Bloody Estate Agents ....how do you choose?

[mosschops30]

have had 3 valuations, heres how they went:

1st was from a small independent agents, offering low percentage on sale (1%) and no VAT. Valued at £220-230k.

2nd was from a large estate agency, offering 1.25% plus VAT and also told me bad stories about 1st estate agent when I said Id had a cheaper quote he said 'let me guess from xxx'. He then went on to say that she had been busted for setting up fake valuations and just wandering round peoples houses and also that they were a different firm who went bankrupt leaving some people out of pocket and set up under new name. Valued at £220k

3rd from small but well established agency, not really used to marketing in this area, more in the area we are buying which is posher. Offered 1.25% plus VAT and said house would not sell over £200k so to put it on at £199k

Have no idea who is right and who to go with, obviously 1st is cheaper but do I take the chance?

Can you not go on multi agent?

Taking the costs out of the equation, who did you like the most?

And who has the most sold boards in the area?

Who has the better website?

Are they all on Rightmove etc?

I wouldnt go with number 2 on principle. Very unprofessional. And Estate Agents often over-value a property in the hope you will instruct them. Lo and behold a month later you have to drop the price because it hasnt sold at that price.

I would go with number 3 I think. They sound more realistic.

I agree, don't go with number 2. Unprofessional and slimy tactics. Ask around your friends to see who they used and if they'd recommend them. My experience is that independent agents offer a better service and fewer lies than the big chains.

Or forget the traditional agent and sell using an on-line agent. They will take photos, prepare the details, post it all on Rightmove and other websites then handle the calls. You just have to show people round.

Well I did like the 1st one but am worried now about bad story. However he said the woman had cctv in her house and thats how she found out about the fake valuations. My thought later was that surely the estate agent would have known about or noticed the cctv.
Similarly about stealing money, we wont be paying them anything until its sold so not sure how that would work?

I dont want to go with the third one for a few reasons, he was far too pompous and cant imagine him doing a good selling point on this house, the other 2 are more local. Also we really cant afford to take less that £200k, if we market it at that we have nowhere to negotiate!
Other similar properties are all in the £220-£240k range which is what we were expecting ours to be valued at.

Should I get another valuation?

The 2nd estate agent has one property in this street and one (exact same house) in next street. Both have been up for 6 months, although he gave me reasons for that, neither particularly believable

sorry yes all are on rightmove, but bigger agent (no.2) is also on other property webistes.
1st agent told me that most business now done through rightmove (84%) 2nd agent made it out that 'just being on rightmove' was not a good thing.

Got to say that Ive done all my house shopping on rightmove

Who left the least slime at the door??

It sounds like No. 2 has a score to settle with No. 1.

I think the thing to do is to look at the agent you could actually do business with rather than market saturation and other bunkum that never comes into it. I would ask how they plan to market the house vs valuations and websites

Dont use the 2nd one. His tactics suggest underhand and unprofessional behaviour, which could extend to his clients as well. He sounds like a candidate for Watchdog, slandering the first one like that, unless theres legal proof. If you cant decide on any of them then you should get another quote.

I used an online agent but they werent very good at drumming up business or following up on viewings. We changed to a local agent after 3 weeks and sold the house the same day.

Well no.1 was a woman so not slimy, but she was overly nice about the house which is by no means perfect
no.2 was slime city but more honest about the house (bathroom terrible, door handles being replaced could help it look better upstairs etc)
no.3 was pompous and I felt like he didnt really want to even market my little house as it didnt match up to his normal £500k properties

Based on local sales, how realistic are the valuations?

If number 1 has actually given you a reasonable valuation based on that info, go with her IMO, or ask her if she will market at a lower price if that's realistic. But a bit of googling/asking around wouldn't go amiss, just to check if there is loads of bad stuff out there about the agency.

Its hard to say because nothing is selling at the moment, so how would I find out what has sold recently (nothing in my street I know that).
I can only go on what is up for sale and the price of that

Right, so have a look at what people are trying to sell for - is it in the same league? If so then they are still over-valuing. You could pick one (any of them, all of them) and ask why they are not giving you a valuation with a reasonable chance of a sale.

TBH if you put the house on the market at £10,000 it would sell, so there must be a price that will work? Can you afford it though?

I have another agent coming tomorrow now so it will be between the 1st one and them.

God and this is only the start, I will be delerious by the end of the house selling/buying process

Have you googled the name/business name of no1 to see if there is any basis to his claim? Is there anyone else to ask to quote?

Yes have googled and cant see anything untoward.

4th valuer came out today and I think was the best. Very professional, was valued on the lower side without being disinterested or rude about the house. I felt he was the most honest.
Fees were higher but he said he would match the 1 1/4% the others have offered.
They are a well established agency.
Also no contract of weeks we have to be with them, so just have to give 21 days notice.

Does this sound like the better option?

Honest plus professional sounds absolutely fine. Go with your gut on this one.

Think about who you would buy one from.

Don't discount one because they value it lower- we chose the agent we liked and told them to market it at the higher price but bear in mind that we would consider lower offers- they work for you!

Ours did a fantastic job.