[Moorf]

We've been out of the English selling system for a while having lived in Scotland for the last few years.

What estate agent fees are involved in selling in England, and what commission are estate agents generally charging. Are you only charged if sold? I wanted to ask this of fellow forum members before dealing with my estate agent so that I look like I know what I'm talking about!!

Thanks in advance :nice1
Moorf

[Glenda]

We've been out of the English selling system for a while having lived in Scotland for the last few years.

What estate agent fees are involved in selling in England, and what commission are estate agents generally charging. Are you only charged if sold? I wanted to ask this of fellow forum members before dealing with my estate agent so that I look like I know what I'm talking about!!

Thanks in advance :nice1
Moorf

Hi Moorf,

We are being charged one percent on the sale of our house, sole agency, but we had negotiated that down from one and a quarter per cent. There should be no more fees unless you agreed with the estate agent to advertise in non-local newspapers or magazines like Country Life (!!!!!!!). You should only b charged fees when they have sold the house, if they don't then no fee. Solicitors will usually pay the estate agents direct out of the sale proceeds of the house.

:)

[Moorf]

Thanks Glenda :nice1

[bob_the_engineer]

Hi Moorf,

1.5 to 2.5% seems to be the going rate around here. Having said that the agents in the south seem to charge a lower %, but still get a minimum of 2K because of the variation in house prices.
Importantly the period that you have to stay with the same agent can vary from 7 days to 3 months.

I guess if they can make you stay with them for three months they can afford to sit back and not work too hard (or spend too much) on selling your house.

I’ve found that it’s better to go with a small local trader, if they advertise on rightmove.co.uk they get the same audience as the big companies. I’ve found that they charge less and ask for less notice too.

Saying that the last house I sold was bought by my next door neighbours friend, if I’d stuck a for sale sign outside myself I would have saved around £2500! (definitely doing that this time)

I think the two main national sites are rightmove and vebra, I’d do a search on there for the area your selling in, and contact the less well known agents.

Hope that helps Bob

PS all agents I’ve come across seem to go with no sale no fee

[Moorf]

Taa muchly Bob :nice1

[Avalon]

We paid 1% + VAT on a now sale no fee basis.

We also didnt changed the sign up period for 12 weeks to 6 weeks, as we had previuosly had problems with an agent and had to fight to be released from a 3 month contract.

As it happens, we stayed with the last agent for several months, despite only signing up for 6 weeks, because we really liked them, and they were doing a fantastic job for us, in trying times.

[Moorf]

I am currently going with Michael Jones ( www.michaeljones.co.uk ) who are also the rental managing agents for my flat.

They sent me a letter which, although mentioning no % or £ for fee, stated:

"Our agreed fee structure includes preparation of the details, advertising and the erection of a For Sale board. Our service also includes:

Digitally produced particulars with colour photos
Details will be marketed from our Goring, Findon Valley and Worthing town centre offices
Three fuill pages of colour advertising in the Worthing Property Weekly every week
All properties advertised on our website
Accompanied viewings
Weekly advertising in the Homefinder publication

I would also point out that we require no long term binding agency agreement, as we look to retain your business by performance only and require 2 weeks written notice to dissolve our sole agency agreement."

So, sounds okay so far - just need them to tell me how much they want !! :(

[kiwidebs]

Sounds good Moorf. I like the fact you're not tied in - well, apart from the two weeks written notice. Means they have to perform or it's easy to change agents! We were quoted 1.5% by three agents so figured it was the going rate. All of them were no sale no fee. The agency we went with is also a solicitors firm so they pay your solicitors fees (well, it's saved us just over £500).

Debs

[Jo and Andy]

We have 2 houses for sale and things differ a bit.

The house in outside Southampton is with one agent, on 1.75%, no set period just a 2 week notice period. That to include adverts photos etc. They are a small company so make sure they put stuff on all the websites. Tennants move out at the end of Sept so I need to sell quickly, but house may sell better once empty, as they have got it quite cramped (2 bed starter home being, 2 adults one baby and he sometimes works from home).

In Birmingham we went with 2 agents, covering different areas and websites.
Halifax negotiated down to 2% tied in for 8 weeks, (may get rid of them as in 6 weeks they have only got 2 people round). Also gone with Taylors at £1500 flat rate fee, if we sell with Halifax we have to pay them £100 for advertising costs etc, they advertise on different websites to Halifax, only sent 1 person round in 6 weeks.

Looking at moving to Dixons who would be 2% as well, but may be more proactive.

So far this house selling lark is not going well, I thought getting PR would be hard not selling the houses. How wrong you can be.

Hope this helps.

[Paul]

Moorf

Just make sure they are on rightmove.co.uk, there really is no point being with an agent who doesn't advertise on the country's biggest website

As you are some distance away make sure they understand you need updating every week on details sent out, interest on website (they have access to viewing figures etc) and make sure they take good photos.

Might even be worth considering www.homestagers.co.uk to present the flat and then use their selling service which I think includes legals etc as well.

If we hadn't sold I think we would have used them

Good luck

[Moorf]

Jo - I too have a tenant whose agreement runs out end Sept, I have then got her on a Periodic Contract (month on month) after that. The last thing I need right now is to have to pay out for the mortgage for a few months :wah Put it this way, if it's not sold by Xmas I'll start worrying.

However, I'm not sure what to do with the contents - I am thinking of selling it as a first-time buyers starter package as there are one year old appliances (dishwasher, fridge/freezer and washer/dryer) plus two sofas, coffee table, dining table and chairs, shelves, double bed, chest of drawers, curtains etc all in the flat and I don't want to ship them here. Do you think this might be more of a hinderance to a sale? Should I just get a house clearance firm round and empty the place?

Hmm... decisions, decisions...

[gil]

Moorf,
We are selling a 2 bed, fully furnished flat in Bath which is on the fourth floor of a Georgian terrace. As we live in Cardiff and have a houseful of stuff already we have looked into house clearance. The long and short of it is that they are a bit like builders, in that they eye up your place and belongings, tell how there isn't much of a call for what you've got, tell you what a huge favour they'd be doing you by taking it all away and then tell you grudgingly that they will do it and pay us £100. Of course, if we were on the ground floor, they say wistfully, it'd be so different.
Well we're not!
We're currently waiting for the estate agents to confirm whether the buyers want any of the furniture, and then I think we will have to take the plunge with the house clearance OR set aside about a fortnight (using precious holiday) to empty it ourselves. So house clearance it will be after the buyers have their pick....
Sorry, that's probably not hugely helpful, but I have released that pent up frustration!
I think the point I'm trying to make is house clearance will not make you a deal of cash, but it will save a lot of hassle. Good luck with your sale,
Gil

[jo b]

You got to beat them down on their charges Moorf too.

I got my estate agent down to a fixed £850 + vat, and thats on a £240k house.

not bad eh!

Jo

[Moorf]

Cheers Gil, I guess I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that I'll probably have to get at least some of the items taken away by a house clearance place. I think I'll see how much interest there is in it fully furnished first.

Mine too is an old Victorian terrace - 4 stories high - and I'm on the 3rd floor!! So no hope of happy removal co.'s for me either!! :no :wah

It's already emotionally quite tough for me to part with it, it was like my 21st birthday pressie to myself, and I'm a bit stressed that I'm not back in the UK and "in control" :mad:

Anyone want to make my life easy and buy a nice little investment property on the south coast? :D

http://www.worthing.gov.uk/Leisure/ParksOpenSpaces/ParksbyType/Ornamental/HeeneTerrace/

[Moorf]

Crikey Jo!! That's a very good price indeed - what "tools" did you use to get the fees down?? Is there much on the news there about slow house sales etc?? Are most agents expecting to be bartered with?

Cheers
Moorf

[jo b]

Helen

I bartered with ours. But in our town of Ashton is different to Wigan the estate agebts have a fixed fee where as Wigan they work on a %. So I guess we are lucky really. I still played one off against the other. It's always worth a shot.

Reagrding the house sale. This week has been bloody manic. 2 viewers both come round twice. second viewings they brought their parents, both put offers in. One has a property to sell that was £2k less than asking price one has none to sell £5k less than asking price. We also have another viewer coming round tomorrow.

One of the buyers with property to sell wants us to take it off the market so I am not announcing anything proper yet so I don't jinx anything.

Jo

[Moorf]

Cheers for the info Jo :nice1

If a buyer asked me to take the property off the market I'd ask for a non-refundable deposit to be lodged with my solicitor as a sign of commitment. Just a thought - I know it's worked for others.

Fingers crossed your sale comes soon :)

Moorf

[Smiler]

Moorf Lucky you're on the third floor, been lots of flooding down there this morning.

Deborah

[Moorf]

ARGHH! Really! :eek:

How far along the coast is the flooding - my poor bro when camping in Devon with the kids and the dog this week :roll

[Smiler]

The Thunder and lightening woke me at about 5 this morning, the rain was TORRENTIAL.

From the tv weather map it seemed to appear over Dorset and then travel east towards Kent.
Lots of flooded roads and basement flats

D

[Moorf]

Whew - checked that family and property weren't flooded and they're all safe :D

Thanks for all your input on fees etc. ;) now I have ammo to use when talking to my agent :)