I am looking to sell my house in the next couple of months and wondered if anyone has a rough idea of how much I can expect to pay in estate agents fees. Their websites don't give this information and I'm reluctant to ask before I'm ready to sell as I don't want to be harranged. Has anyone managed to re-negotiate fees successfully?

In short

Yes

A couple of my friends did.

They negotiated the fees down (dont forget VAT) to a fixed fee not a percentage and also insisted the agents scrubbed the advertising fee which means they get money even if they dont sell your house.

Dont stand for it.
It doesnt happen anywhere else

No sale = no fee
Be firm.

And play them off against each other on the fees.

d

Hi Sara
Why would you want to use an estate agent in Sheffield when so may people are now selling privately saving thousands of pounds, you do not need an estate agent, we can help you, feel free to contact any of our clients and ask them.
We have saved thousands of pounds in estate agents fees for our latest clients, who are all totally delighted.
I cant find any estae agent in Sheffield who will advertise their fees on-line, some agents also will have you on a sole selling agreement, do not go with that, for help and advice feel free to call or email our team, 0114 2690194, caron@2roost.com.

Caron

Hi, nice plug :)

Seriously guys you may have missed the bit in Caron's post about "sole selling agreement."

Its probably not a big deal to most people but it is frowned upon by the Consumers Association and whilst not strictly illegal it is discouraged by the estate agents regulatory body.

If you are selling your house with a regular contract then if your agent finds you a buyer you pay them commission.

If they do not find you a buyer but you do, like a neighbour, a pal or a workmate, then they get no cash which is fair as they didnt do the introduction.
Please note this is different from someone driving past and seeing the for sale board then knocking on your door, in this case the agent by virtue of their board is deemed to have brought you together.

Now if you have a sole selling agreement the agent gets the cash even if you sell it yourself to your granny.

Think about it........

1) Would you use an agent that uses this type of contract?
You may have to as at least one of the "big names" does, but I bet most folk dont understand what it means.

2) Would you use an agent that chooses to ignore the National Association of Estate Agents, which is their regulatory body?
Once again you probably have as at least two of the "big names" cant be bothered to sign up.

What does that tell you ?

By the way Im completely no relation to Caron.
I havent failed to notice you plugging away on the boards in a oh so subtle way :) however this post does seem to be in your favour which is not intentional rather than the shysters out there trying to rip us all off :)

Cheers

d

From experience I can tell you,

Blundells 1.5% commission & £295 marketing fee & £150 for 2 ads in Property Telegraph.

Ripoff in my view.

Oh my God, I can't believe its so high. When we last moved house - only 4 years ago - our agent, Bairstow Eves in Birmingham, sold our house for a fixed fee of £495 to include everything including 3 adds in the property guide!

This is such a rip off. We are in a small terrace, a typical starter home for sheffield and I know from how fast other houses in the area are selling that they practically sell themselves.

Seems I won't be going with Blundells then!

We put our flat on the market in January with Haybrook - they charged 2% of the selling price, and this included all advertising (we had a board, and an advert in the property guide every other week, and on their website). Plus theirs was no sale, no fee, which worked out for us in the end as we eventually removed our property from sale. They did have this sole selling thing in place though, where they get the commission no matter how you find a buyer.

Hope this helps!

We also tried bagshaws, they were 1.25% with no marketing fees.

My advice (and I have no links to them) is to use the sponsors of this forum - that's what we'll be doing !

so if you dont charge a fee what do you charge caron

A chap who works in my bank was telling me this morning that he is on with Blundells and that he is being charged 1.5% to include two free entries in the property guide and no marketing charge. Perhaps their charges vary? :suspect:

Hold on, can we repeat an earlier post please????

1.5% commission, plus VAT dont forget.

This DOES NOT pay for any agents to accompany viewings like other bits of the country.
It DOES NOT cover the £295 you were charged for "marketing" which I assume means a crummy bit of printed paper with one pic of your house on and a for sale board (price £2.50 approx)
It DOES NOT cover two ads in the Telegraph you are also charged extra for.

So tell me what exactly Blundells get their 1% for then?

Im bamboozled.
They get 1.5% but charge you extra for accompanied viewings, a sign, their flyer on your house and ads in the local paper.

And nobody complains?
We really are mugs up here.

d

:heyhey: Anyone want to buy a house then? I'll split what I would have had to pay in fees;)

Yes ukdavvy, its true, agents charges are beyond a joke and most people on this forum still use them, I dont understand why anyone would agree to it?
I know the real costs of advertising a property and how a simple for sale board is usually the thing that attracts the buyer, people of Sheffield open your eyes.
Now Tesco are going to offer online private house sales as we do maybe more people will find that it is just as easy and far less expensive with the right tools.

some of these posts about agents make me laugh
maybe someone should start up a link about the vendors
ones that agree a sale and then give back word because they want more money
or the ones that think there property is worth more that it is
what exactly do you do for your clients carron

Greedy vendors are part of the the problem, but estate agents do nothing but stoke the fires.

The Sheffield system shocked me when I first started the process of home-ownershp here a few years ago. Nowhere else in the country is it normal to give a reasonable offer and then have to wait weeks while someone sits on it.

Just look at "Location Location Location" - their technique is always "get in early with a low offer", and the offer is then either accepted or rejected.

Agents just don't do that here. You've no way of knowing how to pitch an offer. They always say something really unhelpful like "ooh, well, yer should offer wot yer fink the house is wurf." Yes, well, if I did that I'd be out of the running, wouldn't I?

Im new to the selling & buying property game too. Had the Halifax round the other day to value our house & they charge £1400 to sell. Im going to get a few more valuations before I decide on an asking price.
All your house selling tips would be very useful, sick of watching house Dr.

Well, we've finally arranged for some agents to come round. We refused to have anyone round who wouldn't tell us their fees in advance - Yes Blundells, look very guilty and shamed faced, but you weren't the only ones. We had one agent ask how much we thought our property was worth and when we told them said "Yeah, great, start low then we can have a bidding war" needless to say we're not going to give them house room! I very much believe in honest dealings when buying and selling houses. If a vendor accepts an offer then that should be it, no more offers. When we sold our last house we had three valuations, picked the agent we wanted but used the middle valuation and we did NOT go for the highest bidder, we went for the one who was in the best position to proceed.

Has anyone used Winkworth (think that's the name)? Loads of cheap houses I have seen are with them. Don't know if that means their fees are cheap.

That's odd, I always think Winkworth properties are overpriced. They charge 1% plus adverts in the telegraph, or at leats that's what they told me when I went in yesterday

They may be overpriced but where I live the houses are all pretty cheap (as in low in cost not good value ;) ) compared to the rest of sheffield and nearly everyone seems to use Winkworth. Probably just coincidence.

Hi board.

Firstly I must say that I have no connectin to caronp although she has pm'd me a few times.
To be honest I find your plugging here a bit annoying Caron, but in a nice way obviously :), but as I actually hate the local agents as much as I do then I will tolerate it.

OK.

Why oh why oh why do we continue to pay so much money for such duff service in Sheffield from estate agents?

I have posted countless times how for the same commission in other bits of the country you get ads in the local rag, accommpanied viewings from the little luvvies at no cost, phone calls returned, and there is no rip off 'marketing' fee which pays for a for sale board and a piece of A4 with a pic of your bog and kitchen run up by the Saturday girl.

The thing is Caron I actually do wish you the best, even thouh you annoy me, on account of your website and charges all being transparent. Once again here on this thread we have evidence that the agents are not willing to discuss charges until you have them in your house when the pressure sell starts.

So Sheffielders go and do your own research about the costs incurred in selling your house.
My own opinion is that most people buy after driving round an area and seeing for sale signs, why not just put your own up or even use Caron who's charges I have to say look quite reasonable, although dont forget there are a number of other national websites promoting private sales.

And Caron, sorry if I come across as heavy on you, but the fact is I sincerely do wish your business takes off and makes you a lot of money as the local agents here are too fat, too lazy and just plain dont do enough for their commission.

So there you go.
Strangely I can slag you off Caron yet wish you all the best in the same post, I just wish I had the time myself to follow my business dream, and in truth I think youre a bit too cheap lol.

Cheers and good luck to you private sellers whoever you use for publicity (note to Caron yours could actually be a bit better)

D

PS. Sara

Would you mind putting names to your quotes please?

I would be very interested as Im sure would others.

good luck

d

We've been trying to buy a house in Sheffield for the last year or so now and the thing that most annoys us is the 'Hidden-Auction' nature of house sales. Make an offer - 2 days later Crap & Vague, Blunders, or Old & Ailing will call you to tell you someone else has made a better offer and would you like to offer more?

This is infuriating for a number of reasons:

(1) I don't want to participate in an auction; if I did I'd be down the auction-house;
(2) It drives the price up, and make their initial valuation worthless;
(3) I offered what I thought the house is worth - why ask if I'd like to offer more? I'd have done that already wouldn't I? Unless it really is sale-by-auction - but then shouldn't it say somewhere on the advertising if it is?

Not only that, but hardly any Sheffield E/As subscribe to the (currently voluntary) E/A Ombudsman's code of conduct, which means you can't complain to the O about them. I'm sure there are other places you could go but unless you've got a major complaint there doesn't seem to be much one can do to force them to listen except take your trade elsewhere.

Frankly they could do with a really good sharp kick up the fundament.

Sara, my parents recently put their house on the market. They were quoted 1% (value was £275k!). However, my Mum got a few round and negotiated quite successfully. She seems to think that there is a conspiracy in Sheffield anyway amongst the Estate Agents with their charges as most of them are around the 1% mark and quite reluctant to negotiate. She ended up going with Barras Thompson - family business willing to do business! Push hard as you are in the strong position. Estate agents often seem to think they are doing YOU a favour, if you are not happy with the sales negotiator, either speak to a Manager or the owner - remember this is their livlihood! Don't know what area of Sheffield you are in but Butlers are a new business also willing to negotiate. Leanne Butler seems very personable.

In general though, most estate agents do seem to have lost their good genuine want for sales and good business. I certainly agree with UKDavvy when he says they are just too lazy!

Thanx for all your replys.
Having read advice also in other threads Ive decided to go with Haybrook. Price of selling is 1.5% of selling price

I'm currently selling my Mother's house in the SE and asked the agent how much we had to pay extra per viewing and for advertising in the paper and he laughed at me.... Then said come on you don't mean it of course its all included in our 1% selling fee....'we wouldn't be in business long with that attitude.'

Why do we stand for it here?

I think it goes back to the time of cheap house prices of say 40k for a terrace in Crookes so the agents needed a higher % and us to pay for the extras to run a viable business. Property inflation now means that their fees don't bear any relation to the current service offered...

Originally posted by chocotiger
Thanx for all your replys.
Having read advice also in other threads Ive decided to go with Haybrook. Price of selling is 1.5% of selling price

I hope you haven't signed up with them yet... Reed Raines charged us 1% to include absolutely everything including as many entries in the property guide as would be needed.

Oh and we had about ten views and eight offers on the table within 14 days of signing up with them:thumbsup:

Reeds Rains Chapeltown have just quoted us 1.35% plus VAT, which includes everything for as long as it takes to sell. We agreed, didn't think that was bad - looks like we were wrong:(
I just 'phoned them and the lady told me that the fee depends on the type and selling price of the property.

Originally posted by BevCSheff5
Reeds Rains Chapeltown have just quoted us 1.35% plus VAT, which includes everything for as long as it takes to sell. We agreed, didn't think that was bad - looks like we were wrong:(
I just 'phoned them and the lady told me that the fee depends on the type and selling price of the property.

Reed Raines quotes 1.25% to us to start with, but we got in some other cheaper quotes and then asked them to match, we got down to 1.1% and then finally 1%. They knew our house would be really easy to sell though, so this could have made the difference

We have gone with Barras Thompson and they charge 1% of what the house sells for i.e sold for £98,000 therefore they will charge £980 which I think is disgusting really, I dont think advertising and a board costs as much as that. Solicitors dont even charge as much as this when they do all the legal work, drawing up contracts etc, how can estate agents charge so much, it just doesnt figure!

Originally posted by Jillybabes
We have gone with Barras Thompson and they charge 1% of what the house sells for i.e sold for £98,000 therefore they will charge £980 which I think is disgusting really, I dont think advertising and a board costs as much as that. Solicitors dont even charge as much as this when they do all the legal work, drawing up contracts etc, how can estate agents charge so much, it just doesnt figure!

I agree, when using a percentage basis for fees, the ridiculous rise in house prices has left estate agents rubbing their hands together. However if all you got was a board and an advert then your estate agent hasn't done much. In know ours worked really hard for us, setting up appointments, talking to me at least twice a day, co-ordinating the whole offers thing and now chasing up the chain to make sure that it is going smoothly. I think they do a lot more than they get credit for, but yes, they still get too bloomin' much.

However... I spoke to my agent this morning about a house round the corner. The agent got a number of offers in and then the vendor decided not to move after all. Agents don't charge you if you change your mind so these costs have to be covered somehow.

Right, thanks for taking the time to look at 2roost ukdavvy,We are already starting to spread all over the place with properties sold in Huddersfield Nottingham and all over Sheffield now thanks, our prices are low I agree and we do work very hard to give a great service , there are other private selling sites, but non of them give a one to one face to face service as we do, we are not a faceless internet company, now in Bradway we are proudly displaying a selection of properties in the window and are on hand to take enquiries.
So come on folks what else do you want for that price?
I have to say though most of our business comes from clients referring new people, so I am very happy so see a month on month growth and the happy faces I see on my clients!
Once again any forum users needing anuy help, buying selling renting, legal, financial or whatever property related matter we can help you, and save you a lot of money, but more importantly give you a great service.:) :)

Caron, do the houses you sell in Nottingham come with a comlimentary bullet proof vest:P

My husband and I have had our house valued by 3 different estate agents and the fees they've given us are between 1.5% plus VAT and 1.75% plus VAT. Is this normal?! Some of our friends (they don't live in South Yorkshire) said that that's too high and they only paid 1% plus VAT which would make a difference of £700 to us! Has anyone got any advice for us?

ELR will do it at 1% (after haggling). You could try 2roost (on the internet), they only charge a flat fee (about £300 if i remember right)

Grrr Grrr dont get me started :)

Ask what you are going to get for your money.

You may be charged for a sign.
You may be charged for the photocopy the Saturday girl runs up with your details.
You may be charged extra for advertising it in the star.

You will NOT get the agent to escort viewers round. You do that yourself.

So what exactly do you get for their fee?

Beats me.

Be ruthless - demand 1% and insist thats inclusive.
(Dont forget VAT on top).

Cheers

d

Uk Davvy you are sooooooooooo wrong, we provide a wide range of personal services INCLUDING accompanied viewings, , a personal house visit, and one to one contact with a property consultant to help you at every stage, check out the property guide this week if you want to see out new marketing campaign, then feel free to comment, oh and you could also ask one of our many happy customers too who have saved thousands of pounds in estate agent fees.We are partnered with two leading Sheffield companies to make sure we can do everything and more than ANY AGENT at a fraction of the cost, and all with a smile, even from "the Saturday girl"who does not exist.......................................What is your problem, are you an agent???have we helped one of your ex unhappy clients sell ?
Does our success offend you? Don't you support local companies helping local people?
You tell ME how any agent can explain their fees?, why is it so much more to sell a more expensive house?Why do they not advertise their actual costs?
You had better get used to it, we are opening three more offices next year. :)