Estate Agent advice

[Blue62]

Been almost 20 years since I last sold a house but putting my place on the market soon and have a few agents coming round next week to value the house. Can anyone offer advice on what to ask, feee rates and any other pointers to help me choose the right one.

I have done a little secret shopping to whittle it down to those I've invited in (I have posed as a buyer to get some idea of their service offering), but now the serious business starts, so would appreciate any comments.

[Big_Dog]

You might find this useful: https://www.allagents.co.uk

[Gregmitchell]

Regarding fees, in oxford area it's 1%, competition is pretty fierce.

[Spare tyre]

I had three round

1st was 1.5% and about 90k over what we thought sensible
2nd was 1.5% and 60k under
3rd 0.5 % was bang on the money, was a good guy, he left after 4 week, his replacements are a total shower

The other two instantly dropped to .5 once they found out

We had an open day and had massive success, but we do have a nice sized 3 bed semi with masivgarden in a a sought after area

I liked the open day, they drum up interest they give people 20 mins slots

We had 18 viewings on the day and a couple before and after for people who couldn't make it

Good luck

[motco]

Do your homework on values and take no bull from the agent bumping it up too high. I have been trying to sell a flat (my son's) and the agent was instructed in January. The flat is now under offer at >50k below what they told us to ask, and >30k below the level they 'promised' me I'd get. Months have been wasted and opportunities lost due to ridiculous ambitions of the agent.

[p4cks]

I found the fixed price online ones proved much more value for money than any high street one, and didn't take a final value fee.

When you break it down, they do very little for their money.

[valiant]

Don't be flattered by agents over valuing your property. You want an honest value that you can achieve in today's market and buyers won't be fooled so you'll only end up reducing it anyway.

Ask for evidence of actual sold prices they've achieved on nearby, similar properties.

Ask how many properties they've dealt with have gone from offer accepted to completion. (To give you an idea of the quality of their progressions team - these guys can make or break a sale).

Try an choose a local respected firm that knows the area.

Don't just focus on price. I'd rather pay a little more and get quality rather than scrimp and get a headache. There WILL be bumps in the road and a good agent will be worth it.

Unless it is a very, very straight forward sale, I'd avoid internet based EAs.

Avoid the lot that use green MINIs.

We paid 1% just recently and most EAs in the area were in the same ballpark.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

Spare tyre said:

The other two instantly dropped to .5 once they found out

We had an open day and had massive success, but we do have a nice sized 3 bed semi with masivgarden in a a sought after area

I liked the open day, they drum up interest they give people 20 mins slots

We had 18 viewings on the day and a couple before and after for people who couldn't make it

Good luck

We're doing up a nice terrace in a sought after location and I'm thinking about an open day when we go to market. I'm interested in one mainly as we're going to try and push the price as far as we can and having two or more interested parties would obviously promote this.

My concerns are they're not an established practice up north and I can imagine you get a really high proportion of time wasters.

[ARHarh]

4 years ago when I sold my place the market was buoyant. I invited 3 independent agents round on the same day each 1.5 hours apart. I told them i would pay 1% plus vat on a 4 week contract. thinking this would be rejected straight away. they all accepted those terms without even trying to change them. I picked the one I found easiest to communicate with.

Next day he bought 4 sets of buyers round and it sold the day after. Didn't even manage to get on the websites. dictate the terms and see what happens.

[Robertj21a]

Further down the line, make absolutely sure that it's you calling the shots about dates for Exchange of Contracts - with enough time afterwards for Completion. Too many Agents want to get everything done and finalised before you've even exchanged contracts - not on !

[robsdesk]

ARHarh said:

4 years ago when I sold my place the market was buoyant. I invited 3 independent agents round on the same day each 1.5 hours apart. I told them i would pay 1% plus vat on a 4 week contract. thinking this would be rejected straight away. they all accepted those terms without even trying to change them. I picked the one I found easiest to communicate with.

Next day he bought 4 sets of buyers round and it sold the day after. Didn't even manage to get on the websites. dictate the terms and see what happens.

This, we did something similar & it cut the nonsense around fees etc, house on market the next day.

We were very clear that we weren't time wasters & were motivated to sell, the 4 agents we had over seemed to respond well to this.

[gf15]

We had an unusual Victorian home. Invited 3 agents to value, all came up with the same value, which was great. Two were at 1% (both valuers were teenagers) one was at 1.5% who was about 50 and rocked up in a new BMW x5. The one at 1.5% instilled confidence. Fees were negotiated down to 1.1%. They were worth their weight in gold. Weeded out the wheat from the chaff, arranged a mortgage for a foreign buyer, kept the pressure on, chased / hand held / supported the buyers any time they even thought about a delay. Explained about surveys, what the buyers should concern themselves with. Rated the buyers for us on whether they were serious Vs affordability factor.
Pushed the positives of the property and closed the deal at full asking price.
I never had a good word to say about estate agents, but I felt we got excellent value for money. I would avoid paying for the flash brouchere though.

It is a big decision, go with quality / confidence over the "cheapest". You need someone who is committed to working on your behalf during an incredibly stressful period of your life. The people we were buying from, used an estate agent who was charging >2% and were a joke and the sale fell through as the buyers needed an extra few weeks and only engaged too late. In my view the estate agent was incompetent.

[Rangeroverover]

I am an agent

1) Don't let the agents know you have called in three, let them think its just them. What can happen is agent 1 shows up, in his heart of hearts he thinks its worth £450k, he knows that most vendors will give it to whoever dreams up the highest figure. Agent 2 knows this and will add a bit more; eventually you get a situation where valuations are miles apart and you don't know who to believe.

If the agent thinks he is the only person pitching on it you will get a true value.

2) Fees: Just tell them you will pay 1%+ vat, if not you will try someone else

3) Any agent wants a deal done fast so they get paid, have a look at how many houses and negotiators each agent has, if a negotiator has more than about 30 on sale at at a time he cannot service them properly.

4) Viewings: make sure the person you meet will be the person doing the viewings

Good luck

[IIIRestorerIII]

Where will they market the property? As an earlier thread this week most people tend to look on Rightmove first...

[StuTheGrouch]

Rangeroverover said:

I am an agent

1) Don't let the agents know you have called in three, let them think its just them. What can happen is agent 1 shows up, in his heart of hearts he thinks its worth £450k, he knows that most vendors will give it to whoever dreams up the highest figure. Agent 2 knows this and will add a bit more; eventually you get a situation where valuations are miles apart and you don't know who to believe.

If the agent thinks he is the only person pitching on it you will get a true value.

Apologies for hijacking the thread....

I have only just remortgaged our house; as the value of the house had increased I paid for a new valuation through the bank. So I know the figure I would want.

So, the valuation is £x. I would really be insistent on not selling for a penny less than that. How would an estate agent react to that stance, and does that affect your advice above? The value, in my mind, is settled and so it comes down to the rest of the details so I would be happy telling the agents that they are one of many.

[Blue62]

Some really good advice here, many thanks.

Interested to know whether a brochure is worthwhile, first agent we've seen seems to think it's money well spent, I'm not convinced.

[Robertj21a]

StuTheGrouch said:

Apologies for hijacking the thread....

I have only just remortgaged our house; as the value of the house had increased I paid for a new valuation through the bank. So I know the figure I would want.

So, the valuation is £x. I would really be insistent on not selling for a penny less than that. How would an estate agent react to that stance, and does that affect your advice above? The value, in my mind, is settled and so it comes down to the rest of the details so I would be happy telling the agents that they are one of many.

Are you assuming that the valuer used by the bank knew enough about the property, area, amenities etc ?

[camshafted]

Blue62 said:

Some really good advice here, many thanks.

Interested to know whether a brochure is worthwhile, first agent we've seen seems to think it's money well spent, I'm not convinced.

I don't know how much an agent charges but wouldn't be convinced you need one unless (with the greatest respect!) you have a luxury home (you might). Suspect most interested people will view the house on Rightmove etc, so I imagine a well written description, floorplan and plenty of large images will do the trick to get buyers' attention.

[StuTheGrouch]

Robertj21a said:

Are you assuming that the valuer used by the bank knew enough about the property, area, amenities etc ?

I know what you mean, yes, although it was also a valuer with no interest in inflating the value. They are acting on behalf of the bank to ensure that they would recover the outstanding balance should we default.

[StuTheGrouch]

camshafted said:

Blue62 said:

Some really good advice here, many thanks.

Interested to know whether a brochure is worthwhile, first agent we've seen seems to think it's money well spent, I'm not convinced.

I don't know how much an agent charges but wouldn't be convinced you need one unless (with the greatest respect!) you have a luxury home (you might). Suspect most interested people will view the house on Rightmove etc, so I imagine a well written description, floorplan and plenty of large images will do the trick to get buyers' attention.

Agree with this. Decent images which cover all obvious areas (driveway, garden, all bedrooms, reception rooms and the kitchen) and a floor plan. I cannot stand it when there is no floor plan!

The brochures on rightmove are the same images and details, just in headed templates of the estate agent. I very rarely open these.