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Selling a house -choosing an estate agent etc.

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  • 29-02-2012 3:36pm
    #1
    tweenie
    Registered Users Posts: 79 ✭✭


    Hi my dh wants to sell a house he has owned for over 20 years. Up until now it was occupied by a dependent relative (no rent paid). The relative has passed away and dh wants to sell the house. We have a few questions about estate agents - how do we go about choosing an EA? Some houses have more that 1 EA selling the house -how does this work re. costs and is it a good idea to have more than one EA? Do we need to have a solicitor? There is a small mortgage on the house but the house is not in negative equity. It is in a small town in the Midlands. I have tried doing a search but haven't found any threads on this matter already. Thank you for any help.


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    #2
    Gandhi
    Registered Users Posts: 976 ✭✭✭Gandhi


    A friend of mine has several relatives that are estate agents. He claims that said relatives all agree the best way to choose one is the following:

    1. Find three reputable estate agents (or more if you have the free time).
    2. Ask each of them how much they think the house will sell for.
    3. Go with the one that give you the LOWEST number.

    The logic is that there are a lot of EAs out there who will tell a seller what they want to hear just to get business and end up with the house sitting on the market forever at an unrealistic price. These are the ones you want to stay away from.

    I have never used this myself, but I do find it interesting.


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    #3
    wexford12
    Registered Users Posts: 451 ✭✭wexford12


    I would get a few out to value the house and see which one you think you will get on with.
    Also before all this ring the EA in each branch and enquire about a few houses see who deals with the customer the best " you will be surprised how bad some are at dealing with calls coming in "
    The price has to be right if not the house will never sell have a look around yourself at properties in your area to get an idea of your price
    And last but not least you said your Dh is selling what does dh mean


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    #4
    pawnacide
    Closed Accounts Posts: 228 ✭✭pawnacide


    Gandhi wrote: »
    The logic is that there are a lot of EAs out there who will tell a seller what they want to hear just to get business and end up with the house sitting on the market forever at an unrealistic price. These are the ones you want to stay away from.

    I have never used this myself, but I do find it interesting.

    This a boom time trick when EA's just wanted houses to list as they knew they'd sell them eventually. Things have changed a little and unless they're just starting out and have few or no listings no agent wants to waste time on a property they can't sell.

    But, and this is a big but, if they start talking about advertising fees then you know they are just after the fee and will tell you what you want to hear. Actual out of pocket expenses for an agent on any given house are negligible. They pay a monthly one off fee for daft and myhome (including rental ads), signs are generic and cost about 15-20 euro to have erected. Brochures are printed depending on demand. If he starts mentioning petrol and viewings give him a slap and tell him to cop on.

    After they've given you the valuation and the speel ask them what price they would be confident enough to market the property at if you didn't pay them the marketing fee. They'll probably walk out muttering about having to charge a marketing fee .. not much use but fun to watch I'd imagine.

    Also I think you should be aware that most agents who came up through the boom years are better at listing (convincing sellers) than selling as everything they listed was sold eventually. In the States they actually split these jobs in two .. buying agent works for the buyer and selling agent works for the seller.

    Let me give u an example I'm aware of .. One of the large Global agencies operating in Ireland with multiple agents in the same office used to split sales 30% to the office, 40% to the listing agent and 30% to the selling agent and 10% to the head office. the more u listed the more you earned.

    So anyways, How do you chose an agent .. look on Daft and pick the three with the most properties in the area. Then meet them and choose the one you're most comfortable with dealing with.


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