WWYD? EA with low % but no properties on market or more popular EA at higher %?

[ixos]

Hi

WWYD? We are on the verge of putting our house on market and have to choose between 2 EAs:

1. Local agent. A few years ago had lots of properties on their books, now have very few. Fees - 0.8%. Really want the gig.
   

1. Local agent. Lots of properties on books. Fees - 1%.
   

Difference between the 2 incl. VAT (if sell at same price) - approx £1100. Would it be a false economy to go with EA 1?

Thanks

[greenformica]

Try option 1 but agree to 12 weeks with them only.

Or explain to option 2 that you are undecided about who to go with and can they match the 0.8% offered?

[FloralPuddles]

To be honest, coming from someone who has just bought a house, I didn't even notice who the estate agent was until I looked for a number to call regarding booking a viewing of the house I was interested in from browsing right move!

If I was back home and maybe had a little more scope then just relying on right move then I may have popped into local estate agents for a chat and to register but in all honesty for me, if your house is not on right move, I wouldn't of seen it. As a consequence of booking viewings of the houses I wanted to see that I had found on right move I became known to the estate agents and they would keep me informed through generic emails of other similar properties.

Maybe the smaller agent would work harder and be able to focus more on your property? Not as much distracting them from being pro-active. I have never sold yet, so in reality I have NO clue what I am talking about lol, I just wanted to tell you as a very recent first time buyer your agent could be based on Mars and only dealt with green houses, I would not of noticed until I looked for the contact details on rightmove ;)

[Crutchlow35]

1. Assuming they use rightmove.

[ixos]

Hmmm, thanks all, agent 1 then? I worry that they won't have existing relationships with buyers as they have nothing much on the market. But maybe this doesn't matter...

[flow4]

I'd want to know why they have no houses on their books any more. In case it's because they're rubbish...

[doglover]

option 2

[madrush]

Would option 1 let you try them out without tying you to a set number of weeks? Explain to them that you'd rather go with them and they're offering a better deal but the lack of other properties makes you nervous.

[BackforGood]

Depends a bit on the 'footfall' (on number of people that drive past your house) too. We can't paint the front door or get some new curtains without hundreds of people commenting on it, but if you were tucked away down a country lane or in a cul-de-sac, then you would be relying more heavily on the agent and less on people noticing that your house was for sale and going to look up the details with whoever the board belonged to.