Estate Agent Recommendations

[ozzyowl1]

Hi, Looking to sell my house after separating from my husband several months ago. I have only sold once before and that was 20 years ago so everything has changed since then!
Does anyone have any recommendations of which agent to use as there is a massive difference in fees between them. I'm leaning towards one of the online agents as most people use the internet for everything anyway and I don't see what traditional agents do for all the extra money?
There are so many of them that I just don't know where to start, now we have made the decision to sell I just want to get on and do it.

[catherinesian]

The problem with online agents (and the reason we never went with them) is once they have your money there is absolutely zero incentive to sell the house. Around here PB list houses a good £50k too expensive then after they've been reduced 3 times 6 months later they eventually sell or the owners get fed up and just remove from market.

I think they overvalue houses to get the upfront fees as if someone is telling you your house is worth £50k higher than everyone else a lot of people will fall for it.

What we did, is had a good idea ourselves of what we expected our house to be worth. We then got 3 agents around and luckily they all settled on the same figure - identical to ours. We then picked the one we had the best gut feel on. Their fees were much the same, around 1%.

[Fairysparkled]

Only ever sold a house once. I had a figure in my head at what I wanted. The first estate agent/owner comes round and I tell him what I want. He nearly bites my hand off and says he wants to buy it for himself and we shake on the deal at the price I wanted. Two weeks later he phones and says he will still need to charge me 2 1/2% commission. Im not happy but agree as I am already in the process of buying something else. Another week goes by and he phones and asks if there are certain jobs I will do before the sale goes ahead and could I use a certain conveyor to do the sale, as it would be quicker. This conveyor charged nearly double the price of what I was told it would be, by the estate agent. The best bit is a couple of days before completion, he phones and tells me he has been doing his figures and wants another large discount on the price. I tell him that I wont be dropping it by another penny. He goes nuts and starts F##### and blinding over the phone. I put the phone down and the cheeky git still has the nerve to phone the next day. As nice as pie he says we have got of on the wrong foot and he still wants to buy the house. In the same breath could I knock off £500 of the agreed price.

[buryboy]

Interested in this thread . Not moved house for 20 years.
But my mum is thinking of moving
Rubg four agents up , quoted 1.5 % , 1.5% , 1.2% and 0.75 % - the last one a , special rate ‘ if they sign in January

What’s the norm ? My mum is in Lincolnshire so house prices relatively low which I guess results in higher %s
Can you negotiate on the rate ? I presume so

What are the key questions to ask them about their service and how best to see how reputable they are ?

Thanks

[hideinpockets]

I sold last year. I wouldn’t personally go for an online agent. Whilst they are cheap I agree with the above poster that once they have the fee they stop. I see so many houses on with PB which sit around forever.

We rang a few local agents, they came and valued us. I then looked at other houses they had for sale, quality of the photos, and how many they were selling.

Anyway we were down to two and just ended up choosing who we liked the best. They did well for us and we’d sold and completed within two months.

[Spooky]

Having just moved house I. An say that a traditional agent with a dedicated move manager was invaluable, they chased and harried and updated us all through the sale, which would have been a nightmare to deal with on our own !
We paid 0.7%

[ozzyowl1]

Yes that’s my worry, I think it will need to be a local agent, I’ve got a couple coming to do valuations tomorrow so I’ll let you know!

[JLH]

Originally Posted by Spooky

Having just moved house I. An say that a traditional agent with a dedicated move manager was invaluable, they chased and harried and updated us all through the sale, which would have been a nightmare to deal with on our own !
We paid 0.7%

See more...

I am so glad you wrote that , my middle son was an estate agent and the amount of times people used to say estates agents dont do anything etc used to rile me he would go out of his way to help people and push things along , always going in on his day off to chase up solicitors or deal with problems that had occurred or doing viewings after hours as not everyone could do 9-6. He had customers etc who had previously gone through an online estate agent and they said the same about as soon as the house sale was agreed there was no incentive for them to do any more. His agency used to charge 1.5% but you could haggle.

[FlorayG]

I asked this same question last week on here.
I had 4 agents round then asked loads of people what they thought of them. Also looked up the agent's statistics online
Eventually chose the local one over a national chain because he actually lives here and knows who is looking and for what sort of house. He's also the cheapest at 1%. But in the end it's your own gut feeling I think

[Feebee2]

When we sold we used a local agent, the commission was 1% and they earned every penny. A less persistent agent would have thrown in the towel.
Our house was a Victorian semi in a desirable area but with a lot of potential problems.
If it has been newer and more straightforward we might have tried an online agent.