Choosing an Estate Agent (sale)

Sudden

Sudden

Sudden

Soldato
Joined
15 Nov 2005
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2,955
Location
London
Looking at selling my flat to move to somewhere bigger. Met with 3 estate agents now re. it. Two had a similar valuation, one slightly lower. Similar fees (two were the same at 1.5%, one was a bit higher at 2% - figures were + VAT (which did annoy me, lol)), and seem to have similar timeframes as well.

How do you choose between them? What have people done with theirs? Do you just go on gut feel / vibe you get from them? Obviously looking for the highest price possible, but want it to be realistic. No sense in going for a higher valuation if it gets dropped quickly. Difficult to tell the 'going price' since the blocks around me have all had cladding, which is now in the process of getting resolved - so not much, if anything, has sold in recent years and it's now starting.
 
Could always try it yourself on one of the free options? Up north estate agents typically charge ~1% in my experience but I imagine London is very different!
 
I'd look at their previously sold properties so you can see if they put effort into taking decent photos for a start, some fail at even this basic task. Reviews of course.
You can see how long their current inventory is hanging around, though a lot of this will be owners being stubborn and waiting for Covid prices.
Valuation wise, if they're similiar, probably not much you can read into there - what you don't want is an agent who goes stupid low to get a quick sale+commission, nor one that'll go too high to flatter you then inevitably reduce it (if they don't think you'll try and wait out the market for a higher price)
 
Try Yopa, they will sell it at a fixed fee which is generally a lot cheaper then the commission fee you get from a regular agent. The only draw back is you pay the fee up front so if you don't sell or want to change agent you've burned your money (although if you don't sell Yopa does let relist with them for upto 2 years).
 
Best financial outcome: get a smarmy, self-entitled asshat who knows his/her stuff and will smash on your behalf because they get a percentage of your fee.

Most equitable outcome: someone who will work in your interests but without the asshattery above.

Least likely option: Give your house to charity and let them sort it out.
 
Find one with a set fee, houses sell themselves.

Last two we've sold were with a local set fee agent and both sold quickly either at asking or above.

With the first sale we had a few agents round, one with a stupidly overpriced estimate (probably as he was on a percentage). It wouldn't have sold at that price.

Stuck with the fixed fee agent who had a realistic valuation for our second sale too.
 
A fixed fee is better, a percentage feels more like an urine extraction tax.

For example, at 1% on a house that is £250k they get £2.5k but if the house is £500k they get £5k - for doing the exact same "work" - the bare ******* minimum.
 
There's a thread in the Home & Garden sub forum which might be useful.

I think generally it depends on your flat. When we sold we used Strike. They claim to be free and then sell "add ons" which we went with for pictures/3d floorplan etc. It was around £700 overall i think (0.2%).

The main consideration for us was how attractive we thought our house was and how easily it would sell. It was an old Gatehouse and so the value vs other similar sized houses in the local area was higher, so the concern was that we'd miss out on people setting price limits on Rightmove etc for what a 3 bed property in the area would normally cost. So we thought a proper agent who could "upsell" the house might be worthwhile, but on the flipside the front photo was unique enough that we figured it would catch peoples attention assuming it showed up in their search.

Ultimately people look for houses these days on Rightmove/Zoopla and then contact the agent. The fixed fee online agents have longer opening hours which helps facilitate this and even puts you in touch direct with the sellers. Our buyers loved they could see the advert on a Sunday morning, exchange some messages and book a viewing that afternoon. That just isn't an option with typical estate agents.

A flat might be different, especially in London as ultimately you're competing with lots of very similar properties.
 
Just sold via Purple Bricks - they are bad but at the end of the day saved £4k for doing a bit of chasing myself. Estate Agents are a joke houses are worth what they are worth and everyone works online now. I liked the appointment system compared to ringing to book viewings to. I'd give one of the others a go next time like Zopa
 
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