Value of using an estate agent?

Mr Badger

Mr Badger

Mr Badger

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This is a genuine question, not intended to be an excuse to rant about estate agents.

If you were planning to put a house on the market and someone offered to buy it from you direct, would you still involve an estate agent? Obviously there is an additional cost in the form of commission to the estate agent, so what additional services/benefits/protection do you get for your money if you don't need them to advertise the property and arrange viewings?
 
Mr Badger said:
This is a genuine question, not intended to be an excuse to rant about estate agents.

If you were planning to put a house on the market and someone offered to buy it from you direct, would you still involve an estate agent? Obviously there is an additional cost in the form of commission to the estate agent, so what additional services/benefits/protection do you get for your money if you don't need them to advertise the property and arrange viewings?
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Nope, wouldn't bother. Although, we did an open house for our last one and it actually went 20k over on a bidding war which we wouldn't have been able to do ourselves.
 
A good estate agent will chase buyer/seller and offer useful advice or reassurance throughout the process but their main job is to take good pictures of your house, put it on the various media platforms and conduct viewings and be knowledgable on the local area.

If you don't need to find a buyer then a lot of their value is gone. Like 80% or more.
 
I'm not planning on using one when i next sell up. I just want a service to put my listing on Rightmove and then will manage viewings / offers myself. As soon as a price is agreed we will just sway solicitor details. I really don't see what they do to earn their percentages.
 
If someone were offering to buy it direct then, provided there was a minimal chain/cash/freehold to freehold transaction then.... yes i would do it that way.

However if i wanted my house marketed in the usual way then i would employ the services of a good agent (they do exist). A good agent can literally make or break a sale and those with actual knowledge and experience can help move things along to a successful conclusion proactively - a solicitor wont be anywhere near as proactive. There is also a considerable amount of interaction between agents and solicitors that the public are rarely aware of - all of which can be very beneficial.

There are of course plenty of useless plonkers.
 
ristac said:
No good estate agents are few and far between and just why if you have a buyer lined up
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Often true however there ARE good agents - I work in an associated field and I know of agents who have cleared people’s lofts for their clients in order to make a sale go through, dug holes in lawns to identify soak aways, run search documents to and from local authorities direct to solicitors offices in order to achieve an exchange, negotiated lengthy chain related money transfers and renegotiations, picked elderly people up from various places in order that they may get or their solicitor in order to sign paperwork, organised clearance and disposal services on behalf of overseas clients, organised and maintained the acquisition of EWS1 documentation and on and on it goes. A solicitor would do none of this. They aren’t incentivised to do so.

Honestly, agents only have themselves to blame when it comes to their bad reputation but given what I know, I will always advocate that a good agent is worth the fee.
 
No my uncle just sold his house to my mother, no estate agents used. I put my mam in touch with my best friend to act as her solicitor and they’ve moved it on from there.
 
Outside of the pictures and the potential that you might get a good one, that communicates with all of the parties and chases where appropriate. I didn't see much value in mine - they didn't really do any of the chasing required and just forwarded pish onto me to sort out.
 
Only moved twice but in general 000's wasted. Both occasions I had to take the pictures myself and write the material as the stuff they produced was terrible. Didn't manage viewing and hadn't read the material to discuss with viewers. Only thing they provide is access to media i.e. rightmove.
 
I had a great estate agent in the U.K. and I have another great one here.

If you don’t have a private buyer lined up, they are invaluable in wedding out the dreamers/tyre kickers who just want to have a look around and dealing the the 1001 stupid question they have.
 
Terminal_Boy said:
I had a great estate agent in the U.K. and I have another great one here.

If you don’t have a private buyer lined up, they are invaluable in wedding out the dreamers/tyre kickers who just want to have a look around and dealing the the 1001 stupid question they have.
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Interesting - again I suppose it depends on which one you get. Mine knew nothing about my property, lied to me (they weren't first time buyers) and lied to my buyer (I was always in a chain). Weeding out the idiots is probably a positive, assuming that they actually do it properly :)
 
I think the trick is to use local estate agents who know the area and know you can be in their office in 10 minutes or less if you’re not happy with their service.

I’d accepted 2 separate offers that fell through on my London house before the third one proved solid. The estate agents earned every penny they got sorting that dumpster fire out.
 
Glad it worked for you - mine was a local one, with recommendations from a friend.

There are approx 10 others in the town that I could have used, so we assumed they'd have to be good to compete.
 
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