Alphawolf

Hi we are in the process of selling our house in preparation for our move in April/May next year, we have had 2 seperate agents out with the 3rd due tomorrow, just wondered if anyone had any advice on what to be looking for when we make our decision.

Both agents so far had similar valuations but the one with free advertising had a hefty fee upon completion and although they said all the right things it worries me that they have 7 or 8 properties for sale in my village alone and not sold any of them, some have been on the market for 2 years now.

Any advice welcome guys, thanks as always in advance

Zoe Bell

I'd be tempted to ask the agency witht he numerous unsold properties why they hadn't sold.

If they can't give you anything which sounds like a reasonable answer then avoid them.

4d32ftw

i'd always pay attention to sold signs in the local area, which company seems to have more.

personally advertising fees should all be wrapped up in the overall fee for there service unless its some specific item thats not normally included.

i'd want to know where they advertise, what target markets do they advertise too, how often they advertise your property in said publications, do they use the rightmove site or what ever its called). also look at there own site.. does that site impress you ?

i'd also negotiate the fee with them, easier to do if listed on a sole agency basis.

how long have they been in business ? what hours are they open etc.. all affect the number of customers they have / when they can be contacted or can do showings.

will they do all the showings or wil you have to do some ?
what do they think you should do to your house to make it easier to sell, a good agent should advise things you could alter to aid the sale.
i'd ask whats been selling, timescales etc...

what feedback on viewings do they provide.

etc...

fledermaus

I don't understand what you mean about free advertising/ hefty fee. Don't they just charge a % of the sale price and this will cove advertising?

You need to know what you are getting for that hefty fee.

We went with an agent that wasn't with one of the big companies and this turned out to be a mistake as there was noone to complain to when things went wrong.

oh, and never tell them you are emigrating. If you have already tell them that this is confidential and must not be told to any potential buyers.

Alphawolf

Thanx guys

We've had one company who need £175 + Vat upfront for advertising fees etc, then their final fee on completion works out at £1250 + vat, they seem the best to us at the moment, good strategy etc.

The other one had no advertising fee, had longer opening hours but the end fee was £2000 + vat and this is the one with all the unsold houses near us, when I asked him why that was he basically said the customers wouldnt listen to their valuations and had them too high, we've had a couple of people put us off them now so they are out of the running pretty much, we have one more coming tomorrow.

Siouxie

A quick search of this website may give you some ideas as to who is good..

http://www.qype.co.uk/uk/categories/...=estate+agents they have reviews on the site.

Also http://www.allagents.co.uk/estate-agents/ / http://www.estatepropertyagents.co.uk/reviews/ / http://www.estateagentreview.co.uk/estate-agents/ / http://www.estateagentsfinder.co.uk/ /

Alan2005

If the house is on the market for 2 years then it isn't the estate agent. The guy you asked is right, the price is too high.

daisychain

We put ours on end of October, all agents had the same valuation, it was just down to who I liked and of course the fees. One wanted over 2%, the others 1.3% and 1.2%, they all sell roughly the same amount in the area, had not many viewers, one tomorrow who seem quite keen, but it is Christmas time! In the end we went with an independant one in the area who happened to be the cheapest, but they have been excellent and send in reports of how many details they have given out etc! Just hope it sells before we go next year!

Good luck

DC

rivingtonpike

We have negotiated 1.2% of the sale price with a regional estate agent. There shouldn't be and advertising costs upfront as far as I have ever experienced. What if they don't sell your house? It will already have cost you and you will have to start again from scratch.

GC44

Paying anything upfront to an estate agent strikes me as odd. I think they are just trying to cover any initial listing fees they will lose if they don't sell and you walk away to another agents. We found when selling our house that listing with a big company can also be a problem, if they don't get a sale in the first few weeks then you may find yourself on there back burner so to speak. It's a difficult one. We went through 3 agents till we got a sale.
Good luck

Alphawolf

Thanks guys, again, of the three agents we have had so far, 2 have fees upfront, small ones but there anyway, we have a final agent coming Monday who has been recomended by an expat we know so we shall see what they come up with, the one today had a valuation £10000 lower than the other 2.
Abit worrying really, with their valuation we would only have £2000 to £7000 equity which would be useless and a huge blow to our plans to move in May.

GC44

Check out websites like "houseladder" to get an idea what comparible homes in your area have sold for. It may give you a better idea just what yours is worth.

Good luck

Siouxie

There are a couple of other websites that are pretty good for ascertaining prices..

http://www.findaproperty.com/house-prices.html

http://www.mouseprice.com/area-guide-index/

The one GC44 referred to is: http://www.houseladder.co.uk/House_P..._Yorkshire_C86

mortgagepro

I may have misunderstood, I'm not sure if you were looking for a Realtor in Vancouver Canada or not but A great Realtor I have worked with and would recommend in the Vancouver/Lower Mainland area would be Theodora Gannon. her and her team have a good deal of experience. I'm a mortgage Specialist and I have dealt with them lots. They work with REMAX so they have very standard fees and could be a good fit. Either way you could just look them up on google and ask them any real estate questions you may have.

4d32ftw

Yep fail. not the best advert for a professional trying to blag business when they can read a simple paragraph and understand it.