What percentage are you paying to estate agents? And are you paying a "marketing fee" as well?

[ElleWoodsandBruiser]

We had an agent here yesterday who was offering 2.5% but wanted £1.5k + 20% VAT as a marketing fee as well so that's £1.8k upfront from us.

Another agent today has offered a fee 1.25% and "a small contribution to marketing" - I didn't ask how much as he is going to put it in writing.

We're not going to go with the first one but can anyone else say what they're being charged and how much £ you are paying in marketing fees. Or are you not paying anything in marketing fees? Thanks! We're in the South East.

You should be aiming for no more than a flat 1%.

1% +VAT for everything other than the EPC.

0.75% it’s meant to be 1% but we got a deal as we know them

We paid 1% + vat and included everting including legal fees.

wouldn’t pay anything up front or for marketing etc.

0.7% plus VAT with no additional fees except for EPC.

They are falling over themselves to attract vendors here - surely that's the same everywhere at the moment? They are really chasing houses.

You shouldn't have to pay more because you are in an expensive area.

Equally, if you are showing the prospective purchasers around, agents don't tend to do a lot more when selling a £300k house or a £1m property.

Negotiate a fee!

0.75% + VAT

0.75% in east London. No marketing fee.

Not uk, but standard here is both seller and buyer have to pay 3% each. So Estate agents get 6% total. It’s a huge amount

We paid 0.7% plus VAT, fully inclusive but that was a special offer. The most expensive locally is 0.9% plus VAT.

Live on he south coast.
paid 0.6%. No marketing fee. Sold within a week.
houses are selling before they are even listed almost, the agents know they will get the commission back, it’s a great time to negotiate the fee down.

The last house I sold was in France. Estate agent's fee, 5%. Ouch!

Home Counties commuter town, afaik the four dominant EAs here all charge 1% + VAT, but we dealt at 0.75% + VAT because we had bought through the agent 2 years ago (need to move for unexpected pregnancy, hadn’t planned to sell so quickly!) so they were able to reuse a lot of things like the EPC, marketing blurbs etc.

We're selling mums house atm and all agents were 1% + vat with the only extra costs for the EPC £90
We needed an agent who could do viewings as we live away from the area.
As it's been in the market 2 days and has several offers already I think that's plenty.

1% plus VAT fees.

£350 marketing fee (even though I sold before it went on the market and before the board went up 🙄).

£75 for someone to do an EPC certificate. I didn't get a floor plan done but that would have been a bit extra if I had.

We were offered 1.5 % but negotiated this to 1% . With VAT it was 1.2% of the Sale. Never pay more than this. Use one estate agent against the other to get the best rate. They would be aware of this but that is how you can bargain. It is your choice.

Sorry, this is not correct. In the UK you can get a bargain. We used an reputable high street Estate Agent at local branch and received an excellent service.

We had tried Purple Bricks but the area agent was useless. Once you pay upfront, you pay just for advertising it on their website. Viewings are extra. If the house sells itself - than easy to use Purple Bricks.

1.5 + 20% vat is way too high! They should offer 1% +VAT or even less. Let the agents know that you are checking all of them, and then tell them if they can match the rates. Go for it!
Choose wisely. Best to choose an experienced agent who work in a team and not one that looks like a candidate for The Apprentice.

We paid nothing with strike (was Housesimple). The person that did our photos was really good but this does vary. It sold within a week for over what the local EAs valued it at and wanted £1,800-£3,500 ish for the privilege. It was a cheaper starter home so over 1%.

1% plus VAT, no other costs (SE, current sale)

Last house we sold was in France. 5% fee. Ouch!

It’s definitely a negotiation. All of them expect. To come down on what they initially offer.

I would haggle. But I like a negotiation like this. Those who don’t should get several quotes and when calling the one they like, mention the lower quote from elsewhere and can then wait to hear them offer to match them. If they don’t, you simply need to decline.

Rememebrr you’ll pay VAT on top and also as others say to not get tied into long period of marketing, as if it doesn’t sell in 2-4 weeks you’ll be want8ng a different agent if its a hot market and sensibly priced.

Def no to 2 separate fees.

They know lots of people are very green or haven’t sold before or in many years or find negotiation awkward. They offer daft intiital figures because some will always say yes and not realise it’s a negotiation. And because they expect to compete with other agents for your business they offer higher so they can then come down and you’ll feel pleased you got a deal. It’s all part of salesmanship!

Keep pushing. So even if you get it to 1%, see if you can have 0.9%. If you push them too low though they won’t put effort into selling your hosue. This might be okay in a very hot market and if you’ve got a great desirable property as once out on the websites, it will sell itself, but in any other market where you need a bit of effort from agents, you do need to pay them for it. 1% is pretty standard but appreciate in cheap areas ans for low priced properties, they don’t make much with that.

We paid 1.5% plus VAT last year, no marketing fee.

In outer London..

I'm in Brighton just paid 1% plus Vat laughed at the ones who wanted anything upfront and wouldn't pay a marketing fee on principle that's what the 1% is. Fox and Sons wanted £99 1.5 % plus Vat and then begged for the job at a flat rate with no upfront fee when I went elsewhere