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Estate agent fees

Ponty

Ponty

pfm Member
Curious to know what folks are being quoted at the moment. Had a (good) EA quote me 0.7% + VAT. Doesn’t sound too bad. What are people paying?
 
900 quid incl VAT, regardless of house price (it sold for 285, so in % terms 3.16% incl VAT) in 2019 at Hive in Hull. It would be plus VAT now, as she was not VAT registered for the first couple of years trading, which is when we sold ours.
 
I've sold two houses here in East Sussex in the last nine months, both £450K. EA fees were 1%, which seems to be standard round here, and I didn't haggle. 0.7% sounds like a bargain.
 
Darren L said:
0.8% here recently, so I'd say 0.7% good
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very good indeed
most places here its 0.8 %to 1% with a minimum of about 1500 quid . worth every penny if they do their job well
some folks use purplebricks ... but you probably know my views on them :eek:!!
 
I sold my parents house a couple of months ago, the agents charged 1.25% which may seem high, however they valued the house at significantly more than I expected and got it without hassle so I consider it money well spent.

Pity the king bank got a large chunk of it though.....

Shared appreciation Mortgage = virtual theft. Equivalent to 11% compound interest on a 22 year loan.
 
It's a sellers market at the moment because the stock of houses on the market is so low. I've just haggled an agent down to 0.5%.
 
hifinutt said:
most places here its 0.8 %to 1% with a minimum of about 1500 quid .
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Just completed the sale of a flat a week ago (132.5K) and paid the agent £1250 + VAT as arranged, though his minimum is £1500 + VAT. After poor service and hassles from another cheaper firm 2 years ago, I chose this one man band because he'd already done his stuff early last year when Covid halted the property market and I had faith in him. He agreed to hold the price given at that time. I suppose that works out at a little under 1% or a bit more if VAT is included.

I got more this time, so waiting helped financially if not in other ways. The 5s,6s, 7s and 8%s quoted above are rates I've never come across in 45 years of house sales (7+) However, at the lower end, minimum fees probably kick in with most agents anyway.
 
Nothing? Must be a means of parting you with some dosh, I assume they make their money ‘upselling’ mortgages, insurance, conveyancing, wills etc.
 
Thanks all for the insights. Think I’m happy with the agent and proposed figures. If we proceed they are actually going to have to work for their money as I want to sell off market. I’m actually tempted to offer them a higher fee if they achieved a certain figure.
 
Most of them will work for a performance based fee. We sold twice with the same agent in the past 12m. The contract was 1% if they hit an agreed threshold and they exceeded it ( and our expectations) both times.
A good way to assess them is to contact them as a potential buyer and see how effective they are at responding to you and weighing up your intentions and resources. Coincidentally we also bought through the same agent and of course they would know exactly how much we had -for them to squeeze out of us -and they certainly did.

In Scotland they tell interested parties there’s a closing date with legal offers to be delivered by noon on a given date, effectively a blind auction. They’ll tell each party how many other bidders there are likely to be and that’s what drives the price. The advertised ‘offers over’ price is usually artificially low to get interest up, the real issue is how much above the official valuation buyers are prepared to pay.
 
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Yes, thanks, the system certainly seems better in Scotland, although I’d suggest for many properties it’s bank valuations which set the price.
 
Rodrat said:
Nothing? Must be a means of parting you with some dosh, I assume they make their money ‘upselling’ mortgages, insurance, conveyancing, wills etc.
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Nope.
Not a penny.
They operate differently.
They offer optional services like you describe none of which you need take up.
Read the link.
 
many estate agents do get a referral fee though if you use their surveyor or conveyancer . they specify it in the property brochure very often
 
hifinutt said:
many estate agents do get a referral fee though if you use their surveyor or conveyancer . they specify it in the property brochure very often
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Yes, mine were very upfront about getting a fee, I didn`t see the need to use their services though.
 
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