How much do estate agents cost?

[venividivicky]

I haven't needed to instruct one for many years,so am a bit out of touch with costs. We recently had a valuation/fee quote for a house in the Home Counties by a well known agent with the initials S & P.

They valued the property at substantially less than an agent who gave us an informal valuation a year ago, produced two 'comparables' from wholly different areas, and subsequently sent a letter saying that they wanted one and a half per cent for sole agency. In addition, we would have to pay £550 up front for the cost of the marketing brochure. Surely the marketing costs should be included in the percentage shouldn't they?

Also, despite one of their agents telling a national newspaper that they had a queue of people wanting to buy properties like this in our specific area, they didn't seem to have any. They just wanted to stick it on the internet immediately whereas we were hoping to try initially for a discreet sale.

I probably will go with an agent, but my initial thought was that if I have to pay for the marketing brochure and they are just going to stick it on the internet to sell it, I might as well do it myself and save a lot of money.

Does anyone else have any recent experience of agents and how much they charge?

[BugPlaster]

Couple of years ago I think I paid fee of £1,800 inc vat and brochure-type stuff (which is pointless if just going to put on net and can post out print outs rather than brochure). This was the better of a few agents, some cheaper were not so hot on customer service which I thought was worth paying a bit more for, for my sanity and better treatment of potential buyers.

[HelpfulChap]

Generally 1-1.5% of the selling price.

Have seen someone offering 0.75% as a Jan offer.

There are some online EAs that will do it for a flat fee.

[wowfudge]

1% is normal here in the NW. We had three round to value our house before we decided who to market it with. There were no upfront costs with any of them. They usually have a minimum fee, which is understandable when their costs are the same at the lower end of the market as higher up.

[NotSoFancyNancy]

18 minutes months ago we paid .75%. No upfront fees. Southeast though and house practically sold itself.
I would get at least 3 different valuations and compare fees and make a decision then.

[lighteningirl]

In the SE I paid .75 which was I still think extortionate on local property as they print nothing and properties sell in about three days. Next time I am trying on line.

[notarehearsal]

I'm paying 1.2%, SE

[bikingintherain]

We're selling with purplebricks. An online estate agent with a set fee, I think about 750. Couldn't fault them. They have a local expert for an area, so someone who knows the market. We were on the market quickly and had got the asking price within a month.

[HippyPottyMouth]

We agreed a fixed fee of £1600 all in, for a 3-bed terrace in the East Midlands which was marketed at £127k and sold for £124k.

[Chaby]

We also used an online agent, Housenetwork. Really happy with the service and we paid about £800 in total.

[HippyPottyMouth]

Should have said, this was about 8 months ago.

[venividivicky]

Thanks everybody. I am based in Herts. Sounds like I would be paying top dollar for not much of a service.

[tangerinesarenottheonlyfruit]

We also used //www.housenetwork.co.uk after a mumsnet recommendation and they were great. Cost us six-hundred-and-something pounds all in. This was a few years back it may have gone up.

We used an online conveyancing firm too I wouldn't recommend that though they were useless. I'd try to get a personal recommendation for the legal side next time.

[wowfudge]

For their 1% the EA we've used have conducted all but two of the viewings, which has saved us time and, I think, a lot of potential buyers are inclined to be more honest then and there with the EA whereas they don't want to offend a vendor. The viewings we've done were a second viewing and a viewing on a Sunday which they couldn't fit in their diary.

You can save money by having an independent person do your EPC too. They cost around £50, but the EAs frequently quote up to £80 for this.

Do check the details they write for you - we re-wrote large parts of ours and eliminated much of the appalling EA speak.

[namechangedtoday15]

It was around 1.25% when we last sold in the NW house sold within a week and I really resented it. Its upto you to negotiate. If they want your business, depending on the market in your particular area, they'll do a deal.

[TheLesserSpottedBee]

We used HouseNetwork, cost £650 ish 6 years ago. They did everything except show people round.

We got 3 local agents to value it although we had a fairly good idea of what it was worth. HN took photos, video tour footage and did a floorplan. They arranged viewings and did the negotiations.

We also bought this house through HN, you have a dedicated person for your house so I dealt with one for ours and another person for this house. Was easy. And saved us a huge amount of money.

I didn't register with any estate agents when we were looking to buy so why would anyone else? I used RightMove and Globrix to find houses.

[LunaLovebad]

We've just signed up to a local agent on a fixed fee of £4,500 which is less than 1% of the asking price. No upfront fees. I know there are cheaper options out there, especially online, but they're selling the house we want to buy and it improves the chances of us getting the new house if we give them our sale. If we didn't have this to worry about, I'd probably be tempted to go online and do it myself. I guess it depends on how much time /energy you have to devote to enquiries/phonecalls/viewings/negotiations etc and all the other stuff that estate agents supposedly do.

[JellyBaby26]

I work for an EA and we charge 2% as standard but often reduced.

We sold our house in Berkshire and were charged 1%.

If your house will sell itself do you need fancy things such as brochures? When we were given brochures I took them out of politeness and they were swiftly put in recycling. It's all about the Internet!

[HelloItsMeAgain]

Try and get a recommendation from people in your area as estate agents vary. In our town we have one estate agent who will put it on at an exorbitant price, it will sit around for 8 months, be reduced and sell. And do fuck all to help the conveyancing. The other estate agent puts it on at a more reasonable price and they are sold in days and pull out all the stops to help the conveyancing. But if you didn't know that you may be wooed by the higher price. not bitter at all Try looking for local reviews. We found this helpful at the end of last year selling my MIL's place www.rateragent.co.uk/

[GreenGoblin0]

we bought our house through purplebricks. They were absolutely useless and the sale nearly fell through because of them.

[WhimsicalWinnifred]

We paid a flat fee of 2k to o'riordan bond. This is not based on percentages. They weren't terrible.

The guy we purchased from paid tepilo £895 odd. They did literally duck all but mess it up. NEVER EVER USE THEM!!!!

The less that 1% agents seem to be good and well known.

[WhimsicalWinnifred]

Oh and o'riordan bond were 'no sale, no fee'

[Longdistance]

I work within an EA in Herts.
The fees vary from all different estate agencies in the town.
My colleagues do a really good professional job, and have loads of potential buyers on their books, and are constantly calling potential buyers for new homes who specify their need/budget.
There is no up front fee.

[venividivicky]

Hi Long. Which areas do you cover?

[Longdistance]

Harpenden and St. Albans area.
I'm not an EA myself but my colleagues are.
PM me, and I'll give you better details without outing myself ha!

[EcclefechanTart]

I am not too far from Herts. Ours charges 0.5% of sale price, no flat fees, no extra charges. They are very good.