Two agents - pro's and con's? Help !- please!!

[scarlettskye]

Hello

We have been on the market for one and a half years nearly and in that time 'lost' two perfect properties.
Our current agent is kind of (in our opinion) letting our house languish away on right move but that's about it. There seems to be no active selling going on. However..

We have had an offer and it is a good one but the potential buyers need to sell two properties to buy our one. |They didn't put their houses on the market until about a month after making that offer (!) and as yet have just received one offer on one house.

We have found our dream home and REALLY don't want to lose it.

What are the pro's and con's of going with a second agent in your experience/opinion?

we have obviously spoken to our current agent and asked them to keep pushing etc but half the time they dont' even return our calls!

sorry - long for post

The second agent/first agent may ask for a percentage of the selling price even if it is sold by the other agency, they may claim that their board encouraged the buyer into the house. Have a good look at the contract.

Aside from potential extra fees, even if your current offer does go through, it can look desperate and lead people to think yu would accept a low offer. Are your current agents aware you do not want it taken off the market ? Don't be surprised if your dream home vendors won't entertain any offer from you until the chain below is proceedable.

as yet our current agents are yet to return our call (we spoke to a junior member of staff asking for the negotiator/manager to call back last week)
part of me just wants to remove it from their books altogether tbh but that's cutting noses off to spite my face, lol.
don't want to look desperate but do want to place it with the 2nd agent who has a) sold it in the past and b) is incredibly pro-active

eek.

vendor of house we like has said just as you have Lizs - although she likes the offer and the fact we would be cash buyers, we can't really negotiate until we are proceedable which we knew deep down but wanted to show our interest.

is there anything we can do to help ourselves do you think?

Ditch the first agent, REMOVE THE BOARD FROM THE FRONT OF YOUR HOUSE! Sign on with the second.

are you tied into a sole agency contract with your current agent? If not then defintately use another agent ... if your current agent are not returning your calls then that is not on!

If you go for joint agency then tell them both what you feel with regard to fees;

either split the fee 50/50, or if its say 1.5% - 1% to the successful agent, 0.5% to the other or winner takes all.

There will be the chance that the current agent will say that if they can prove that the purchaser has been through their books (i.e that the purchaser (through whichever agent) saw the property through their agency, then the fee will be theirs).

Its confusing. I'd speak to them and see what the options are with joint agency.

If your house was on the market for the whole of 2007 and didn't sell then it is almost certainly overpriced. Why do your current agents think it hasn't sold?

Adding a second agent does look desperate, and the agency fee effectively doubles. Best to ditch agency one completely and start afresh, but listen to agency two's advice on why it hasn't sold and what you should do about that.

Also hang on to current buyers - you will have to pay agency one if they go ahead, and you will have to declare them to agency two before you sign the contract.

and stop looking at houses until you are fairly sure yours will sell - it's just heartbreaking

Yes, agree with missingtheaction. You should do just that.

I used to work for an estate agent. Having two agencies are normally a waste of time and does look desperate. It may well mean that people feel comfortable in making low offer on your property. To be honest, the internet has radically changed marketing properties - most people looking for properties proactively use the internet. Don't believe agents no 2 guff about how proactive they (the agents) are - all agents will call to get feedback from viewers. Not recalling vendors calls is a big no, no though and I would be concerned. I would pop into the office and speak to someone face to face to find out what is happening. I used to write to all my vendors weekly (but I was a small independent) to summarise viewings, give them feedback on their internet hits etc. Amazing how some of the big chain agents just don't do this and yet people prefer them (but that's a whole different thread!)

I agree with missingtheaction - sounds like your property is over-priced. often agents lose heart with properties they are promoting if vendors don't recognise the realities of the market. No matter how hard you push a property, people won't view properties out of their price range (esp when they have reduced their own house price accordingly).

Sorry that should have said not returning vendors calls - ds on lap - really wriggly [smiley]

ah thanks guys for all the help. really useful to hear from someone who used to work as an EA too.

well, the price issue - we chose the agent with the lower valuation because we thought that they were the best sellers from our limited experience. we then dropped our price 5% (our choice, not their suggestion)

we've just been revalued by 3 agents and they've all said we are on at the right price but as a niche market (barn conversion, listed grade 2, and with an annexe in the middle of nowhere!) we might struggle to find the right buyer but they will be out there anyway, we are changing to a different branch - the man who's name is over the door of the EA , his son is the manager so hopefully we will get some better pictures and some advertising.
We'll see, but anyway, will get the price lower if still no change.

having spoken to others locally, the not retiurning calls or feedback is a common problem with this particular brance and the attitude (scary school maam) of the mgr is well known (scared me!!)

Another thought - we've signed up with an online-only agent, who don't charge a percentage, just £199 up front and £199 on completion. the man who came round to do photos was here for 3 1/2 hours! Took pics of all rooms, plus did floor plans and "virtual tours" of 4 rooms. It was online that evening, on rightmove the next day. That was last week and have the first viewing today. I think as long as you're listed on rightmove then it doesn't really matter which agent you're with. And saving ourselves a potential £9K is great! They also let you have unlimited photos on rightmove, so we have about 30 on there! Good luck - hope it sells soon.