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Estate agent and lettings MEGATHREAD - No advertising in here

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Redbrik or Bloors for me, dont listen to anyone that says sell it yourself online! its a fools way to sell! dont forget you need to liase and financially verify a buyer, all agents will haggle on the price, i usually pay a fixed fee or 1/2% to 3/4%, never pay upfront.

 

I don`t agree with you at all. These days IN MOST CASES (80 TO 90% ? ) IT IS RIGHTMOVE OR ZOOPLA WHICH WILL SELL YOUR HOUSE.

If you definitely need do move it`s far cheaper to pay up front. Why do you say not to ? I didn`t know what I was doing and paid Morfitt Smith £2100 for doing not very much selling my house, below is our story, where did I go wrong ? That`s a serious question for you, I`d like to know the answer, particularly if you think you should not pay "up front".

 

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.

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I don`t agree with you at all. These days IN MOST CASES (80 TO 90% ? ) IT IS RIGHTMOVE OR ZOOPLA WHICH WILL SELL YOUR HOUSE.

If you definitely need do move it`s far cheaper to pay up front. Why do you say not to ? I didn`t know what I was doing and paid Morfitt Smith £2100 for doing not very much selling my house, below is our story, where did I go wrong ? That`s a serious question for you, I`d like to know the answer, particularly if you think you should not pay "up front".

 

 

i agree that zoopla and rightmove market the sale to an extent and are a great tool to showcase, as an individual you dont have the same access to the info.

it may be cheaper to pay up front? but then once the agent has your money they have little incentive to really go the extra mile which some houses and sellers need, only ever pay on sale in my opinion, yes sometimes a house sells in 2 days my last one did this week, which you may feel the agent have a had a lump of cash for little work, but then a house that takes 2 or 3 months is good value? not forgetting all the toing and froing that agents do between buyers , solicitors, valuers, surveyors???

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i agree that zoopla and rightmove market the sale to an extent and are a great tool to showcase, as an individual you dont have the same access to the info.

it may be cheaper to pay up front? but then once the agent has your money they have little incentive to really go the extra mile which some houses and sellers need, only ever pay on sale in my opinion, yes sometimes a house sells in 2 days my last one did this week, which you may feel the agent have a had a lump of cash for little work, but then a house that takes 2 or 3 months is good value? not forgetting all the toing and froing that agents do between buyers , solicitors, valuers, surveyors???

 

I agree with you to an extent. Thus, if you`re selling your house and the estate agents have to do the viewings that may be an important consideration. But if it`s a sale where the seller is doing the viewings (the great majority of sales) and it`s really Rightmove / Zoopla who are marketing your property, I don`t actually see it can make that much difference.

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I agree with you to an extent. Thus, if you`re selling your house and the estate agents have to do the viewings that may be an important consideration. But if it`s a sale where the seller is doing the viewings (the great majority of sales) and it`s really Rightmove / Zoopla who are marketing your property, I don`t actually see it can make that much difference.

 

i do all my own viewings where ever possible, agents dont really do a good job on viewings, i agree as i said the marketing is basically done by right move etc but far more important is to keep hold of your buyer, agents are far better at that and better equipped than joe public to see the whole process through in my experience, and i sell quite a few houses.

by all means if you have loads of time on your hands it might work out slightly cheaper but i reckon you have a bigger chance of losing a buyer?

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i do all my own viewings where ever possible, agents dont really do a good job on viewings, i agree as i said the marketing is basically done by right move etc but far more important is to keep hold of your buyer, agents are far better at that and better equipped than joe public to see the whole process through in my experience, and i sell quite a few houses.

by all means if you have loads of time on your hands it might work out slightly cheaper but i reckon you have a bigger chance of losing a buyer?

 

What do you mean by keep hold of your buyer, I`m intrigued ! Surely either the buyer wants to buy the house or they don`t, whatever the sellers estate agent says to them can`t make any difference, or can it ?

 

I haven`t sold many houses ! But in my own experience it was the solicitors who were acting as the middlemen and keeping us informed etc. I admit that Morfitt Smith did regularly phone / E Mail me to inform me what was happening, but they were almost always just telling me stuff I already knew from the solicitors. I was also in direct touch with my buyer from the point the survey went through, and I was in direct touch with my seller right from the beginning (he`d bought stuff from my shop in the past). If I wanted to know anything I`d just go straight to my solicitor, or the buyer or the seller !

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What do you mean by keep hold of your buyer, I`m intrigued ! Surely either the buyer wants to buy the house or they don`t, whatever the sellers estate agent says to them can`t make any difference, or can it ?

 

I haven`t sold many houses ! But in my own experience it was the solicitors who were acting as the middlemen and keeping us informed etc. I admit that Morfitt Smith did regularly phone / E Mail me to inform me what was happening, but they were almost always just telling me stuff I already knew from the solicitors. I was also in direct touch with my buyer from the point the survey went through, and I was in direct touch with my seller right from the beginning (he`d bought stuff from my shop in the past). If I wanted to know anything I`d just go straight to my solicitor, or the buyer or the seller !

 

buyers can be fickle and in my experience the agent is better placed to get them committed thats all, i havent got spare time on my hands dealing with the mundane stuff which is why i use an agent who liases with everyone.

suits me and works well:thumbsup: i used to be a tight arse but learnt by my mistake:roll:

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buyers can be fickle and in my experience the agent is better placed to get them committed thats all, i havent got spare time on my hands dealing with the mundane stuff which is why i use an agent who liases with everyone.

suits me and works well:thumbsup: i used to be a tight arse but learnt by my mistake:roll:

 

I reckon I spent about £1400 too much on selling my house, wanting to save that sort of money is not being a tight arse to me ! Allowing for tax at the standard rate the average person would have to work for 230 hours, that`s about 6 weeks ! ! To me a tight arse is someone who farts about with coupons to save 50p on their groceries*. That said, if they`re happy to spend the time and hassle doing that`s fine by me !

 

* Actually, a better example is someone who uses a painted wall bracket when putting up an aerial, see "coffee and cream".

Edited by Justin Smith

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I reckon I spent about £1400 too much on selling my house, wanting to save that sort of money is not being a tight arse to me ! Allowing for tax at the standard rate the average person would have to work for 230 hours, that`s about 6 weeks ! ! To me a tight arse is someone who farts about with coupons to save 50p on their groceries*. That said, if they`re happy to spend the time and hassle doing that`s fine by me !

 

* Actually, a better example is someone who uses a painted wall bracket when putting up an aerial, see "coffee and cream".

 

you obviously didn't negotiate the fee with your agent very well then:roll:

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you obviously didn't negotiate the fee with your agent very well then:roll:

 

I fully accept I went into selling my house with an acute lack of knowledge. I`m doing my best to make sure others don`t do the same.....

So how cheaply would a High St estate agent sell a house worth, say, £150,000 ?

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I fully accept I went into selling my house with an acute lack of knowledge. I`m doing my best to make sure others don`t do the same.....

So how cheaply would a High St estate agent sell a house worth, say, £150,000 ?

 

for houses in that bracket i pay £900 plus vat all in.

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for houses in that bracket i pay £900 plus vat all in.

 

Would that be a low price or typical for that kind of value house?

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Would that be a low price or typical for that kind of value house?

 

i would say on the low side, other agents want 1.25-1.5%%, as i said dont accept the first figure an agents gives you, i always get 3 or 4 valuations and make sure they all know they are in competition with others, some will negotiate some wont.

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