Agency - Sole or Multiple

[EPalmer]

I have been trying to sell a starter home for about 6 months. Brought it down to sensible price and had a few viewings, mainly from buy to let who make ridiculous offers we can't accept. However last month only about 2 viewings! Presently have sole agent who tells me it is just first timers struggling to get mortgages as they need 10 - 20% deposit and the price and condition of the property is fine. We spent £2K double glazing it, decorating and doing the garden!
Question, another agent keeps hassling me to take the property on, saying he has sold two locally, which it appears he has, one down the road from mine yet the purchaser never viewed mine which is on Rightmove and has been for a while.
Surely it would not make that much difference who the agent is as most agents just put the property on rightmove and send it to their applicant list, what else can you do?
My contract is for another 6 weeks (14 week); are agents likely to change to multiple agency or would they want to wait. I apprecaite fees are higher but need to do something.

Would be interested in your views.

[googler]

Originally Posted by EPalmer

Question, another agent keeps hassling me to take the property on, saying he has sold two locally, which it appears he has, one down the road from mine yet the purchaser never viewed mine which is on Rightmove and has been for a while.

Surely it would not make that much difference who the agent is as most agents just put the property on rightmove and send it to their applicant list, what else can you do?

It's a bit 'unethical' for the new agent to be hassling you when you still have sole agency with another agent. Have you told your current agent that he's doing this? The one down the road sold, but yours is on Rightmove. Why would this be? Maybe the purchaser doesn't own a computer, and got info about the property from the agent, the agent's window, or in communication with the agent himself.

What else can an agent do apart from put their properties on Rightmove, and send details to their buyer list? I'd suggest - lots. Why not ask this agent where his buyer came from, and see if he found the buyer by working outside of the two activities that you mentioned?

[brian]

I've noticed big price differences between agents - Remax in my local area seem to be adding 10%-20% to the price by comparison to other vendors - and they are not selling as a consequence.

[rapidspeed]

Have you asked them about possibility of Joint Agency agreement. Usually higher commission than sole agency but lower than multi agency.

I hope you sell it soon, but have you ever thought about selling it yourself and keeping the commission?

We offer a quick sale service for homes in the UK and are soon to launch an online estate agency service where we market our properties on the main portals, findaproperty, primelocation, rightmove etc but will charge you a one off cost of only £329.

We would the contact you by telephone, email or txt for all viewings.

[googler]

Rapidpeedhomesales.com

?!?!?!?!

[googler]

From their website;

"With the average estate agent in the U.K charging 2.5% commission..."

What's the source of this 'average' figure? Did someone take a sampling of agents, and work out the average based on this sample?

Is there some official figure somewhere, or (more than likely)


Did the website owner just make it up?

[Homeseller]

Last time I heard it was something like 1.75% but can't remember the source. £329! Wow, that is cheap. Very lean business or selling under cost. Can't last, I would have thought, and as I may have mentioned I like the concept of low cost EAs.

[DIY-Home-Selling]

Hi EPalmer
You need to be careful when you sign up with agents because they will increase the commission they want if multuiple agents are engaged. gthat means you will pay more whoever sells your property and to be honest, the internet is probably what will bring your potential viewers in anyway.
Have you thought about listing your property on the internet. We have a new free online property website that allows users to upload their properties for free and get free ingternet advertising (as opposed to paid advertising when you go to Rightmove etc via an agent). There are also a host of great guides to help you sell your home yourself. Have a look at the site - I'm sure it will help you decide how to proceed.
Good luck with your sale..

Jane

[googler]

Hi, DIY-Home-Selling - a few questions, if I may:

In your home selling e-book, one of the first few paras read thus;

"You must find ways of drawing attention to your house; of marking it out for all the others; of making potential buyers curious enough to come and view it. If you have already taken the decision to sell your house privately, you have already singled yourself out from the majority: You have decided to join the 1 in 3 of all vendors who sell their home themselves."

1 in 3? Later on, you say;

"Over three hundred thousand vendors a year go it alone and win. Just keep your eyes open. Count the private adverts. Count the private For Sale boards – are they anywhere near a third of the total?"

Where's the proof of your figures? Where were they derived from?

You ask if they are anywhere near a third of the total - well, looking at your properties for sale, I find ONE in the whole of Scotland, and apparently only FOUR in the whole of the UK..... that certainly isn't a third of the total.

Looking at the one that's in Scotland, I zoomed in on it, and it seems to be in Figgate St, or Figgate Court, Portobello. Let's see .... excuse me while I google that..... ah; could it be this one, listed on Globrix, and on a local agent's own site?

2 bedroom flat for sale Figgate Street, Edinburgh, EH15 - Globrix property

Warners • View property • 12/9 Figgate Street, Portobello, Edinburgh, EH15 1HL

Looks like the same one to me. So your one house for sale in Scotland was evidently so convinced by your sales proposition that they're using it as an addition to their regular EA......

Also from your guide;

"A quick look at the houses for sale pages of your local newspaper could easily lead you to believe that private sales are very few and far between. But a recent survey found that only two-thirds of house sellers used estate agents. That leaves a third who didn’t. "

Again, the source of the figures and something to identify the 'recent survey', please?

[googler]

Originally Posted by googler

From their website;

"With the average estate agent in the U.K charging 2.5% commission..."

What's the source of this 'average' figure? Did someone take a sampling of agents, and work out the average based on this sample?

Is there some official figure somewhere, or (more than likely)


Did the website owner just make it up?

Since I wrote the above, the OFT has published parts of their study into Estate Agency in the UK; their findings were that average EA fees in England were 1.6%, and in Scotland 1.1%

In case I need to spell it out, I openly accuse the author within the website mentioned above of brazenly making up the 2.5% figure, with no factual basis to it whatsoever.

I also, in case anyone missed it, accuse him/her of mistyping THEIR OWN web address.....