Estate agent fees

[marthastew]

We're selling our flat and I was curious to know what estate agents fees typically are. We are in London. Four different agencies have quoted the following for sole agency...

2% + VAT
2% + VAT
1.6% + VAT
1.5% + VAT

What have you been quoted/charged recently? Would love to know how much room for negotiation there is.

[TerrysNo2]

1% in Surrey for sole agency

[lalalonglegs]

I got the agency I am selling with down to 1.5% (north London), couldn't go below that. Tbh, they've done a good job and I'm happy to pay that.

[marthastew]

Thanks both. That's the thing, striking a bit of a balance. I don't mind paying for them - I think they'll do a good job but if I managed to negotiate a low fee, I might run the risk of the agents not putting in as much effort to sell it as other flats they have on their books which will earn them more money.

I read that a Which? survey two years ago found the national average to be 1.8% + VAT.

[aufaniae]

We went with an online agent //www.housenetwork.co.uk with a flat fee of £600.

We sold the flat in just over a month, for a price we were happy with.

(You can opt to have them on commission if you prefer).

They did great pictures and listed us on all the usual sites. We had to do the viewings ourselves, but that worked our fine. (Tip, show the
viewer round once, then encourage them to go around again unaccompanied. Tell them you're going to do this before you start).

They don't value it for you, but you can get valuations from the local agents (bit cheeky i know!)

It saved us ££££ I doubt I'll use a high street agent again.

[aufaniae]

Ooh, also you're not tied into a contract.

One of the local agents quoted about £40k over the realistic asking price but tried to tie us in for 16 weeks. He was a slimeball, that man!

[marthastew]

Interesting. I'm pretty confident that we have an accurate valuation as four agencies quoted us the same figure.

[doradoo]

Think yourself lucky - where I live it's about 7% shared equally between buyer and seller.

We've found our house on the equivalent of rightmove as a private sale - so noone is paying commission - thankfully!

[marthastew]

Goodness - that is a lot of money.

Also, found this site on agent reviews which is quite interesting!

www.allagents.co.uk/

[Potterer]

I'm another one who used HouseNetwork and paid a flat fee of £600. Sold mine and the house I bought also happened to be up with HouseNetwork.

As a buyer I never registered with an agent. Everything these days is on Rightmove and Globrix and I can make an informed decision as to whether a house is suitable for me to go and view.

I think that the only time it paid to be on an estate agent's list was when properties were selling so fast that you really needed to be first through the door. These days with everyone searching online, and most estate agents leaving the viewings to the vendor, why would I pay them thousands of pounds?

We had floorplans, loads of photos and video tours of our house through HouseNetwork. You get a dedicated person handling your account, they deal with the negotiations and the only thing you have to do is show someone round your house.

[marthastew]

I love this idea but we need someone to be able to show people around as we both work full time.

[QuackQuackChicken]

We used emoov and had a flat fee of £570 (including getting on right move board and EPA). They've been really good (do pretty much the same as Housemarket) and we accepted an offer yesterday five days after going on the market. But you would need to show them round the house. We both work too, but we only did viewings early evening and at weekends.

Good luck with your sale.

[marthastew]

Thanks QuackQuack, and congratulations on your sale. Hope it all progesses smoothly.

[aufaniae]

Martha in your shoes, I'd be tempted to try House Network or similar for a given time (say a month or so) doing viewings at evenings and weekends and see how it goes. If a buyer is genuine they'll come see it then. And most buyers work too anyway.

It could save you ££££, worth a try I reckon!

[wonkylegs]

We got 3 quotes from local agents

All were fixed fees which worked out as approx. 0.7% or 0.8%+ VAT
EPC fixed fee on top.
All gave us a good deal though as they thought it would be very easy to sell and there is a bit of a funny market in the area that we live in due to lack of supply & very high demand.
They were right we got our 1st offer within 24hrs and have accepted an offer within a week after several offers.
I believe 1% is more normal in our area.