good times and bad, there was a time they were being bought up by banks, building societies etc, however most (if not all) have been sold on or gone bust.
Personally I am not a great fan of seeking to cut fees to the bone as what incentive does the agent have to sell the house? Just down the road from me 2 neighbouring house, pretty much identical are on the market with the same agent. No idea what the fee basis is but surely the agent will do their utmost to sell the one paying the higher fee first?
You should see the costs of running bricks and mortar agency offices even in relatively cheap areas of the South East. It adds up!For whatever reason Estate Agents are a hated profession and it certainly appears that there are some unscrupulous agents around (or were) however no one is ever going to know whether they could have done better by selling their house through an agent or not, and those that failed to sell without an agent are unlikely to shout about it from the rooftops.
Irrespective of what estate agents do one needs to consider the costs of running an estate agency to see why charges are what they are. Rent is going to depend on where in the country and where in the town you are, but the average estate agent not in London is probably paying somewhere in the region of £40k in rent, add rates of 50% gets you to £60k. Repairs insurance utilities probably add £15k to that so £75k. Staff costs, for a 7 day a week operation what £100k? So we are up at £175k which is £480 a day and haven't covered costs of websites, advertising etc. There will also be significant abortive costs for houses that dont sell, are taken off the market etc.
Like any other business Estate Agents go through good times and bad, there was a time they were being bought up by banks, building societies etc, however most (if not all) have been sold on or gone bust.
Personally I am not a great fan of seeking to cut fees to the bone as what incentive does the agent have to sell the house? Just down the road from me 2 neighbouring house, pretty much identical are on the market with the same agent. No idea what the fee basis is but surely the agent will do their utmost to sell the one paying the higher fee first?
I appreciate to the Pistonheads masses all agencies do next to nothing and all buyers look on Rightmove and act proactively, immediately and optimally but in the real world it doesn't really work much like that. I know minds are unlikely to be changed in this or any of the numerous threads that crop up with regularity on the matter so I've kind of stopped bothering trying to offer advice and experience but if I may I'd add that I do see value added by using "good" bricks and mortar agencies and were I in the position to be selling my property I'd go down that route - albeit in the knowledge that it would "cost" me much more than either an internet only agency (see numerous dreary threads on that matter) or an agency happy to sell themselves mostly on their low rates.
I'm sure this doesn't help the OP's specific problem too much (for which I apologise) but I wish him the best of luck.
Having tried to sell a house privately (at only £285k) people viewed it with suspicion - I went to an Agent and instantly got a lot more viewings.
I found most Agents will only state their standard rate on the phone but get them around to value and they will negotiate. I sold a house earlier in the year for £3k 0.8%
Now it's a better market I'd expect a slightly better deal.
However I agree with those who said Agents aren't worth their fee.
I found most Agents will only state their standard rate on the phone but get them around to value and they will negotiate. I sold a house earlier in the year for £3k 0.8%
Now it's a better market I'd expect a slightly better deal.
However I agree with those who said Agents aren't worth their fee.
We recently rationalised a couple of rental flats and our main house into a single pool to be able to afford to move into town. Then background being this is Scotland so some of the exact details don't translate to London, but the premise is the same.
We sold 2 flats and a house through Savills, and did so on a performance-related-pay basis. And this is where things diverge, regionally speaking.
Given we still have home reports, lets take a round figure of £500k valuation for the flat and given it was early in the year we decided to start marketing at a figure of offers over £475k. We then had Savills on 0.9% below O/O price, 1.0% between O/O price and valuation and 1.1% above that. Their initial pitch (I think) was 1.25%, all plus VAT. They accepted our proposal fairly quickly.
In the end, they got upper rate for one flat as they exceeded the valuation by a good amount, they got bottom rate for the other flat as we had to reduce the O/O rate once, and they got mid range for the house.
We sold 2 flats and a house through Savills, and did so on a performance-related-pay basis. And this is where things diverge, regionally speaking.
Given we still have home reports, lets take a round figure of £500k valuation for the flat and given it was early in the year we decided to start marketing at a figure of offers over £475k. We then had Savills on 0.9% below O/O price, 1.0% between O/O price and valuation and 1.1% above that. Their initial pitch (I think) was 1.25%, all plus VAT. They accepted our proposal fairly quickly.
In the end, they got upper rate for one flat as they exceeded the valuation by a good amount, they got bottom rate for the other flat as we had to reduce the O/O rate once, and they got mid range for the house.
gaz1234 said:
The more money people have the more tighter they get.
In my experience, that is 100 per cent wrong. The most generous people that I know are the wealthiest (with only a couple of exceptions).People say that because they foolishly think that they would not care about spending money if they had more. I imagine that wasting money is pretty aggravating no matter how much of it you have.
chrispmartha said:
Obviously this is the perfect place to ask a question like this :-) seriously if you really do own a &1million + property and you have to go I a motoring forum to ask advice, you've got issues.
I regularly find PH is a great source of knowledge and wisdom on a myriad of issues aside from motoring.Why so grumpy?
ORD said:
In my experience, that is 100 per cent wrong. The most generous people that I know are the wealthiest (with only a couple of exceptions).
People say that because they foolishly think that they would not care about spending money if they had more. I imagine that wasting money is pretty aggravating no matter how much of it you have.
Interesting People say that because they foolishly think that they would not care about spending money if they had more. I imagine that wasting money is pretty aggravating no matter how much of it you have.
gaz1234 said:
The more money people have the more tighter they get.
The way I see it, people that are careful with money have more than those that are not. The richest people I know are the most careful. I once had lunch (in a group) with a multi millionaire relative and he was the one that wanted to calculate what everyone had, while most of us just wanted to chuck £20 each on the table and be done
Thanks for the feedback everyone, its given me some food for thought. Its a very different property so its not going to be that easy to sell however if I find the right buyer its a bargain at 1m. The rebuild cost is around £1.2m and thats not including the cost of the land.
Or look at it another way, the £15+k saving would allow my to upgrade my old 991.2 to a 991? would you not say that worth a little extra time and effort to be able to afford my dream car?
gaz1234 said:
The more money people have the more tighter they get.
I just dont get this way of thinking. I am not tight, however I come from a family that had nothing and I have managed to do ok for my self. I am in my early 30's so am not in a place where I can just throw away £20k just because I feel like it. Being sensible and careful with your money is not the same as being tight. Or look at it another way, the £15+k saving would allow my to upgrade my old 991.2 to a 991? would you not say that worth a little extra time and effort to be able to afford my dream car?
TheBMWDriver said:
The rebuild cost is around £1.2m and thats not including the cost of the land.
The rebuild cost is of course not relevant to the value of a property. There are many reasons why properties may not be worth their rebuild cost. Its the same with improvements, very often they dont increase the value of the property by the amount they cost.TheBMWDriver said:
Thanks for the feedback everyone, its given me some food for thought. Its a very different property so its not going to be that easy to sell however if I find the right buyer its a bargain at 1m. The rebuild cost is around £1.2m and thats not including the cost of the land.
Or look at it another way, the £15+k saving would allow my to upgrade my old 991.2 to a 991? would you not say that worth a little extra time and effort to be able to afford my dream car?
Just a little note to yourself that you have done significantly better than "ok" to have a property portfolio measured in comfortable seven figures terms (even if mildly leveraged) and a car ownership history as yours by your early 30s.gaz1234 said:
The more money people have the more tighter they get.
I just dont get this way of thinking. I am not tight, however I come from a family that had nothing and I have managed to do ok for my self. I am in my early 30's so am not in a place where I can just throw away £20k just because I feel like it. Being sensible and careful with your money is not the same as being tight. Or look at it another way, the £15+k saving would allow my to upgrade my old 991.2 to a 991? would you not say that worth a little extra time and effort to be able to afford my dream car?
I truly hope that you didn't really need telling but so frequently Pistonheads seems to forget itself.
I'm curious about the unusual property now...
Be happy you aren't in US/Canada and paying close to 5% !
http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/real_estate/save...
The 'logic' here is though that if you find a good agent they can get you back the 5% on the sale price. You probably don't want to totally skimp on this service.
http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/real_estate/save...
The 'logic' here is though that if you find a good agent they can get you back the 5% on the sale price. You probably don't want to totally skimp on this service.
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