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Estate Agents - Secure the Best Fees During the Credit Crunch!

By: Allison66 Allison66

Estate Agents Fees - How to Haggle

I have been selling houses for over 15 years now and have bought & sold several properties so I know how it feels to be a Seller and Buyer - Being an insider allows me to be able to share some useful information with you to enable you to play by their rules and win!

When it comes to selling your property – your biggest possession – you need to make sure that you are getting the best from the estate agent you’ve appointed.

There is no doubt that if an Estate Agent thinks they can get away with charging a horrendous sale fee for minimal work they will – but only if you let them!

How to select your local estate agent.

To begin with, always get free valuations from about 5 estate agents. These should include a mixture of:

1) An Independent smaller agent, who tends to be more flexible and has a slightly higher calibre of agents, tends to deal on a more personal level.
2) A large chain estate agent, who tends to be fairly rigid on figures but can offer marketing from several other branches to give wider marketing of your property.

When it comes to sales fees, remember they want your business, so negotiating is the key.

The things that you should find out about the estate agent are:

1) Do they advertise in the local newspapers on a regular basis ?
2) Do they have their properties on property websites i.e. www.rightmove.co.uk & www.globrix.com.
3) Is their office in a good location, with good window displays?
4) Are details produced in colour, with internal and external photos?
5) Do they have similar properties to show you to back up their valuation with?
6) Do they provide an opportunity for all of their sales staff to view your property to familiarise themselves with the property that they will be selling?
7) How often they make contact with their Vendors with updates on viewings, marketing and generally to keep in regular contact with you.
8) Always find out about their agency agreements – there are a lot of agents out there that want to ‘tie you in’ to a 12 week agreement. This is generally the case for the large chain estate agents; the independents do not generally have a tie in period. All they usually require is 2 weeks written notice. It is always preferable not to be tied in – look at it this way, if an agent is good at what they do then they won’t have to tie you in to give them 12 weeks to sell it!
9) Also, go with your instincts – if you feel that a particular agent would promote your property better than the others then that could be the one to go for.

Instructing your agent / negotiating fees

When you have chosen an agent that you think would represent your house in the best possible way to achieve a sale, you need to be firm about the sales fee. If you say to the them that you have narrowed it down to two agents, both with the same exposure that you believe would enable them to sell your house, but the only difference is the sales commission. You should then say that unfortunately the decision on whom to instruct will be down to who can offer the best fee. There should be no reason why you cannot negotiate to 1%. Be firm and stand your ground!

Find Estate Agents in Your Area

There are many agents out there and trying to find the time to contact them to arrange viewings, valuations etc can be quite time consuming – I should know! Nowadays the Internet is the answer! I have found a company called Estate Agency Fees Direct that can do just that. I was slightly dubious at first as I have always done things myself but I filled in the form and was very impressed with how simple it was.

It‘s a comprehensive service. Not only do they find the local Agents and provide you with industry tools to value your property, they also start the negotiation process for you. All you need to do is to submit the simple form, advising the agents when you intend to market, whether you have already found a suitable property to purchase, your preferred Estate Agency fees, your valuation on the value of your property and how you would like them to contact you – therefore avoiding the awkward hard sell situation. It allows you to be in control from the outset. All of this information is then sent directly to the agents at the same time, allowing you to sit back and wait to see how they will compete for your instruction. It just takes a click of a button – trust me it’s easy!

They can be found at http://www.estateagencyfeesdirect.com. Give them a go - they seem to be on our side!

Article Source: http://www.articlekingpro.com

Allison is author of this article on Estate Agency. Find more information about Estate Agency here.

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