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Since Rightmove & Zoopla why use an expensive High St estate agent ?

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If our experience of selling our house is anything to go by I have to say I cannot see the point in using a “full service” ( = full price…..) High St estate agent. The only people who may need to use a High Street estate agent are those who cannot do their own viewings. I`ve just checked and it would have been £700 (up front fee) to sell our house using a web based estate agent (in this case Hatched). We actually paid over £2100 to the High St estate agent we used (Morfitt Smith). I reckon that was a waste of about £1400. Our advice, be realistic about your pricing (use Rightmove prices of houses in your area) then use the cheapest method of getting it on Rightmove / Zoopla. Here`s our story :

We used Morfitt Smith, because the valuer (John Morfitt, one of the owners of the business) was a very good salesmen *. But the fact is that, whilst Morfitt Smith didn`t do anything wrong, they really didn`t have to do much at all for the £2100 they`ve charged us.

The house went on Rightmove on the Friday evening (NOTE : we took our own pictures so the estate agent didn`t even have to do that).

A buyer (who had E Mail alerts set up) saw it on Rightmove the same evening (NOTE : it was not someone on the estate agent`s mailing list), they phoned up Saturday and arranged the viewing for the Sunday.

They called round and offered us the asking price if we took it off the market (it was on at a realistic price). They were cash buyers so I accepted (NOTE : the estate agent did not have to do any negotiating).

The house was then removed from the market (NOTE : The estate agent didn`t have to do any marketing from that point, in fact, as far as I`m aware, my house never even appeared in the estate agents window).

As soon as possible after the survey we started dealing with the buyers directly (NOTE : from that point the estate agent didn`t have to act as middle man, though in actual fact fairly soon on in the sales process it`s the solicitors that are the ones acting as middle men).

I thought it was almost obscene how little work the estate agent had to do for their £2100 so I phoned up John Morfitt and asked him to consider giving us a discount. What was very revealing is when I said our sale has got to be one of the easiest they`ve ever dealt with, his reply was "I wouldn`t say that" ! The implication being that many of their others are just as easy ! ! Anyway, he said he`d get back to me but, true to a genuine salesman, he never did. Basically, it seems to me, sales where the sellers do their own viewings (particularly if it`s a quick sale) subsidise those where sellers cannot do their own viewings. So if you can do your own viewings the answer is obvious.

 

* But you do have to remember it wouldn`t be the valuer doing the viewings and selling your house anyway, it`d be you, or, possibly, another member of staff. And anyway I`m firmly of the view that a good salesman will be more effective at selling an estate agency (where most people don`t really know one from another) than a house.

 

Anyone thinking of selling their house should also read this, you`ll be pleased you did, believe me......

Edited by Justin Smith
I forgot the house never even appeared in the estate agent`s window !

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I used Your Move in Chapeltown during our very stressful sale process last year. Two failed sales, thankfully third time lucky to a great couple.

 

I considered going down the Purple Bricks route. Decided against it as just wanted someone to handle it for me. I'm very savvy in all other areas but just didn't want to do this.

 

I have to say I would not have coped without Your Move's support and help last year. They worked ruddy hard on our behalf, and were fantastic. Yes it was dearer than using the new methods but the stress and hassle we went through would have meant I would have given up long before we finally sold. For that I will always be eternally grateful of the lasses at YM.

 

OK, some places will sell quickly and easily (our last house sold in 3 days back in 2001) but for ones that don't, the support can be the difference.

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I tried selling using a non highstreet EA and they were pretty rubbish.

I eventually sold using a more traditional highstreet agent, who seemed to be more proactive about actually having a list of people who were looking and might want to view the house.

 

The EA also did quite a lot of the chasing with solicitors and so on, generally moving the sale forwards as they only get paid when it completes.

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I tried selling using a non highstreet EA and they were pretty rubbish.

I eventually sold using a more traditional highstreet agent, who seemed to be more proactive about actually having a list of people who were looking and might want to view the house.

 

The EA also did quite a lot of the chasing with solicitors and so on, generally moving the sale forwards as they only get paid when it completes.

 

I don`t think the "list of interested buyers" that estate agents traditionally used is worth much in these days of the internet. You can go on Rightmove / Zoopla and actually draw an area that your`re interested in, then get all the houses (from all the agents) for sale in that area. We were on a few estate agents lists and they kept sending us info on houses which were no where near where we said we wanted to love.....

When you say the local high street agent was more proactive in selling your house, what exactly do you mean ? I`m of the view that there`s only so much an estate agent can do to sell your house, even if they do the actual viewings (and generally it`s the seller doing the viewings anyway) because people know where they want to live and what they want / need in a house. Thus no amount of sales patter will do much to help sell a house.

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If our experience of selling our house is anything to go by I have to say I cannot see the point in using a “full service” ( = full price…..) High St estate agent. The only people who may need to use one of the latter are those who cannot do their own viewings. I`ve just checked and it would have been £700 (up front fee) to sell our house using a web based estate agent (in this case Hatched). We actually paid over £2100 to the High St estate agent we used (Morfitt Smith). I reckon that was a waste of about £1400. Our advice, be realistic about your pricing (use Rightmove prices of houses in your area) then use the cheapest method of getting it on Rightmove / Zoopla. Here`s our story :

We used Morfitt Smith, because the valuer (John Morfitt, one of the owners of the business) was a very good salesmen *. But the fact is that, whilst Morfitt Smith didn`t do anything wrong, they really didn`t have to do much at all for the £2100 they`ve charged us.

The house went on Rightmove on the Friday evening (NOTE : we took our own pictures so the estate agent didn`t even have to do that).

A buyer (who had E Mail alerts set up) saw it on Rightmove the same evening (NOTE : it was not someone on the estate agent`s mailing list), they phoned up Saturday and arranged the viewing for the Sunday.

They called round and offered us the asking price if we took it off the market (it was on at a realistic price). They were cash buyers so I accepted (NOTE : the estate agent did not have to do any negotiating).

The house was then removed from the market (NOTE : The estate agent didn`t have to do any marketing from that point).

As soon as possible after the survey we started dealing with the buyers directly (NOTE : the estate agent didn`t have to act as middle man, though in actual fact fairly soon on in the sales process it`s the solicitors that are the ones acting as middle men).

I thought it was almost obscene how little work the estate agent had to do for their £2100 so I phoned up John Morfitt and asked him to consider giving us a discount. What was very revealing is when I said our sale has got to be one of the easiest they`ve ever dealt with, his reply was "I wouldn`t say that" ! The implication being that many of their others are just as easy ! ! Anyway, he said he`d get back to me but, true to a genuine salesman, he never did. Basically, it seems to me, sales where the sellers do their own viewings (particularly if it`s a quick sale) subsidise those where sellers cannot do their own viewings. So if you can do your own viewings the answer is obvious.

 

* But you do have to remember it wouldn`t be the valuer doing the viewings and selling your house anyway, it`d be you. And anyway I`m firmly of the view that a good salesman will be more effective at selling an estate agency (where most people don`t really know one from another) than a house.

 

Yes. Estate agents do very little for our money. Everybody should sell their own home these days and cut out the middle man with the internet and sellers market, unless a good reason exists, like the seller is out the country.

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I used Your Move in Chapeltown during our very stressful sale process last year. Two failed sales, thankfully third time lucky to a great couple.

 

I considered going down the Purple Bricks route. Decided against it as just wanted someone to handle it for me. I'm very savvy in all other areas but just didn't want to do this.

 

I have to say I would not have coped without Your Move's support and help last year. They worked ruddy hard on our behalf, and were fantastic. Yes it was dearer than using the new methods but the stress and hassle we went through would have meant I would have given up long before we finally sold. For that I will always be eternally grateful of the lasses at YM.

 

OK, some places will sell quickly and easily (our last house sold in 3 days back in 2001) but for ones that don't, the support can be the difference.

 

How do you mean "support" ? I`d have thought sellers may find feedback (from viewers who didn`t offer) may be helpful, but Hatched (an Online agent) say they do that anyway. I do wonder how often that feedback does help sell a house, I mean if the viewers are feeding back that they don`t like the house layout or the fact it has no garage (or whatever) what can the seller actually do about it ? ! ? I`d have thought the only time that`d make a difference is if they complained about the décor and the seller then decided to have that redone, but how often would that happen ? How many viewers complain about the décor when asked for feedback ? After all, the décor shouldn`t be a deal breaker anyway, the buyers can always change it surely.

 

---------- Post added 15-06-2016 at 11:39 ----------

 

Yes. Estate agents do very little for our money. Everybody should sell their own home these days and cut out the middle man with the internet and sellers market, unless a good reason exists, like the seller is out the country.

 

I agree 100% for most sales, i.e. those where the sellers do their own viewings, which they do most of the time anyway.

I`d also make the point that if you`re definitely selling your house (e.g. you`ve already bought another one, or found another one you defn want to move into) it makes sense to pay up front, with some estate agents it`s often much cheaper.

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I don`t think the "list of interested buyers" that estate agents traditionally used is worth much in these days of the internet. You can go on Rightmove / Zoopla and actually draw an area that your`re interested in, then get all the houses (from all the agents) for sale in that area. We were on a few estate agents lists and they kept sending us info on houses which were no where near where we said we wanted to love.....

When you say the local high street agent was more proactive in selling your house, what exactly do you mean ? I`m of the view that there`s only so much an estate agent can do to sell your house, even if they do the actual viewings (and generally it`s the seller doing the viewings anyway) because people know where they want to live and what they want / need in a house. Thus no amount of sales patter will do much to help sell a house.

 

Really, please tell me more about this "internet". As a web developer I've not really heard of it before. :roll:

 

I thought the same, that most buyers just use the internet these days, but it doesn't seem to be the case, some still use estate agents in that they walk into the high street places and tell them what they want then wait for a phone call about appropriate houses.

I got many more viewings once I switched to the high street agent.

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Yes. Estate agents do very little for our money. Everybody should sell their own home these days and cut out the middle man with the internet and sellers market, unless a good reason exists, like the seller is out the country.

 

There was something else I found very strange about the way I was expected to pay Morfitt Smith`s invoice. As standard the solicitor offers to pay the estate agent`s invoice out of the payment for the house (you`re selling), you actually have to opt out of it ! In fact the invoice wasn`t even sent to me, it was sent to the solicitor, even more strange, the name and address at the top of the invoice was the solicitor`s, ours was further down ! Why ? What has paying the estate agent got to do with the solicitor ? If you were a cynic (I plead guilty) you`d think something like this :

The solicitor gains by doing the estate agent a favour because sometimes buyers / sellers may ask the estate agent if they could recommend a solicitor.

The estate agent gains because he gets his bill paid quicker and the buyer/ seller (sub consciously ? ) links the estate agent to the solicitor and "all that legal stuff". Thus he/she would be less willing to question the bill etc. Whereas in actual fact the estate agent is simply selling your house, that`s it.

All this just makes people think all the parties involved in buying / selling houses are all in it together, obvious conflict of interests then result. Break the mould, use an online estate agent !

 

NOTE : our seller used an Online conveyancer, he was encouraged to do this by the Online estate agent (a big discount was offered), but that`s just re-establishing the back scratching circle we`re trying to get out of. Plus, our seller wasn`t at all happy with the service he got from the Online conveyancer (he said they were very difficult to get hold of on the phone and ignored / lost E Mails) so personally I`d use a local solicitor. We used Taylor & Emmett, they weren`t cheap it has to be said, but they were reasonably efficient and easy to get hold of.

Edited by Justin Smith

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If our experience of selling our house is anything to go by I have to say I cannot see the point in using a “full service” ( = full price…..) High St estate agent. The only people who may need to use one of the latter are those who cannot do their own viewings. I`ve just checked and it would have been £700 (up front fee) to sell our house using a web based estate agent (in this case Hatched). We actually paid over £2100 to the High St estate agent we used (Morfitt Smith). I reckon that was a waste of about £1400. Our advice, be realistic about your pricing (use Rightmove prices of houses in your area) then use the cheapest method of getting it on Rightmove / Zoopla. Here`s our story :

We used Morfitt Smith, because the valuer (John Morfitt, one of the owners of the business) was a very good salesmen *. But the fact is that, whilst Morfitt Smith didn`t do anything wrong, they really didn`t have to do much at all for the £2100 they`ve charged us.

The house went on Rightmove on the Friday evening (NOTE : we took our own pictures so the estate agent didn`t even have to do that).

A buyer (who had E Mail alerts set up) saw it on Rightmove the same evening (NOTE : it was not someone on the estate agent`s mailing list), they phoned up Saturday and arranged the viewing for the Sunday.

They called round and offered us the asking price if we took it off the market (it was on at a realistic price). They were cash buyers so I accepted (NOTE : the estate agent did not have to do any negotiating).

The house was then removed from the market (NOTE : The estate agent didn`t have to do any marketing from that point).

As soon as possible after the survey we started dealing with the buyers directly (NOTE : the estate agent didn`t have to act as middle man, though in actual fact fairly soon on in the sales process it`s the solicitors that are the ones acting as middle men).

I thought it was almost obscene how little work the estate agent had to do for their £2100 so I phoned up John Morfitt and asked him to consider giving us a discount. What was very revealing is when I said our sale has got to be one of the easiest they`ve ever dealt with, his reply was "I wouldn`t say that" ! The implication being that many of their others are just as easy ! ! Anyway, he said he`d get back to me but, true to a genuine salesman, he never did. Basically, it seems to me, sales where the sellers do their own viewings (particularly if it`s a quick sale) subsidise those where sellers cannot do their own viewings. So if you can do your own viewings the answer is obvious.

 

* But you do have to remember it wouldn`t be the valuer doing the viewings and selling your house anyway, it`d be you. And anyway I`m firmly of the view that a good salesman will be more effective at selling an estate agency (where most people don`t really know one from another) than a house.

 

Not trying to be argumentative but you agreed a price with someone, the house sold extremely quickly for the price you wanted and then you complained and asked for a discount?

 

Yes over 80% of houses are found on Right move or Zoopla (stat from Sequence in 2010) but the agent does take care of a lot of the middle ground stuff and takes the stress out of it for you. You were lucky you got the absolute perfect scenario not everyone gets that.

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Not trying to be argumentative but you agreed a price with someone, the house sold extremely quickly for the price you wanted and then you complained and asked for a discount?

 

Yes over 80% of houses are found on Right move or Zoopla (stat from Sequence in 2010) but the agent does take care of a lot of the middle ground stuff and takes the stress out of it for you. You were lucky you got the absolute perfect scenario not everyone gets that.

 

I run a business, have done for 20 years. If we fulfil an order and the customer points out he`s saved us a load of trouble and expense (by doing X, Y or Z) we give him a discount. It`s not just good business it`s the right thing to do.

Maybe I`m being unreasonable, but I feel it was Rightmove who sold my house, not the estate agent (any estate agent on Rightmove would have got the same result), that`s my whole point.

I`d have thought it`d be more than 80% (found on Rightmove / Zoopla) now, but in any case, I can`t actually think how much stress the estate agent (Morfitt Smith in our case) saved us. And as I said in the opener, quite soon in the buying/selling of a house it`s the solicitors who are the middlemen. Morfitt Smith were sending me E Mails and sometimes phoning me to simply tell me what I already knew from my solicitor and/or direct from the buyer. We were in direct contact with our seller from the beginning (he`d bought stuff from my shop before) and direct contact with our buyer from the moment the survey came back OK. It saved us (and them) loads of stress and time, but it also saved the estate agent a certain amount of work, which they singularly failed to remember when they (eventually) refused to give me any discount.

Whatever the arguments, £2100 for the small amount of work the estate agent did, is an obscene amount of money.

Edited by Justin Smith

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I run a business, have done for 20 years. If we fulfil an order and the customer points out he`s saved us a load of trouble and expense (by doing X, Y or Z) we give him a discount. It`s not just good business it`s the right thing to do.

Maybe I`m being unreasonable, but I feel it was Rightmove who sold my house, not the estate agent (any estate agent on Rightmove would have got the same result), that`s my whole point.

I`d have thought it`d be more than 80% (found on Rightmove / Zoopla) now, but in any case, I can`t actually think how much stress the estate agent (Morfitt Smith in our case) saved us. And as I said in the opener, quite soon in the buying/selling of a house it`s the solicitors who are the middlemen. Morfitt Smith were sending me E Mails and sometimes phoning me to simply tell me what I already knew from my solicitor and/or direct from the buyer. We were in direct contact with our seller from the beginning (he`d bought stuff from my shop before) and direct contact with our buyer from the moment the survey came back OK. It saved us (and them) loads of stress and time, but it also saved the estate agent a certain amount of work, which they singularly failed to remember when they (eventually) refused to give me any discount.

Whatever the arguments, £2100 for the small amount of work the estate agent did, is an obscene amount of money.

 

It probably is over 90% now as more and more people go online to search. My Mum worked as a negotiator in an EA back in the 80's and every house was sold by having a board up, people walking in to the EA and looking at properties and the local papers. I worked in an estate agent as an FA 2010-2012 and hardly anyone came in to look at houses apart from the odd nosy git :).

 

I can sort of see your point, but in my opinion having recently sold a house that took 6 months to sell with numerous issues I would have been ecstatic to have paid £2100 and had a sale as quick and as stress free as yours.

 

To flip it would you have felt better paying your £2100 if your sale had taken 12 month and you felt the EA had worked hard?

Edited by Danny_Boy

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It probably is over 90% now as more and more people go online to search. My Mum worked as a negotiator in an EA back in the 80's and every house was sold by having a board up, people walking in to the EA and looking at properties and the local papers. I worked in an estate agent as an FA 2010-2012 and hardly anyone came in to look at houses apart from the odd nosy git :).

 

I can sort of see your point, but in my opinion having recently sold a house that took 6 months to sell with numerous issues I would have been ecstatic to have paid £2100 and had a sale as quick and as stress free as yours.

 

To flip it would you have felt better paying your £2100 if your sale had taken 12 month and you felt the EA had worked hard?

 

My point is my house did not sell because of Morfitt Smith. It sold because of Rightmove and/or pure luck a buyer wanting a house like ours came along at the right time and/or we priced it realistically.

 

Your second point has validity, yes of course I would be happier, but if my house hadn`t sold for 12 months it wouldn`t have been much to do with Morfitt Smith. Basically estate agents make less money on houses which take longer to sell and more money (far more money in the case of our house sale) on houses which sell quickly. So, am I to be happy that my £2100 is subsidising those who use Morfitt Smith and their houses take longer to sell * ? No, I`m not happy at all ! At the end of the day buying and selling houses is a bit like arranging a marriage ceremony. People`s perception of how much money they`re paying out goes out of the window, as does what those involved in the buying/selling expect you to pay. I can remember our solicitor saying the £100 here and £200 there we were being asked to pay for various unnecessary (in my view) indemnity insurances "wasn`t much" (compared to the amount the house we were selling), oh yes and the farce of the tree report. It`s "only £240", nobody was bothered, except us shelling out all that dosh ! In the case of our estate agents fees we`re talking £2100 here, the average wage is about £25K per year, that`s about £12 per hour. The average person would have to work for 175 hours to pay that bill, No actually they`d have to work for about 230 hours because that £2100 is coming out of their taxed income. £2100 is a LOT of money.

 

* This could be for a load of reasons including the fact the sellers have priced their houses unrealistically

Edited by Justin Smith

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