Is it normal to pay for Estate Agent marketing costs up front.

[Hasthemarketsplit]

I have just come off the market and am currently considering my options.

My last agent charges for Photographs, Rightmove listings and a Brochure up front. They take those charges off the final selling fee but obviously if they dont sell it is the client, i.e. me that loses that money.

Several people have told me I shouldn't have agreed to pay those costs up front, although I chose the agent as the one I thought was most likely to sell my house and he wouldn't budge on that issue.

Can I ask what is normal in relation to charges? What commision rate are you being charged and is it normal to pay marketing costs up front?

My EA only charges upon completion and we agreed a fixed fee of £1500 plus vat and not a %. In my area houses aren't up for long as there is such a demand for them.

You might have to pay upfront costs with a more ‘up-market” agent, especially if they are doing a glossy brochure. What price are you selling at - if its less than £1.5m you dont need a glossy brochure really. In this market you should be able to negotiate fees hard but again it may be different from city/town to more rural. I would suggest getting 3 local agents round and seeing what they quote - choose the one you like best (not necessarily the one which says they can get the highest price) and then negotiate with them on the fees. I would also ask each agent what price you should go on the market if you wanted to get a sale NOW.

We oaid upon completion. Solicitor made the deduction. We did pay for the 'professional' photos upfront though. Not convinced these were any better than what the agsnt could have taken though.

Most estate agents ask for payment on completion. The only agent I looked at that charged up-front fees were the cheap ones such as purplebricks. I am currently on a 1% of sale fee.
I would never agree to pay upfront fees!

I think I'm on the other thread and I've never paid for anything upfront. As I said, it may vary by area but when I've sold properties previously it is for a percentage of the sale price (usually somewhere between one and two percent) and there have been no extra charges for photos, marketing etc. The fee is paid by the solicitor on completion of the sale.

There has also never been a tie-in period, although the flipside of that is that most contracts state that if the property is sold within 6 months they can take a fee as it may be someone they introduced to it.

I have never heard of this, unless it's purplebricks.

I was surprised when you said it on the other thread.

Ours was an upfront £600, we decided to take the risk of loosing that over paying a higher commission. Most people use the internet now for house hunting so I dont think it matters what agent you use. I had to do the viewings but I enjoyed that ☺

It all depends on how easily you think your house will sell. If you have a nice house in a sought after area, I would go with the cheaper estate agents who may charge up front fees, as well charging you if you don't sell/change your mind.
My house was harder to sell and I would have struggled with an agent like purplebricks - sometimes you need a decent agent chasing things up for you.

Thanks all, that is very useful input.

This wasn't a cheaper agent. The Commission would have been 1.25%. I had to pay all the marketing costs up front. If they had sold the property these would have been knocked off the Commission fee, but if not it was my loss.

As they didn't manage to sell the house (that has never happened to me before) I have lost the money.

Won't be agreeing to that next time