Estate Agents |
Estate Agent fees can be a big part of selling your house – with this in mind it is a good idea to choose your estate agent carefully. Try to get recommendations from people you know who have moved house recently.
Estate agents do three main things for their fee:
- They will estimate a value for your house. The value of your house, is what someone is willing to pay for it. The estate agent should be able to make a good estimation of this when they value your house.
- They advertise your house and promote it to potential buyers. This is the main part of the role of an estate agent – exposing your house to the buying public.
- Act as negotiators. The estate agent acts as a go-between in the process of bidding for a house. The estate agent passes on bids to the seller, and returns the response from the seller to the buyer.
Choosing an agent local to the house you are selling is important. People looking to buy a house will naturally look in estate agents in the area they wish to buy. Choose an agent in your nearest town or city.
When choosing an estate agent, it is tempting to choose the one that values your house highest – but try not to do this. Your house is not worth what the estate agent values it at, it is worth what a buyer is willing to pay.
When you sign up with an estate agent, you will be signing up for a specific time period. Make sure you read the small print of the contract. If you are not prepared to sign up for the amount of time specified, make sure that you decide what time period the contract has before you sign it.
If possible, try to negotiate the fee you pay the estate agent so that it is dependent on the final selling price of the house. I.e. if the house sells for full value, then pay the full fee; but if the house sells for less than the asking price, then the fee of the agent is reduced.
It is important to always remember that the estate agent is working for you. You are paying them, so if they wont do what you want them to, then there will always be another estate agent who might.
