which estate agent

Make sure you check the fee or percentage they want. Some will want a percentage some will do it for a fixed fee, I used a local one in Darlington when I sold mine 2 year ago cost me a fixed rate can’t remember the exact amount but think it was £800. Which worked out about 0.6%.
 
Have a look at Rightmove for the value boundaries & compare those to your preferred agents websites.
If they are advertising houses at say £xx9,500 they haven't updated their business practices with the change in how people search for houses now.

Rightmove (which still accounts for the vast majority of initial interest in properties despite Zoopla, Onthemarket & agents shops/own sites) use round numbers, so if your house is listed at £119,500 then people searching from £120k won't see it.

Similarly if the agent wants to list it in the middle of a Rightmove band, say £115,000, then argue for it to be listed at £120k.

Go on the agents websites & see how easy it is to find properties in your area and what the pictures & particulars look like.

We used Robinsons & were told they would provide analytics of the online views etc but we sold it on the second actual viewing and so didn't get to see how that would work.
 
The terms they offer are negotiable

the percentage they take, or if it is fixed fee
The minimum contract term
If they are sole agent etc

sometimes they will come in sky high.

our first one was with Hunters but we got quotes from two others and they were all in the same region. In hindsight hunters overvalued our house to win the business, they said list it at 72k and would be a lot of interest. We sold 6 months later at 62k.

Their fee was £3k at that property value! I'm normally quite savvy with costs but as the quotes were all in line I hadn't realised they were negotiable, I emailed them to discuss the crap photos and description, how massive the fee was and that the fee didn't come down when we knocked price down, and they came back with some trite response about how their hands are tied by the agreement we signed which locked us in for 3 months.

I went back and said well if you're going to play that game, please put the price up to 85k and I'll ride out the contract to the day and then change agent, they wouldn't budge so that's what they ended up doing.

the day we would give notice we served it, ended up doing it for £800 fixed fee and minimum contract term 6 weeks, realistic price and sold to first viewer from new agent.

Loads of time wasted!

One thing I would do when they do your listing is post a link to it on MSE's house buying, selling & renting forum - they'll rip
It apart but it's great advice as it's from the perspective of strangers so they'll point out bad angles, rooms that look cluttered, wording to change etc, it takes very little to become an estate agent and a lot of them are rubbish. I ended up doing my own photos and description and it was night and day compared to the original listing.

For valuations look at house price sales on your street and nearby streets for houses of same size and condition and try come up with what you think it's realistically going to be worth; some EA's will def say they can get more to win your business only to advise you to revise the price mid contract. Knowing your local market can save you a lot of time
 
We used Robinsons earlier this year and they were really helpful throughout.
They were pushing the solicitors and the sellers estate agents for updates when things didn't seem to be moving.
 
brattleboro said:
itll be first time we are looking to sell and move ,so was unsure,thanx again everyone
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brattleboro said:
plan on putting house up for sale early jan which is best estate agent to use,thanx
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I've just used Pattinson and it sold in a week. The market is ridiculous at the minute everything is selling very fast. On the other hand its hard to buy without a bidding war. Houses are selling way over the asking price.
 
Me and my partner have used both Roseberry Newhouse and Harvey Brooks within the last 12 months.

Both spot on, charge 1% + VAT on the house price. Would recommend both.
 
ThatFragranceGuy said:
The terms they offer are negotiable

the percentage they take, or if it is fixed fee
The minimum contract term
If they are sole agent etc

sometimes they will come in sky high.

our first one was with Hunters but we got quotes from two others and they were all in the same region. In hindsight hunters overvalued our house to win the business, they said list it at 72k and would be a lot of interest. We sold 6 months later at 62k.

Their fee was £3k at that property value! I'm normally quite savvy with costs but as the quotes were all in line I hadn't realised they were negotiable, I emailed them to discuss the crap photos and description, how massive the fee was and that the fee didn't come down when we knocked price down, and they came back with some trite response about how their hands are tied by the agreement we signed which locked us in for 3 months.

I went back and said well if you're going to play that game, please put the price up to 85k and I'll ride out the contract to the day and then change agent, they wouldn't budge so that's what they ended up doing.

the day we would give notice we served it, ended up doing it for £800 fixed fee and minimum contract term 6 weeks, realistic price and sold to first viewer from new agent.

Loads of time wasted!

One thing I would do when they do your listing is post a link to it on MSE's house buying, selling & renting forum - they'll rip
It apart but it's great advice as it's from the perspective of strangers so they'll point out bad angles, rooms that look cluttered, wording to change etc, it takes very little to become an estate agent and a lot of them are rubbish. I ended up doing my own photos and description and it was night and day compared to the original listing.

For valuations look at house price sales on your street and nearby streets for houses of same size and condition and try come up with what you think it's realistically going to be worth; some EA's will def say they can get more to win your business only to advise you to revise the price mid contract. Knowing your local market can save you a lot of time
Click to expand...
This is actually really useful, thanks for honesty. We are thinking of selling up this year and it's quite daunting as it's our first house we ever bought. Had it for 10 years.
 
ThatFragranceGuy said:
The terms they offer are negotiable

the percentage they take, or if it is fixed fee
The minimum contract term
If they are sole agent etc

sometimes they will come in sky high.

our first one was with Hunters but we got quotes from two others and they were all in the same region. In hindsight hunters overvalued our house to win the business, they said list it at 72k and would be a lot of interest. We sold 6 months later at 62k.

Their fee was £3k at that property value! I'm normally quite savvy with costs but as the quotes were all in line I hadn't realised they were negotiable, I emailed them to discuss the crap photos and description, how massive the fee was and that the fee didn't come down when we knocked price down, and they came back with some trite response about how their hands are tied by the agreement we signed which locked us in for 3 months.

I went back and said well if you're going to play that game, please put the price up to 85k and I'll ride out the contract to the day and then change agent, they wouldn't budge so that's what they ended up doing.

the day we would give notice we served it, ended up doing it for £800 fixed fee and minimum contract term 6 weeks, realistic price and sold to first viewer from new agent.

Loads of time wasted!

One thing I would do when they do your listing is post a link to it on MSE's house buying, selling & renting forum - they'll rip
It apart but it's great advice as it's from the perspective of strangers so they'll point out bad angles, rooms that look cluttered, wording to change etc, it takes very little to become an estate agent and a lot of them are rubbish. I ended up doing my own photos and description and it was night and day compared to the original listing.

For valuations look at house price sales on your street and nearby streets for houses of same size and condition and try come up with what you think it's realistically going to be worth; some EA's will def say they can get more to win your business only to advise you to revise the price mid contract. Knowing your local market can save you a lot of time
Click to expand...
Cheers, Fragrance,

Do you have a link to that MSE forum?

I'm looking to move back to Teesside and would love some independent advice on buying.
 
MunkiFace said:
Robinsons Tees Valley all day long. The owner Mark is a massive Boro fan too!!
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I'd recommend Robinson's too. I bought through them last year and they were excellent throughout. It wasn't a straight forward purchase at times but they were great to deal with.
 
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