Worth paying higher estate agent fee?

[cleanfloor]

Just that really. We're about to put our house on the market and it's between 2 agents, one on 1% and we the other on 1.7%.
The higher rate one says they have more selling resources, offices, sales negotiators, mortgage brokers contacts blah blah blah. So worth the extra money to get a better price in the long run.
Is this true though or I wonder that the house will sell for what it's worth whichever agent we choose.
Thanks in advance for any advice we're really finding it hard to choose!

No
Purchasers use right move or similar
Use someone like purple bricks and save yourself the money
High street estate agents are a thing of the past

Thanks for your reply

Well that was the interesting thing, the higher fee EA actually told me that they hardly get any enquiries from right move these days, it's all phone work and going to 'get' potential buyers. Which I am as surprised at I thought Rightmove was the biggest thing.

How are you looking for new houses? Are you trawling estate agents or looking on rightmove?

Sorry, but that is simply not true. Online agents seem to take the money upfront and do little else. So many threads on here complaining of poor service. Those who have secured a sale have complained of terrible sales progression.

I would suggest OP that you go with the one you think more likely to get you the sale. You can tell the difference between spiel and someone who can sell to your target market.

If that turns out to be the more expensive agents, you try negotiating that they only get the 1.7% if they secure a proceedable sale at an acceptable price to you within x number of weeks, then their fee decreases.

Good idea eyestye I'll try that and see what they say.

DanGleballs, i know, I did think it was a suspiciously bulls**t thing to say.

It really depends on the housing market in your area and the property.

My last house was difficult to sell as the only bathroom was off a bedroom. We thought that the agent wouldn't matter because everyone just uses Rightmove and went with the cheapest. It had a few viewings and not much else, the agents didn't seem to care.
Meanwhile we were obviously looking for houses and kept getting calls from one certain agent about houses that she had just coming on that would suit us etc. We realised that she was actually working for the money and moved our house over to her. It was sold in under a month.
Her agency cost about 0.5% more but it was worth it to sell the house.

Some houses in some markets will sell themselves on Righmove, some won't. If you think yours would sell regardless then go with the cheapest or an online agents. If it's a tricky one or a slow market then pay the extra.

We were tempted to use Purple Bricks when we sold last year but ended to using a local agent.
The PB guy just did a rightmove search to establish house prices for the area without knowing that within the half mile radius there was a council estate which brought the average price down.
The local agent had sold several properties on our estate in recent weeks and had a list of potential buyers and they also claimed that serious buyers contact agents and don't rely on rightmove. We missed out on a house because we looked at rightmove and didn't have our names down with the agent.
It was a person on our agents list that he recommended our house to that bought it within 2 days of being on the market.
I would always go with the person who has the most local knowledge and gets you a price that seems most inline with similar houses sold in the area.

Purple bricks are awful. We have tried to view two houses with them and the whole registration/booking process is a nightmare. We gave up trying to view. One has been for sale since July 2015.

Interestingly the buyer for our house wasn't planning on viewing our property but the EA told them to look round before they made their final decision on a different property. They told me when they came round that the EA had thrown the cat amount the pigeons. Two days later they offered and we accepted.

I work within an EA, and most of the enquiries are from Rightmove.

You need an honest EA. They sound like they've already lied. Also, one that's friendly is always a bonus, rather than one that's all faux.

Don't use an online agent. Three sets of friends have had terrible experiences with them.

I'd go with a local one, ideally with a good personal recommendation.

Thanks for your very helpful replies all

Do you also think it's better to have an EA very local to you rather than one in a near-ish neighbouring area? Cheaper one is in our immediate area 10 mins walk away.

We are in London so even though the other EA is kind of near it's still quite separate if that makes sense.

Or should it not make a difference?

We used a city centre one that knew our area and had worked really well for a few friends. I don't think it necessarily matters which office is closer.

Saying that, if you're back and forth the estate agent a lot, nearby is always handy!

We used one with it's office in the next suburb rather than the more local agent. It wasn't as though it was very much further away and everyone looks on RM anyway. I looked at who was actually selling houses locally and we chose to go with the person we felt would get us a sale.