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Estate Agents

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Aled

Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 123
Location: Anglesey

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 05 2:12 pm Post subject: Estate Agents

aargggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!
Ok, ok, I knew the housing market was slow even before I was told so on here.
BUT - 1 viewing in 6 weeks? Then today we finally get into the bi-weekly property paper and they have our house's pic but with the price and details from a different house! Our details are given for a pretty rough looking property on another part of the page.

All this and I get to give them 1.6% at the end IF they ever get me a buyer - great

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 05 2:14 pm Post subject:
Go somewhere else pronto, and don't pay more than 1%. Come to think of it I negotiated a fixed fee of �750 last time I sold a house.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 05 2:20 pm Post subject:
Definitely negotiate the commission, we agreed 1.15% when we put it on the market (for a day )

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 05 2:31 pm Post subject:
If you can - use them as kindling

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 05 6:52 pm Post subject:
If we ever get round to moving, I'm going independent. bet a full page spread in the local rag and a sign or two is a lot less than 1 percent - we can do a website for nowt, as well! I 'ate estate agents - I mean, what do they actually do for all that money? fat cats!

portwayfarm

Joined: 30 Jun 2005
Posts: 89

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 05 10:13 pm Post subject:

Do like us. Stick up for auction. Today was the first day open to viewings and we had 6 people turn up for the 1 hr slot. Our slot time was 5pm and our next open house time is Sat at 5pm and then tues at 5pm. Auctioning is fun, the house is on the market for 4 weeks in total but viewwings are only allowed 2 weeks prior to auction. The buyer has to give a 10% deposit on the day and complete within another 28days. If they pull out they do not get their deposit back!!

Fees are more expensive 1.5% but time is money in my eyes and we would rather pay that and move within 28days as then you become a no chain / cash buyer for your next house which means you can negotiate better prices.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 05 8:37 am Post subject:
Can you set your own reserve? And where does one find an auction firm - I rather fancy buying like that. What happens if you don't get your reserve - do you just go round again? Anything to get rid of estate agents. Kindling sounds a good idea though - I could definitely find a use for the bellows!

Bernie66

Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 13967
Location: Eastoft

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 05 9:01 am Post subject:

Behemoth wrote:

If you can - use them as kindling

"ethical estate agent" the origonal oxymoron. The problem is that they , like solicitors get their money whether it takes that extra month or not. And whilst its slow they like to have lots of hopuse for sale in their windows so they don't actually give a monkeys how long it takes to sell

Aled

Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 123
Location: Anglesey

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 05 1:47 pm Post subject:

[quote="portwayfarm"]
I like this idea a lot - can you expand any more on the process portwayfarm? Do you pay a fee to the auctioneer even if there isn't a sale?

Not only are we paying the agents a ridiculous 1.6% (I thought I'd done well to barter them down from 1.7% - obv not reading above!), but we're tied in to them exclusively for 14 weeks. 7 weeks in at the moment. I'll check tonight to see if this exclusivety only applies to other estate agents selling - anyone know any more on such contracts?

Thanks,

Aled

Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91� N

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 05 2:07 pm Post subject:

[quote="Aled"]

portwayfarm wrote:

I like this idea a lot - can you expand any more on the process portwayfarm? Do you pay a fee to the auctioneer even if there isn't a sale?

Not only are we paying the agents a ridiculous 1.6% (I thought I'd done well to barter them down from 1.7% - obv not reading above!), but we're tied in to them exclusively for 14 weeks. 7 weeks in at the moment. I'll check tonight to see if this exclusivety only applies to other estate agents selling - anyone know any more on such contracts?

Presumably the contract obliges them to actually advertise and sell your house though and as you have documentary published evidence that they have not advertised your property ... ?

On the auction front. Doesn't it rather depend on having enough people who are willing to buy on that basis to be viable so presumably only suitable for some properties short of a culture shift in how we buy property in the UK. Otherise you might have 25 viewing of whom 20% are interested enough to offer of whom 20% would be willing to buy at auction at which point you have an auction with one bidder.

portwayfarm

Joined: 30 Jun 2005
Posts: 89

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 05 2:36 pm Post subject:

We are the only small holding in the auction list. All the rest are standard semi, detached, terraces. All ranging from what I call new build/lego land houses through to Victorian types. And they almost always sell.

You set your own reserve and the acutioneer is not allowed to sell below it. Once it reaches reserve it can be sold. You do not pay the fee if your house does not sell. You pay a one off amount for a board out the front of your house and for the pictures of your house to go into the brouchure. Depending on the size of board you want the amount of fee can be as little as a one off �100 through to �750 if you want a giant commercial type board (like the ones that you see saying new supermarket here soon). You do not have to have a board.

The board goes up 4 weeks prior to auction and the brouchure get sent out to those people that are season auction house buyers and those that phone up for one. So they advertise your house for 4 weeks in total. Then 2 weeks prior to auction are the viewing days. You can either let them have a spare key and show around or do it yourself. Viewings are done at a set time ours are 5pm every other day. People do not have to book but just turn up at that time on the published day.

Then a couple of days prior to the auction day, they phone you up and discuss how you and they felt that the viewings had been going. It is at that point that an experienced auctioneer can tell you how many people he thinks are serious about your house and from that you have the option to lower or raise or keep the same your reserve.

Buyers are allowed to submit pre auction bids which get passed onto you. If there are enough you can take the house out of the auction and take the offers to sealed bids. (Kinda like an auction outside of the auction house.)

Or you can go onto auction. As said if reserve not met then you keep your house and pay no commisson (1.5%). If you want you can put it into another auction the next month, the date on the board outside your house gets changed and you may get charged a small amount for keeping the board up for the next auction - our auction house does not charge for this. And then process starts again.

If the reserve is met then the highest bidder gets the house. They pay 10% in cash there and then and contracts are signed there and then. (You have to have your own solic, and they are normally but not always present at the day.) Your solic sorts out the fee on your behalf the same as if you would have sold at an estate agent. Completion is not allowed to take any longer then another 28days, so you have to have things packed up and be ready to go pretty quickly after the auction.

If this buyer pulls out then you keep the 10%deposit and can either walk away from auctions altogether and sell privately or via an estate agent or put it back into the next auction. If the house then sells for less the origional buyer who pulled out is liable for the lost difference and is contacted by the auction houses own solic to pay you the difference in money or risk court.

There is nothing complicated about it and it is really fun. We are using Cottons in Birmingham for ours but google will bring up lots of results. We will keep everyone updated with how ours is going. But do not be scared to try something different, life is too short to be messed around and guzumped, when you have made your mind up to sell you just want it over with and go with no fuss and hassle.

Cathryn

Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 19856
Location: Ceredigion

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 05 8:50 pm Post subject:
Think I will suggest this to a friend tomorrow - only she has only had one couple even view her rather lovely home. Would an aucion generate a bigger market do you think?

portwayfarm

Joined: 30 Jun 2005
Posts: 89

Posted: Tue Sep 06, 05 5:52 pm Post subject:
Not wanting to tempt fate but as an update we had 6 people first day, 12 on Sat and have just had 10 people. Thats not including those people that pull up and have a quick nose outside of viewing times. So fingers crossed. Just Thurs, Sat and another Tues set of viewings left before the date of the auction.

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