Which Estate Agent?

[CellophaneFlower]

I'm just about to put my late dad's house on the market. I've had 3 agents round to value. The 2 'normal' agents have valued at 600k, which I thought quite optimistic. The other fixed fee agent (not PB or anybody like that) has valued at 575, which I think is more realistic.

I've narrowed them down to 2. 1 was really enthusiastic and almost made me not want to sell as I thought I might actually want to live there myself after all Their fee is 1.25% +vat (which I assume is negotiable). The other is the fixed price agent, I liked him as was very to the point, without the usual flannel. Their fee is £1800 upfront, or 2800 inc vat, no sale, no fee. They charge an extra 450 to accompany unlimited viewings though.

Both agencies have amazing reviews and I'm happy with the way their current listings look with regards to photos, floorplans etc.

Obviously the percentage agency is going to work out quite a bit more expensive, even if I haggle a bit.

Am I missing something as to why the fixed price agent is so cheap? The other agent has told me he already has people lined up to view before the house even goes live... but with Rightmove etc now, does that even really matter? As I'm sure most people these days are glued to Rightmove right (or is this just me)?

Anybody got any tips to help me choose?!

Ask them to provide the evidence that justifies the list price. I think fixed price is new and people always worry about new. Also they might think they will get a higher sale price. Are the fixed price if they have any buyers who might want to view. I
With rightmove these days I always wonder how much the agent really makes a difference.

At a fixed fee there is no incentive to get you the best price for the property. So just be aware of that

@Dazedandconfused10

At a fixed fee there is no incentive to get you the best price for the property. So just be aware of that

This is a good point. I guess I wondered seeing as it would just be a maximum of a couple of hundred extra for that agent, whether it would make that that much difference 🤔

Also I'm concerned they may have overvalued to get my business? He did say with a property like this 1 (it's quite a big plot for the road and has tons of potential) it's hard to know exactly what people would pay so they tend to just throw a price out there and see what happens. Just worried the higher price might put people off and it will end up having to be reduced...

They should have provided you with compatibles to back up how they reached the figure they did, and realistically both agents should on on a similar figure. Some agents value high to get the sale and then bring the price down with reductions.

You could propose a sliding scale with the agents - sell for over x and ill pay y or sell for less than x and I'll pay z.

I thought my EA had overvalued my house and wanted a quick sale so I asked them to put it on for what I thought was more realistic. First to see bought….kicking myself now! You could test the market?

We just sold a probate house and had agents to value. It's hard to gauge how much it is worth but we had a rough idea. We chose an agent with years of experience who was good at doing the aftersale stuff rather than an agent who sells loads of houses but has very young staff. This agent had managed to negotiate a brilliant price of over £100,000 more than th3 asking price and keep the sale together.

Agree with the PP above, think about which agent is going to be easiest to get hold of and will actually do all the chasing to get the sale through.

When we just bought and sold we chose someone who looked like they'd be good at this and they really were. Definitely worth the extra money for us.

Check the terms of the contract - with a “normal” estate agent / percentage fee you can change agents without paying anything if things aren’t working out. Their fee is harder but they risk making no money at all. Check how that would work for the fixed fee if you don’t sell or want to switch.

If you think the £575 is more realistic you can market at the with any agent. If they were right and it's worth closer to £600 then there will be lots of interest and you may achieve that price anyway.

I'd ask about their sales progression offer - how proactive are they at keeping on top of the chain, keeping things moving etc.

I would go for the higher one - then you have scope to negotiate with buyers and accept 575/580. Then they will feel they have got a bargain.

I would ask them to put it just below £600,000 as sites like Rightmove have bands of 550-600k, 600-650 etc and you dont want to be at the bottom of the higher one.

as for personalities I would go for the enthusiastic one! Although bea in mind that they may not be carrying out all the viewings

Thanks all, lots of helpful advice

I hadn't thought of a sliding scale, @Dazedandconfused10, thanks!

So I think the way the fixed price one works is if you pay their higher fee you pay nothing if they don't sell... but I would need to double check I wouldn't be tied in for an amount of time I guess.

So, another question, I'm quite sold on the idea of agents doing the viewings, mainly as I've always felt uncomfortable when shown round a house by the owners and felt unable to ask certain questions in case I offend them! Does anybody has preferences about that either way? These agents are all local and know everything about the area and 1 has a form for me to fill out about the house so he can answer those questions too.

If you pay the fixed fee upfront it doesn’t matter to the agent if it completes or not. What incentive does he or she have to speak to the chain and help you get the money from the sale (completion)?

That could be why they are cheaper, less work to do after an offer is made.

@Dazedandconfused10

At a fixed fee there is no incentive to get you the best price for the property. So just be aware of that

This is a red herring. If the 'normal' agent sold it for £25k less than the £600k they would only lose £312 on a already £7000k+ commision. This is not enough incentative for them to turn down a realistic offer and keep waiting for the 'best price'.

@CellophaneFlower you’re not in Havering are you? Your situation sounds very similar to me six weeks ago when we wanted to put our house up for sale (slightly lower price range than your house). We opened for the traditional agent in the end as he was more focused on helping us get the next place, even allowing us to view a couple of places before they came on the market. The ‘disrupt or’ agent was all about the sale and didn’t care where we were going and seemed to have a massive chip on his shoulder about the traditional agent! However, as it’s your LDs place, you obviously won’t be looking for an onward sale.

@Clickncollect Yes I am. You're not the traditional agent are you?

You probably know what fixed price agent I'm on about! They have such good reviews and I did like the bloke that came out as he was very direct. I'm just concerned about the huge difference in price.

So, I know you can barter them down... what price have others paid? The first agent that came out said 1% but not to sign with anybody else before talking to her again as that wasn't fixed The other guy didn't say their fee was negotiable though but I assume it will be....

@CellophaneFlower Blimey, I should be a private detective! Yes I’m pretty certain I know exactly which fixed price agent you’re taking about. Their office is just a few minutes from my house! I did like the fixed price guy as he is a straight talker and I think his business model can work in certain situations (maybe yours more than mine). He did mention the traditional agent a good few times, even after we’d told him we were going elsewhere whereas the traditional agent didn’t mention them once. It really was the fact that the traditional really seemed to care about the place we were going to and six weeks in that is still the case such as getting us in the door with houses as soon before they hit rightmove so I am happy with my decision but your circumstances are different.
There was no negotiation on the traditional agents fee BUT my house sold on the first day of viewings and got 5% above asking price so I feel like he has justified his fee. However, maybe the other guy would have got that too, in fairness.
In terms of valuation, they both said similar. We did actually talk to 2 other agents so a total of 4 and the other 2 valued the place less so we wouldn’t have got the current price if we’d gone with the others.
The other thing is that I’m not an experienced buyer/seller so I really need my hand held so maybe I just wasn’t brave enough to try a market disruptor type rather than the traditional type but you may feel differently.
I also think I know who the 1% lady is - although we didn’t go with her, she has been amazing calling me regularly for a catch-up and letting me know about properties about to come on. So she’s gone above and beyond with me when she didn’t have to.
Generally places seem to be flying off the shelf in our area and it really is a sellers market so fingers crossed your property will sell quickly at a price you’re happy with.

Having used both cheapo estate agents and proper estate agents in the past, I would strongly recommend using a proper estate agent. You could be lucky, and the house will sell itself via Rightmove and everyone in the chain will behave well, and the conveyancers will be efficient and competent, and then you’ll have saved money.

But when someone in the chain plays silly buggers and the (cheapo) conveyancers take a fortnight to reply to every contact, it’ll be the proper estate agents who make the whole thing happen.