Estate agents - fees and how to choose one

[Jiddle]

I am (hopefully) going to relocate this summer so planning to get some EAs round to value the house. I have never sold a house through an EA before so not sure how much you can haggle on their commission or the pros/cons of going sole agent or using more than one. Please help!

I will need to move within a limited time frame to fit in with school holidays. I work FT so think a traditional EA would be better than online, as I need them to do the viewings. I don't expect to make much profit on the house as having checked sold prices on Zoopla I can see that a realistic sale price will be around the £250k SDLT threshold. House is a mid terraced 3 bedder. Other houses like mine have been on the market for £275-£300k but those have been hanging around ages, while a better house (semi-detached, 4 beds) sold for £280k about a year ago. It's not a very liquid market where we are (semi-rural village), though we do have a v gd primary school in walking distance which may help.

As I need to move in such a limited time frame I am prepared to price the house realistically for sale, albeit I know buyers will want a discount on the asking price anyway. I had an EA round a year ago and he was insisting it would go for £275k which is clearly not realistic. This was the EA which sells most properties in my area. I need to know what to do to get my house sold quickly without being taken in by EA sales talk!

Also how much %age commission is usual? This one (a year ago) was saying 2% but I thought 1.5% was more the norm? Any views? How much can you haggle? And how much more is it if you go with more than one agent? Does that look desperate?

When I bought the house I was a FTB in a hurry with no chain on the sellers' side either and it still took 3 months from offer to completion. Is this normal?

How much should I say to the EA about needing to move in July/Aug? If they know this, will it make them tell buyers I'll accept any offer? Or will it make no difference?

Finally, how important are floor plans do you think? I find them really helpful when looking on Rightmove but the EA who sells most of my type of property don't do them. Is this enough reason to go with a different EA which does?

Thanks for any/all your advice!

I love a floor plan too. People tend to look over an area rather than a street so will probably be comparing houses in the same price bracket within that area. If the layout is pretty varied then a floor plan will be good but if fairly standard layout probably less important.

I think going with the same estate agent at a lower price may not always work in your favour particularly if you haggle down their commision. They would rather sell one of the other similar houses and get more money than yours.

How unlocal are the other estate agents? Were are their offices? In your situation I would be tempted to go with someone else as anyone they get in to look at the houses near you will probably see your board and get in touch with your EA.

Not sure about haggling over commision - we didn't as all were about the same at 1.25% and with the price of our house we would only be talking a hundred pounds less.

Also if you think the price is over-inflated check they charge on sold price not original marketed price (we had this with one EA who valued much higher than anyone else ~ 20% more than we are selling for)

3 months from offer to completion is usual, I'm afraid - you could be lucky but there are searches to do and if there is a chain, it takes as long as the slowest link. You need a plan B if there is a deadline.

if you will accept any offer (50p?) then it will go a lot quicker. Better to price it at what you want plus a little, and be clear where you stand.

try for 1% if you think the place will go quickly.

Thanks both. Karron we are between 2 towns and 1 EA is in one town and the other in the other. One is a bit more "upmarket" - not Knight Frank type but just sells a few naicer properties.

I do like a floor plan so assuming commissions are the same I think will go with the one who does floor plans.

Specialsubject, I didn't mean I would accept any offer, but that I wouldn't want the EA to say that I would to get a sale. I am aware that I may have to go into rented to move in time but would really struggle if the house doesn't sell at all (as can't afford rent on new house plus mortgage on unsold house). So, while I may take a slightly lower offer than otherwise, I don't want buyers given the impression that I'm desperate to sell and I know EAs will say anything to get a sale. At the price point of my house, I don't think the argument that the EA wants a higher sale price to get more commission really works - they will just want to get a sale full stop.

I have thought of maybe renting out the house for a bit if I can't sell it quickly but the difficulty there is that I would need my capital out of it to buy somewhere new fairly soon so it would have to be quite a short let. Where we live I don't think a 6-12 month let will be very attractive to anyone.

Thanks for the tip re commission on sold price v marketing price. Any more things I should watch out for?

ask people who have sold recently if you know any -
re price sounds like you should put on for 260 but accept 250 - then people will feel that they have got some money off.
re viewings most people want to view evenings and weekends and estate agents tend to have limited time so it can be better if you are happy to someviewing
there is a very good add on to Rightmove called property bee - it shows you how long house have been on the market and changes -I think you have to use firefox but it gives you a feel for the results different estate agents perform.
re school holidays issue is it for your job or your DCs -if its for the DC and not critical years I wouldn't wory - we moved last half term of summer term and it was a good time to move school
I would put on the market March/april
Defetnitaly worth haggling they can always say no - don't put on with 2 agents they are use the same places to market anyway
and I love a floor plan too

the story we got from the agent on the place we bought is that it was priced to sell at the asking price - other agents put £20k on the asking price, still expecting to get £20k less.

so you could try to brief your agent to say 'reasonably priced to sell at that price'. As you are aware, there is a stamp duty issue at £250k so you might as well go for the usual £50 under that.

also all the usual stuff; declutter, clean, finish off DIY, paint the front door and give it kerb appeal, etc etc. Don't worry about the coffee and fresh bread though. :-) Basically try to remove any 'buts', as in 'good house but...' where they are within your control.