What’s a reasonable and realistic estate agent fee?

[polkadotpeppermint]

First-time sellers so new to this side of things. We are in our first home and would like to sell and relocate. Currently getting a few local estate agents round for valuations and quotes.

I’d really appreciate people’s views on what % is normal and reasonable to pay an estate agent.

We are getting quotes from smaller local agents and avoiding the big chains. Not sure if this means we should expect to pay more or less. Google hasn’t helped, I’d rather talk to actual people who have sold houses. Will not just be going with the highest valuation or the lowest quote!

So far we’ve seen one agent we really liked who quoted 1.5% which seemed high? Not sure if there’s room for negotiation.

Thanks for any advice!

Edited to add: avoiding big national chains as we weren’t impressed with them when searching as FTBs.

Between 1 and 1.5% seems average, but check if this includes VAT. I thought selling a more expensive house would be leverage to bring this down, given they get more money fir the same amount of work, but seems not in my recent experience.

It definitely includes VAT, but thanks for the reminder!

It’s not a very expensive house (worth about £350k in the south east, making it cheap for the area)

We paid 1% plus vat in 2022, so 1.2% total. House was around £600k if that helps.

1.5% sounds quite normal.

1.5% on that value seems about right. Always worth getting a lower quote and then seeing if they will come down a bit

Thanks folks! Got another estate agent coming round next week so will compare.

We paid 1.5% incl VAT in 2022 which was average for the agents we got valuations from. Other than Foxtons who wanted to charge something like 3%!!! Lowest was a local chain who I think would have charged 1.1%, but they didn't seem to 'get' our slightly unusual property so we went someone who we felt did.

The first agent totally got the property - I’m trying not to just get carried away and go with him!

We paid 1% last time we sold, plus VAT. Yes, you can definitely negotiate. We knew the agent we wanted to use, but another offered us 1% and so we used that to negotiate down with agent we preferred.

Round my way they all seem to offer 1% +VAT. however once I'd picked one, another agent was trying to change my mind by offering to reduce fee to 1% inc VAT. Makes me think I should have haggled more on fees. If you haven't signed anything yet, I deffo think haggling's the way to go. Don't be like me!

We paid 1% plus vat last year in SE London. If the one you like most isn't the lowest, tell them you liked them best but their fee is higher than others, and that factors into your decision. Often, they will drop the fee a bit.

We had 3 EA round, 2 were offering 1% + vat, the third was a flat fee of £1800. I mentioned this to the EA I really liked and they said they would speak to their boss and get a better deal.

They offered £2k plus VAT. House on for £275k so it's a bit less plus it's a great estate agent so happy I asked them for a reduction.

I would be willing to pay more for an EA who had a short - or no - tie in period and who sold properties quicker than their rivals.

A lot of EA will suck you in with a lot of schmoozing, high marketing price and low fees but then hook you in to a 16/24 week contract. When your property doesn't sell in 4 weeks they will come back and advise you to reduce the price.

Quality costs.

Thank you so so much for mentioning this as I hadn’t thought to ask. I’ve just spoken to the estate agent we’re considering going with and there’s actually no tie-in period at all.

That's excellent. That means that they really need to work to sell your property quickly or risk you going to a different agent after a month or so. In that case they lose all the money they invested in marketing your home.

EA's don't count on getting paid until they get you to exchange. Before that it's money down the drain. That's why they are coming up with all these schemes like MMA

We paid 1% plus VAT in 2022 when selling our house. We used a local firm and felt they gave us good service

I paid 1% inc VAT last year, but they said that was a special deal as I’d bought the house through the same agents