Much much to pay an estate agent?

[Maxf]

An agent can make a huge difference.

We had a flat under offer and really wanted to do the deal. The agent was useless. Utterly terrible - we had no idea what was going on with the vendors and stories were being changed. This went on for months until we pulled the plug. The useless agent inspired so little confidence that we kept looking around 'just in case it all fell through'.

We ended up buying through a different agent, who kept us in the loop every step of the way - was friendly and very effieicient with things being done as they were supposed to.

It worked out ok for us, as the market dropped slightly and we'd have overpaid for the first property had it happened - but we'd have done the deal. It was theirs to lose!

Selling ours we agreed 1% up to a set amount (where he valued it) and 1.25% over and above that. We got a good deal higher than we initially expected and paid the higher fee. While I'll never know if the incentive fee actually got us more money, I'm fairly sure the agent will have worked hard to get any bids which were close to the threashold past it. Again, a good agent who seemed to hold it all together.

With both our buying and selling agents we had as many calls and as much communication after going under offer than before, which (to me) showed they were working hard to keep momentum up in the chain. The agent we ended up pulling out with (oo er) gave us nothing - terrible communications.

[The Moose]

TheBMWDriver said:

Thanks, the property is only unusual because of the size and spec for the location. Its 6400 sq ft (600m2) has 5.5m high ceiling in most rooms, 100k worth of bathrooms, 70k kitchen and everything is connected to a smart home system. I have jammed packed it with gadgets and toys.

I'm not being funny, but how the hell is that a £70k kitchen?!?!

[Renovation]

The Moose said:

TheBMWDriver said:

Thanks, the property is only unusual because of the size and spec for the location. Its 6400 sq ft (600m2) has 5.5m high ceiling in most rooms, 100k worth of bathrooms, 70k kitchen and everything is connected to a smart home system. I have jammed packed it with gadgets and toys.

I'm not being funny, but how the hell is that a £70k kitchen?!?!

In the same way that Jeans cost £6 to £200 - slight design changes and names, names, names !

[RevHappy]

The Moose said:

I'm not being funny, but how the hell is that a £70k kitchen?!?!

Easy done, but that's without seeing it closer but there are lots of clues the four module ceiling extractor is one of them.

[The Moose]

Renovation said:

The Moose said:

TheBMWDriver said:

Thanks, the property is only unusual because of the size and spec for the location. Its 6400 sq ft (600m2) has 5.5m high ceiling in most rooms, 100k worth of bathrooms, 70k kitchen and everything is connected to a smart home system. I have jammed packed it with gadgets and toys.

I'm not being funny, but how the hell is that a £70k kitchen?!?!

In the same way that Jeans cost £6 to £200 - slight design changes and names, names, names !

But seventy fking thousand pounds.

More money than sense comes to mine.

Maybe the emperor needs some new clothes also...

[Itsallicanafford]

lonny said:

If you don't mind me asking, was that single or multi-agency and were they all around that rate or was it just one you could beat down to that price? I'm looking to sell in St Albans for similar price as OP very soon so very interested in this thread.

Hello, it was single agency. We sold and also were looking to buy again in St Albans so I didn't want to piss them all off by not giving them the commission so we only asked two agents around to value. We sold through Collinson hall, ask for Nick Hill He's an old bugger, but knows his onions. A friend of ours bought with them and we also have now bought through them. The other agent I would recommend would be Rosanne at strutt and Parker and Grant at Hamiltons. Grant was very proactive in calling us as buyers. For your value, they should bite your hand off for 0.8% + Vat.

[Pit Pony]

lamboman100 said:

Too many green-eyed Brits on PH.

For a £1m house, a £5 - 10k fee is more than enough. Negotiate hard with them for a flat fee, or switch to one of the online estate agents that are much more price-competitive.

If It's worth £1M : negotiate a fixed fee of £5K if they sell it for less than £1M and 50% of everything over £1M .... So if they got a sale at £1.1 million they'd get £55K and you'd get an extra £45K.

Or just put a card in the newsagents window.

[Sheepshanks]

OllyMo said:

TheBMWDriver said:

Sheepshanks said:

Shouldn't that be 'move up to London'?

We are in the midlands so its down in relation to where we are now.

I was under the impression that historically it's always up to London, down to anywhere else. Doesn't matter which direction you are coming from. Something to do with trains. I could be talking utter rubbish though

It's a hierarchy thing - you go up to the more major town / city and London is the pinnacle of that.

[Renovation]

The Moose said:

Renovation said:

The Moose said:

TheBMWDriver said:

Thanks, the property is only unusual because of the size and spec for the location. Its 6400 sq ft (600m2) has 5.5m high ceiling in most rooms, 100k worth of bathrooms, 70k kitchen and everything is connected to a smart home system. I have jammed packed it with gadgets and toys.

I'm not being funny, but how the hell is that a £70k kitchen?!?!

In the same way that Jeans cost £6 to £200 - slight design changes and names, names, names !

But seventy fking thousand pounds.

More money than sense comes to mine.

Maybe the emperor needs some new clothes also...

It's all relative - if you've just had a £1M bonus it's peanuts.

Unfortunately I haven't

[ORD]

Pit Pony said:

If It's worth £1M : negotiate a fixed fee of £5K if they sell it for less than £1M and 50% of everything over £1M .... So if they got a sale at £1.1 million they'd get £55K and you'd get an extra £45K.

Or just put a card in the newsagents window.

I really hope you're kidding and the OP knows it! 50%? Sheer madness. What are they going to do to get the price up that means they deserve half of marginal value of the house?! Renevate it? I suspect that they print a few brochures and walk a few people around. Nobody would pay £45k for that in any other market.

People really lose the plot when it comes to houses.

[vescaegg]

Ive negotiated fixed fees with estate agents before. It does not have to be percentage based.

£5k or £7.5k if you are feeling very generous. There is no more work involved selling a place for £1m than £100k - arguably less as a place with wow factor will sell itself. If they want the business in order to market a premium property then they should be falling over themselves to give you the best deal.

[Chrisgr31]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I am inclined to agree with you. I'd be interested to know how much the OP paid for it when he bought it. There is one in the area which sold for £300,000 back in May 2010 and which Zoopla reckons is now worth £1.062m, although I must admit to being very unsure as to how they have arrived at that figure. I suspect there is an element of believing that spend equals value. The kitchen and bathroom fittings have cost almost as much as the average price of a property in the area and there are very few flats being marketed in the area, the next most expensive is on for £245,000 and there are no houses in the area currently being marketed for more than £1 mill.

[monthefish]

TheBMWDriver said:

Chrisgr31 said:

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.

completely agree which is why my place is only worth what it is. It took me 4 years to build the place and we did it with the aim of living there not a investment (its a VERY bad investment) however after living here for the last few months I just hate being outside of a proper city.

Have you any photos of the completed property?

[hornetrider]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Must admit I'm surprised that the property has turned out to be a TFF in a new build development, albeit with a groovy spec. Where is it located?

[Chrisgr31]

hornetrider said:

Where is it located?

Would you believe Chesterfield?

[scenario8]

Arrogant estate agent post alert! (Although in my defence I am no longer specifically an "agent". Thankfully).

I can't help thinking I'd probably be happy to deliberately misjudge the OP/vendor, overstate my fees and let someone else take it on. (Not that our firm would entertain lightly the sorts of fees being quoted widely in this thread anyway. Damn us).

Genuinely I wish him and the agent(s) the best of luck with it, mind.

[DeltaTango]

scenario8 said:

Arrogant estate agent post alert! (Although in my defence I am no longer specifically an "agent". Thankfully).

I can't help thinking I'd probably be happy to deliberately misjudge the OP/vendor, overstate my fees and let someone else take it on. (Not that our firm would entertain lightly the sorts of fees being quoted widely in this thread anyway. Damn us).

Genuinely I wish him and the agent(s) the best of luck with it, mind.

Same. I hope it pans out but the numbers being discussed here (in terms of a £1m + property) are way beneath what a quality agent will work for.

[Dan_1981]

Chrisgr31 said:

hornetrider said:

Where is it located?

Would you believe Chesterfield?

Really????

Where on earth in Chesterfield are there £1m flats?!

[TheBMWDriver]

Thanks for everyones input, we seem to have gone Way off topic now so could a mod close the thread.

A local agent is willing to take a 1% fee which I would have thought was high but after reading peoples post here I have come around to the idea of paying up.

Its not a huge issue if it does not sell as we have a place in the south. I will post back if we manage to sell it and how much we get.

[DeltaTango]

Sounds about the right feel level for that area. Best of luck.