What should you be paying an estate agent to sell your property?
Choosing an estate agent to sell your home for you, the percentage of their fee is not something that requires too much consideration. Why? Well, there are actually several reasons:
Before you arrange your property valuations, you probably won't know what fees agents charge as they are often not public.
Each agent will come to your home, present to you how they will find a buyer for your property, and then quote their fee. This is usually quoted as a percentage of the price they sell your property for.
You need to consider many things when choosing an estate agent to sell your home for you, but the percentage of their fee is not something that requires too much consideration. Why? Well, there are actually several reasons:
The percentage is based on the property's sale price, which is an unknown figure at this stage.
Because the fee is subject to change, based on the ultimate sale price, You may be quoted a lower percentage fee by one agent, but what if they can't achieve the same offers as another agent? What if you ultimately sell for £20k less? Was it worth penny-pinching over the percentage fee?
You will work with the agent for at least a few months, possibly longer, throughout the home-selling journey. Do you really want to quibble over a few pounds at this stage? If you employed a staff member, their annual salary would be upwards of £30,000 for a year. Think about the team of agents working in the office for you for a year. Are you going to be paying them a fair rate?
Taking the percentage fee out of the equation, how do the agents compare? Will you get high-quality service from the agent that quoted the lowest fee? Or will you get what you pay for?
Looking at the bigger picture, you wouldn't buy an electrical appliance from some bargain basement shop to put in your multi-million pound home. You wouldn't go for a five-star around-the-world cruise of a lifetime and use a budget airline to get to the ship.
Selling a premium, unique home takes time, skill and expertise, which comes at a price. And your experience during the selling process can be significantly impacted by the care and attention the estate agent can dedicate to your sale. If the fee is very low, they will likely have a very high number of properties to look after, meaning that they can't give you the time that your home sale deserves, which will result in a stressful experience for you.
Look at the experience and ability of the agents presenting to you and decide if they are worthy of the privilege of selling your home. The agent you think will be best positioned for the task is the one you should use, not necessarily the lowest fee.
As the saying goes, good isn't cheap and cheap isn't good. High-quality service and experience indeed come at a price. And with a premium property with unique features, your home deserves expertise and experience.
If an agent simply explains that they are cheaper than their competitors without showing you how they are different, what are the chances that they can present the worth of your home and explain why the property is worth the price it is on the market for? Is the agent quoting their fee, proudly stating that they are cheaper? Or are they able to highlight how they differ from the competition and how those differences, which are unique to their firm, can help you sell your home?
Using a budget agent will most likely result in you receiving lower offers for your home. Marketing a unique home in the higher price ranges requires premium quality, which isn't usually cheap.
If you want to learn more about how By Design sells premium homes using expertise and experience coupled with innovative technology that is not used by any other agent, get in touch.
