Standard estate agent fee for selling?

[toomanyflatwhites]

Is there any such thing as a standard commission for selling?
We have had 2 properties valued in the last 2 weeks - DP's and mine. His is in a higher bracket, much more niche property (stunning but possibly a tricky sale), in SW London, and we were told 1%.
Mine is in NE London, fairly standard Victorian conversion and much less expensive, and the agent who I currently let it through (and pay for full management) told me it's 1.75% which seems a bit steep!

Obviously I have queried it but not sure if there are large variations in different areas?

You’ll find variations between agents even in the same area. Best to get a few around to value and negotiate the fee - I didn’t know this prior to selling and ended up paying a whopping 2.4% which was about 1.4% higher than most other local agents and 2.4% more than they deserved.

Oooof @heartshapedknob I bet that hurt!!

They have now come back to me with 1.35% - I suppose the smart thing to do is to shop around but as they have the keys etc there's no doubt it would be MUCH easier if they are the ones selling it. I suppose they know that! I might just try and call some other agents and see if they will tell me fees over the phone before I decide whether to arrange valuations with them.

I found it was usually about 1%. But generally they will accept lower % for higher value properties and vice versa, and they usually insist on a minimum commission amount if you happen to be selling a very low value property.

1% is the absolute maximum I’d be prepared to pay. It’s worth shopping around 👍🏻

I've now had a moment to call some other agents and been told their commission is 1% so am arranging valuations!

We've had quotes of between 1.5-1.8% and we've sold previous houses for between 450-750K.

Is it the done thing to negotiate? 1% would be fab!

Always worth a try @TheRhythmlessMan!

Problem is in that geographical area I really don't know anymore who the good guys are (if such a thing exists!!) so just have to go with gut feeling and rates I think.

We sold last summer in SW London where the "standard" rate was around 1.25% (they'd initially tell you they were doing you a good deal at 1.5% though) and I negotiated 1.1% (which is what I wanted) by playing the estate agent we wanted to go with against another one that we had zero intention of going with but they were offering 1% as it was a new branch. At the moment it's a good market in the sense that they all want your property (if it's good) and will fight for it (and then fight to sell it) because it just isn't as easy as it was a couple of years ago. Once you get a lower offer (in writing) you can use that to bargain with the EA that you actually want as a difference of 0.2-3% on London prices is steep and they know it'll be the difference with you going with them as unlike stamp duty it's a cost within your control.

I had the attitude that it's a business transaction and one you can negotiate on, but you need it to be at a level that they will put in the work for rather than be too low and not bother, particularly in the London market right now. We also avoided set fee offers (even if it meant we'd potentially pat a little more) as then they don't have an inventive to get the best price if it's already been agreed what they get. Given the market we also went for a reputable large EA in our area where we'd had positive experiences as potential buyers as the one thing you don't want is your house to be let down by the EA who is supposed to be selling it for you, as we were happy to pay a higher price for competency (not that we actually did) rather than cheap skate and get someone where we wouldnt have been satisfied with their knowledge as a buyer. Definitely do some undercover viewings (or get friends to) with the EA branches you're considering to see how they'd treat your buyers as there are some houses we proactively avoided viewing as we'd had such bad experiences with the agents.

It does vary by area within London though as friends who were selling at the same time in zone 2 struggled to get anything below 1.75% as all of the EAs had the same rates.

Oh we also negotiated on contract length, exclusivity etc as they're not all the same. Some wanted 16 weeks exclusivity and then if you changed agents and the people who bought it were "introduced" by the previous agent then they also wanted a fee, which wasn't happening. I questioned this on the grounds of gdpr as you're not made aware when you view properties that your details will be stored and then passed on to a new EA, so they immediately all said they would revoke that clause etc. We had 8 weeks as our minimum term and had already decided that if we didn't sell within that time frame then we were out, as we didn't desperately need to sell, but we didn't tell the EAs that fact. As it was we sold to the first people who viewed the house, so we were very lucky.

Sold SW London last summer and paid 1.25% but tbh it was worth it! House sold before going on the market, the day the photographer came around they asked to show to an interested party who put an offer in then and there.

Only had to keep it immaculate for 4 hours...with 2 dc that was hard enough

I'm so grateful for your insight wise mumsnetters! I would never have thought to check the length of term or other details. This one is 20 weeks which seems a bit long but then again I'm not in a great hurry.
But interestingly I have held the agent off for a week as I planned another valuation for mid this week, but today agent #1 came back and said "we genuinely have viewings lined up..." so have offered 1% + vat! This seems almost worth just going for it without having the other valuation, or maybe that's not a good idea...
Hmm not the right week for DP and my parents to both be out of the country, I need counselling on this!!

I'd still have the other agent come as then you can play them off against each other as ultimately the cheapest isn't always best. We went with the ones we liked/were most confident with even though they were .1% higher than our lowest quote.

20 weeks sounds very long to me, especially if you have to give them notice and then they might also have conditions that if you go on the market again in the next year then you'd still have to give them commission if you sold to someone they introduced. Ideally you want a minimal tie in period as you can always stay with them if you like them, or if you're not happy to elsewhere sooner.

Thanks @cardboard33 - still hoping to get the other valuation done but is dependent on tenants agreeing to access and they aren't responding to the agents about it at this point!!
Also DP (who as I mentioned is away) is now starting to question whether I should sell so think I really need to wait until he is back at the weekend and we can properly discuss it. The first agent is making me feel under pressure to decide quickly but I can't imagine the market at the moment really demands instant decisions as it would have done at some other points in recent years?!
Oh and thanks to advice here I asked about reducing the term as 20 weeks will clash with my baby's due date (or just after), and they were happy to reduce to 12 weeks (in which case could give notice after 10 weeks).
I'm feeling in a hurry to get on with it but think DP and I need to properly discuss it so I need to try not to succumb to the pressure from the agent!

We got a lot of good questions/insight from here, particularly about the term and things that aren't
immediately obvious unless you're a pro at it. Hoa.org.uk/advice/guides-for-homeowners/i-am-selling/clever-questions-to-ask-the-estate-agent-when-selling-a-house-in-2015/

Don't let them pressure you into signing anything until you're ready. Just send them a firm email explaining that you will be in touch with them and not the other way around, then let all of their calls go to voice mail whilst you wait to discuss with your partner. I found it interesting in the sense that they're your best friend when they want you but then once you tell them no they blow you off, even if you've got legit reasons that could help their professional development as agents/people (eg there was too much hard sell/desperation and I don't want that to come across to prospective buyers, so the people we've gone with are softer/more subtle in their approach but still get the job done) but they don't want to know.

Good luck!!

We got 6 local agents round and got anywhere from 1-1.5%. played the 1% against the agents we wanted and they offered 0.75% with only a 6 week tie in

Met the second agent today - they have the same valuation as the first, and told me that as they are independent they don't insist on a contract, and suggest 4-6 weeks minimum term and just dip a toe in. He did also recommend though that I get it painted so am waiting on a quote from somehow I had also handily arranged to come in today - it definitely needs it after 5 years with tenants in.
They also showed me the Right Move sales figures for the area showing that they sell double the number of properties of the next busiest agent in the area. The guy spent a lot of time explaining how they would handle the fact it's tenanted and how to approach all of that, and actually I think I liked him - whereas the agents who let it haven't given me much feedback and have been quite pushy.
I'm going to check that link @cardboard33 so thank you! Still need to convince DP though as he thinks I should keep hold of it...