Don’t get Ripped-off
If you are thinking of selling your property this year, here is the first in a series of tips to make the process stress free and to ensure you do not get ripped off.
Big is not always Best
Just because an Estate Agent has multi branch sites or are a national ”name,” it is no guarantee that you will get good service or value for money. Quite often, the opposite is the case. Most of these operations are target driven to achieve maximum profits from ALL aspects of their business and that means pushing things like THEIR legal services and THEIR financial services on to you and the potential buyers when quite often you will get a better deal elsewhere. Also, when the focus is on making money, good service can often suffer at best or disappear at worse.
Will they actually sell?
Many of these large businesses don’t even “sell” houses. They will position Sale Boards, place details in their shop window and post schedules on the various websites (for which they charge of course). When they receive enquiries on a property, many will then advise you of the request for the viewing, arrange a day and time for prospective buyers and leave you to deal with them. Some of the agencies will offer an accompanied staff member but look out for the additional cost.
In the event of you eventually getting someone who wants to buy your property, these agencies will then charge you a Sales Fee (for you selling your house) normally a minimum of 1% plus vat which can run into thousands of pounds depending on the property value.
Don’t dally
An additional problem is that because you are not necessarily able or comfortable in selling, quite often the house will stay on the market for a while as you hang on for Survey Value. It is fact that the longer a property is on the market, the less chance you have of achieving the asking price. There are a number of reasons for this including your own feeling of desperation to eventually just “get rid” and move.
The reason why you see plenty of “name” Estate Agency For Sale signs out there is because the houses tend to take longer to sell and not because everybody is employing that Agency.
The local advantage
Independent local businesses tend to be cheaper, know the local market, provide a “hands on” service and sell quicker. Some will also be more amenable to a discounted fee in certain cases, which the larger operations most certainly will not as everything is rigidly controlled by head office.