I'm seeing an increasing number of properties locally which have been for sale for some time and have now gone to multiple agency. What benefits/disadvantages are involved (apart from the obvious one of
2.5% commission instead on 1 - 1.5%) of multiple agency?I assume that the commission is only payable to the actually selling agent?
Does having one or more additional agencies mean that one's initial agency tries even harder?
Any other things to observe?
MM
If nothing else it means that each agent knows that there is competition, and so should try harder to get the sale before the other. A friend of mind is selling at the moment, and has had a lot more viewings since going dual-agent.
1-1.5%?? Where! I'm paying 1.6% on a house I'm selling....
That is something you *need* to sort out. It is just possible that both will try to claim. It may be that each will take
1/2, no matter who clinches the deal....
They're unlikely to sit on their bums & twiddle their thumbs when they stand to make 1.5% of your selling price for perhaps not a lot of effort...
A multi-agency contract might be welcomed by the Agent. Imagine what would happen if *all* contracts were multi-agent.....
The housing market is flat at the moment, due to the time of year. I expect it will not pick up for some considerable time, due to other considerations. It will, I expect, take a dive re. prices.
J.B.
In article , Jerry Built writes
I'm paying 1% *including* VAT on mine. (North-west.) That said, haven't sold the bloody house yet...
I'm in Bucks. The sole agent's agreed fee is 1.25% + VAT. The previous agent, which didn't produce many viewings, hence the change, was only charging 1% + VAT. 1.25% is normal where I am, and 2.5% for multiple agency.
It certainly IS flat right now! I was getting two or three viewings a week, sometimes more, up until the schools broke up. And now not a single viewing for two weeks! I can only hope it will pick up again once people start coming back ready for school.
MM
You and me both. And I am not the only one. In our village there are several properties of different types and prices that have also hung around - mine now for four months. And there I was thinking selling the darned thing was going to be a formality.
Auction?
Multiple agency?
Dunno what else to try, except another price reduction. But it's already the cheapest property in the village.
MM
Are you desperate to move?
With a multiple agency sale there should also be less chance of the agent trying to pull a fast one by buying it for himself or a client at a lower price.
If I saw this as a buyer I would think one of two things
1) desprate to sell, I can knock price down a bit 2) not selling as property overpriced, I can knock price down a bitThe agency is only as good as the guy running the place, some will be brilliant, some will not earn their 1.5 %.
Rick
In Worksop area 12 months ago we sold a house at 0.85% + VAT; i.e. near-as-makes-no-difference 1%
We "auditioned" four different agents. Two of them wanted 1.5% IIRC, one was a fixed price which worked out to about 1% (though they wanted to put us up at a lower price so it would have been >1% of that price) and the fourth started at 1.5% but came down to 0.85%+VAT when we looked a bit doubtful :-)
Hwyl!
M.
Then you need a new estate agent. 1.25% tops. Anything above that is robbery.
can't find that on the site. Just out of interest does anybody know what sort of percentage of valuation these sort of companies typically offer ?
In message , G&M writes
They will offer an amount where they are guaranteed to make money if they remarket immediately. In order to do this, and to make it worth tying up capital for a while, they probably need to buy at around 20% less than value.
In fact, if you were to market your property at an asking price equivalent to the amount one of these firms would offer, you should be inundated with offers from ordinary buyers and, with a good estate agent, the price would rise to its' market value.
The fact is that you are unlikely to be willing to sell at the price one of these firms will buy at, unless you are in danger of serious loss if you dont sell.
Given that you are asking the question, I would suggest dropping your asking price to the lowest figure you would consider accepting, and let the market do its stuff. .
What I find amusing is, that around here most properties are advertised by more than one agent, but when you go in and tell them that another agent is marketing the same property they all say "no, that can't be possible, we have a sole agent agreement."
Between 10% and 15%, depending on the state of the market. I expect their fee would be near the upper end right now. It seems that quite a few people around here have utilised their services, though. I don't think there's anything fishy. It's a straightforward business transaction: You have seen a property you want to acquire. If you don't sell your house, someone else will buy that propspective property, you lose it, and your house stays on the market for another month. So, at some point, you have to decide whether taking the hit is making the best of the situation. What they have going for them is that it's a guaranteed offer. So if they state, in writing, that they will pay £x for your property, in as little as three days after you sign, you get a cheque. However, you have only ONE bit of the cherry! If you reject their one-time offer, they will not come back a second time a few weeks later to repeat the process. I suppose this is just to stop time wasters.
What I fail to understand is, why are we *still* reading day after day about the housing market still on the boil when all the evidence is, and hearsay evidence from agents much further afield backs it up, that the market is extremely quiet right now, and not *only* because of the fact that it's August.
MM
How does that work, then?
But even if I did do that, chances are I'd get a low offer, then the person would pull out three weeks later anyway. It's fast becoming the norm around here in Bucks. Whereas with the chain breaking companies, you get a guaranteed offer, have no chain, and can at least start afresh in your new property. I can do nothing. My hands are tied. I am fed up. I have a shed full of tools and no house to wield them on!
MM
Although I'm not selling at the moment, we do have two houses - one in renovation - and so keep a careful eye on the market for when it is habitable. I would agree that the market above say second time buyer level is almost dead. This is witnessed by new properties as well - granny flats and entry level houses sell off-plan, 'executive housing' is often finished and standing idle months before a buyer is found.
Hi,
This article gives a good possible explanation:
I sold a house in Peterborough 3 months ago and paid 1.8%+ vat. I got 4 quotes and chose the most expensive (other were down to 1.2%) Not really sure why it just seemed they were the right agents.
House was sold in 3 days so IMHO the percentage I paid was fine given they price was slightly above the going rate in that street and the house was a dump.
So what was the magic touch? Please share it with us! I am always hearing about properties that have "sold within days". In fact, my first estate agent deluded me into accepting his higher valuation than other agents' on the basis of a similar property to mine that had, indeed, sold in a weekend only a couple of weeks earlier. However,
*that* instant sale fell through, and after I had placed my house on the market with this high-valuing agent, that other property they'd used as a yardstick was back on the market again. It subsequently sold some weeks later for considerably less than the original asking price.I suppose the only "magic wand" one can wave is the price tag. But I have already reduced the price twice, the property is the cheapest (by far) in the village (if you discount flats) and I'm going to wait until September when the schools are back to see what happens.
But I do hope you really ARE a wizard and can wave some magic for me! ;)
MM
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