Estate agents rates for house sale

On a recent sale of a £180k flat I paid an estate agency fee of 1%+vat plus a conveyancing fee of £550+vat plus a similar amount in outlays, so if your 2% is all-in, it's not too far off the mark.

And if he/she got you 10,000 more than other agents?

I wonder how successful eBay is for selling houses?

I certainly would not want to pay the auction rate on the sale proceeds but perhaps you could try and auction the *option* to view your house for sale.

Anyway's, just curious, it just occurs to me that there are more people browsing eBay than wander into the doors of estate agents these days.

That's just one of those unfathomables isn't it ?

I dunno, presumably a nigerian in italy or holland would offer to send you twice the amount by cheque as long as you then sent the other half to his mate in russia?

Bitstring , from the wonderful person norm said

Sounds like a reasonable opening bid to me. However for a sole agency you should be able to knock them down somewhat from there.

Or you could frame the auction so that people were bidding what they will pay above a certain value. Eg th house will sell for 230,000, plus the highest bid. The auction terms would then apply only to the extra.

You pay a fixed rate for property on Ebay not commission

Negotiate. If they want your business, which they probably will as the market has slowed right down - you should be able to get it down to 1%

Base the fee on the eventual sale price. Perhaps 1.5% in the unlikely event that they get you the asking price.

How about 1% of their valuation if that's what it sells for. If it sells for more, add 5% of the excess over valuation. If for less, deduct 2% of the shortfall.

Get them to value it before offering those terms, of course.

You might want to try this

Daytona

Makes the US rates commission of ~ 5% look rather exorbitant, or do they offer a better service? :)

Well, for one thing, US agents are all licenced (they have to write an exam) - so there is a barrier to entry - which isn't such a bad thing if you ask me.

Aris

This figure is probably the one which includes the fee to the 'buyers' agent, over which the seller has no negotiating position, but in some states has to pay if he wants to sell the house. A right scam IMHO.

tim