Estate Agents fees.

[Rowgtfc72]

Just had our house valued at £75,000. The estate agent tells us it will cost £2,160 to put it on the market with them. I've read about fees being 1% of value. Are we being taken for a ride? This includes all advertising and a home energy report.

[MoonlightandMusic]

Have they specified what the advertising will be (online/shop only/brochures/local paper) and whether the figure also includes VAT? Bit difficult to say if it represents good value otherwise.

Our EA charged 1.5% as the selling charge, but advertising costs (and VAT on same) were billed separately, as was the energy report. Total for advertising+VAT and energy report worked out for us at just over £3k.

Also, most people are open to negotiation, so if you feel their current price doesn't offer good value, but you think they are the right people to sell your house, then see if they can at least round it down to an even 2k (7.4% drop on their current charges).

[StandoutMop]

We paid 1% (or possibly 0.8) which included all advertising, brochures, energy report thing.

But, firstly I was selling in an area where houses were moving very fast and had 3 agents all keen to take it on, so I could haggle.

Secondly, 1% of our sale price was £5k so more than enough to cover costs. I can see that as many sale costs are fixed, there might be a minimum charge an estate agent will accept.

[TheCrowFromBelow]

Yes unless they have stated it's a flat fixed rate you need a breakdown from them, of % fee + vat , EPC charge, advertising, brochure/ photography/ floorplan charges etc.
Agents fees are usually a % of sale price, and you can try and negotiate. Even 0.25% off can make a substantial difference.
Bear in mind that if it's % of sale price, if you sell for more than the valuation, you will pay more.

[Rowgtfc72]

Did wonder if there was a minimum charge. Price includes vat and advertising in local papers , shop and online. They will do a 3 d floorplan if we want and lots of pictures. It appealed as it is a fixed price, just seemed a lot of money. Original estate agents quote was £1000 but he didn't specify what that included. We are going to ask him for a breakdown of costs as he sold a house similar to ours across the road just last week and it was only on the market right weeks. Also the original estate agent is a local independant, the £2160 agent is a chain.

[wowfudge]

That's way too much - almost 3%. Are there a lot of similar properties in the area or is yours unusual?

To give you an idea, we sold a house late last year for £94k. All the local agents we spoke to - apart from Bridgfords who wanted to send someone to do a sales job on us before they'd tell us how much they charged - charged 1.5% with a minimum charge of £1250. This covered everything and there was no tie in for X weeks.

If this is the highest valuation you've had with these high fees I would urge you seriously to go elsewhere. These agents give a high valuation figure to get your business. Ask them how many properties in your price bracket have actually sold at or above the asking price. I bet they can't or won't tell you.

[Rowgtfc72]

Already asked about properties sold in the price bracket and they were very upfront. Its on a no sell no fee basis as well. They haven't hidden anything its just about a thousand pound more than I was expecting! Going elsewhere I think!
Thanks for the advice everyone, much appreciated.

[Rootvegetables]

Our agents were all 1.5% but got them down to 1.25 that was everything included. That was in London in a sought after location so could haggle a bit.