Estate agent fees - how do I best negotiate?

[viky]

I'm currently looking to put my house up for sale and want to pay as little as possible for the agent. They are asking for 1.5% plus VAT. Any ideas on how to negotiate the fee to get it as low as possible... I figure that seeing as the market is slow they need my business and naturally I need an agent but it's working out to be expensive so the less it is the better - any ideas?

[ethandron]

viky, i think you'll find that it's non-negotiable. we've just been involved in selling my sisters house and went with the estate agent who had the best deal at the time, none of them were prepared to budge on terms. you could always try of course, but be prepared for them to be inflexible.

[buildersmate]

I don't agree. These people are born salemen/women and will negotiate for anything. They won't LIKE negotiating it though.
The variables are the fee and the length of time you agree a sole agency contract with them. The fee rate is also dependent on the selling price of the house (you are unlikely to have to pay 1.5% if you are selling a house marketed at �800k - you are for say �250k).
Make sure they realise you are serious (too many punters are timewasters from their point of view - they incur costs then the customer decides he doesn't want to sell. Then tell each of three agents you are asking for their best offer and you want the answer by next Friday (say) after which you will decide.
The other way is to get an offer for a minimum exclusive period of 6 weeks then offer 0.2% less for an exclusive period of 12 weeks.

[GoWest]

I was offered 1.5% with my estate agent and I asked them to reduce it to 1.3% and they did!
If they dont want to do this you could say you will pay 1.5% if you achieve the full asking price, anything less and you will pay 1.3%. This will encourage them to work harder too!!

[viky]

Thanks all for advice. The last agent is coming round tonight but we spoke to one of them yesterday and said we weren't too keen on their fees and were they negotiable, got abit of a positive answer in that they said it depends on what we put the asking price at and what we achieve so I might go for the 1.5% on full asking and 1.3% on anything else approach. We'll see what agent tonight says though, but thanks for advice.

They do seem pretty desperate for the business (not sure if thats good or bad) so I think we're in a good position to barter.

[maclarencat]

Have you thought about using an online agency. They will do it for a fixed fee which will be a lot less than a local agent. They will still send someone round to photograph and supply board. They advertise on rightmove which I think is the site most peple look at when moving.

[viky]

Managed to get them from a fixed fee to a % fee instead, however I'd rather have gone with another agent but it works out about �2k more to use them which I don't have... how can I be sure I'm getting the best service there is. Also has anyone used one of the online sites to advertise their house? If so how'd it go?

[888sally888]

I work for an estate agent and we often do a deal of 1% esp for people who do their own viewings.

Check out the agents web sites - its important they have an up to date and comprehensive web page. Also check that they us RightMove cos LOTS of people search this site.