What does an estate agent do?

HAL9000

We will be putting my mum's house on the market soon. Someone she knows a little has put a note through her door offering to buy her house thus cutting out the estate agent. 

If if we cut the estate agent out are there any things we'd need to do that would normally be done by the agent. I'm thinking perhaps things like energy reports etc. If we already have a prospective buyer, does an agent bring anything useful to the table?

Thanks

cj73

IMHo they check what similar properties went for recently in the area and list it on Rightmove

TonyR

We moved house about 18 months ago and the estate agent we sold through basically did bugger all. They came and took some photographs which were so poor they had to come back to do some of them again. It was me that did all of the chasing.

As it was we paid £3500 to pretty much get our house listed on Rightmove.

Dreadful.

pumkin

We bought our house from our neighbour who we'd been renting from previously.... we didn't use any estate agents... agreed a price and our solicitors did the rest as in any other house sale .
if you're really together you don't even need a solicitor.... 

professorben

Fuck all. 

They are the pharmacists of the property world. 

Budgie

Naff all apart from lie through their teeth and charging you a hefty fee. A house sold down the road with a private sign a couple weeks ago, it was listed on Rightmove etc it was only on the market for about a week too.

ThePrettyDamned

professorben said:

Fuck all. 

They are the pharmacists of the property world. 

You mean they save lives and contribute to global health research using cutting edge techniques?



I'll ask my brother what he does, he manages an estate agent's branch. He gets consistently high praise from his customers and is really highly regardeed - although I truly don't know what he does. 

scrumhalf

Why don't estate agents look out of the window in the morning?

So they have something to do in the afternoon.

(five years in property investment and management, it felt like fiftenn having to deal with some of those clowns)

Garthy

HAL9000 said:

We will be putting my mum's house on the market soon. Someone she knows a little has put a note through her door offering to buy her house thus cutting out the estate agent. 

If if we cut the estate agent out are there any things we'd need to do that would normally be done by the agent. I'm thinking perhaps things like energy reports etc. If we already have a prospective buyer, does an agent bring anything useful to the table?

Thanks

Get 3-4 valuations, look on rightmove for similar properties then once you've got a feel for a price go back to the person who dropped a note through the letter box. If they agree you've trousered thousands.

HAL9000

Yup, you've pretty much confirmed what I thought. Just wondered if I was missing anything  obvious.

Fretwired

Estate agents are pointless these days. They don't really have any idea of what a property is worth. You can do the whole thing online which is what more and more people are doing.

richardhomer

HAL9000 said:

Yup, you've pretty much confirmed what I thought. Just wondered if I was missing anything  obvious

You are - but as always happens with these threads, there's little point in pointing out those things, as the received forum wisdom is they are all lying, lazy, scum.

ICBM

HAL9000 said:

What does an estate agent do?

Doolittle and dalley.

http://www.doolittle-dalley.co.uk

It's absolutely genuine!

Foster

Find a good solicitor who specialises in land and property - it'll ensure that everything is above board and there's no comeback on you as a seller.

57Deluxe

Smash your face in a cake and go on Purple Bricks!

Iamnobody

ICBM said:

HAL9000 said:

What does an estate agent do?

Doolittle and dalley.

http://www.doolittle-dalley.co.uk

It's absolutely genuine!

You could also use Wright Hassall for your conveyancing...

https://www.wrighthassall.co.uk

Dominic

Everybody loves to hate an Estate Agent………..boring and totally mis-conceived.
Agents (estate or otherwise )are basically a third party marketing force. Some are very good ,some are very poor.
If you have a flat in a block of 20 where there is relatively little difference between them and very similar generic price there isn't much you need an agent for in the digital age.Likewise a terraced/semi in a road of cookie -cutter homes .
  If you have a little more unique  / unusual or valuable property an agent takes it and promotes it in a market place where people have alternative choice.An agents office is a forum for interest and qualifying purchasers validity and financial capability -even perhaps helping in the funding process .
Sometimes it's a good idea to sort the burglars from the buyers ……..sorry,I meant the buyers from the spyers  !
Average agent fee in SE England is 1.5 % of contract price …..if an agent is able to whip up competitive interest ,stimulate the purchasers,promote the neighbourhood on the basis of the local school catchment/ new train station etc and is genuinely able to enhance sale prospects and add value then his job is done .
 Offers on property from different prospective buyers can easily be 10 % different which translates to a lot of ££££ in todays high property value world . So if a good marketeer /salesman/spieler called an Estate Agent can get you 7% better than you could get yourself with their bit of garnish you end up 5.5% better off net.
 What's not to like ………and why begrudge ?
Easy to be Penny-Wise and Pound foolish on this one.
Same thing as buying yourself a poor Lawyer.
PS-I am not an Estate Agent !

ToneControl

HAL9000 said:

We will be putting my mum's house on the market soon. Someone she knows a little has put a note through her door offering to buy her house thus cutting out the estate agent. 

If if we cut the estate agent out are there any things we'd need to do that would normally be done by the agent. I'm thinking perhaps things like energy reports etc. If we already have a prospective buyer, does an agent bring anything useful to the table?

Thanks

no
we sold our first house without one

the solicitor is the one who you need

but as advised: no use if you end up selling the house for too little, do your own research

gavin_axecaster

Dominic said:

Everybody loves to hate an Estate Agent………..boring and totally mis-conceived.
Agents (estate or otherwise )are basically a third party marketing force. Some are very good ,some are very poor.
If you have a flat in a block of 20 where there is relatively little difference between them and very similar generic price there isn't much you need an agent for in the digital age.Likewise a terraced/semi in a road of cookie -cutter homes .
  If you have a little more unique  / unusual or valuable property an agent takes it and promotes it in a market place where people have alternative choice.An agents office is a forum for interest and qualifying purchasers validity and financial capability -even perhaps helping in the funding process .
Sometimes it's a good idea to sort the burglars from the buyers ……..sorry,I meant the buyers from the spyers  !
Average agent fee in SE England is 1.5 % of contract price …..if an agent is able to whip up competitive interest ,stimulate the purchasers,promote the neighbourhood on the basis of the local school catchment/ new train station etc and is genuinely able to enhance sale prospects and add value then his job is done .
 Offers on property from different prospective buyers can easily be 10 % different which translates to a lot of ££££ in todays high property value world . So if a good marketeer /salesman/spieler called an Estate Agent can get you 7% better than you could get yourself with their bit of garnish you end up 5.5% better off net.
 What's not to like ………and why begrudge ?
Easy to be Penny-Wise and Pound foolish on this one.
Same thing as buying yourself a poor Lawyer.
PS-I am not an Estate Agent !

I agree - a good estate agent will get you the best price possible for your property.
i had to sell my flat recently. I compared sold prices of similar flats (incl in the same development) and came to what I thought was a viable price for a quick sale. I asked the agent to list it at that price, expecting to maybe have to take a little less.
Agent received 4 offers in 2 weeks and it sold for almost 10% more than I was expecting.

Axe_meister

You can put up your own add on Rightmove.
Get a bunch of free validations from a few estate agents and choose the highest price.
Maybe even get a professional photographer to do the pictures.
Copy and paste the best add from similar properties and get a cheap mobile phone with a non contract SIM to receive calls from interested parties.

monquixote

gavin_axecaster said:

I agree - a good estate agent will get you the best price possible for your property.
i had to sell my flat recently. I compared sold prices of similar flats (incl in the same development) and came to what I thought was a viable price for a quick sale. I asked the agent to list it at that price, expecting to maybe have to take a little less.
Agent received 4 offers in 2 weeks and it sold for almost 10% more than I was expecting.

Yes, but a bad one (and there are more bad ones than good ones) will sell your house for under market rate if you let them. 

The reason being that they make a lot more money by selling a lot of slightly cheaper houses than a few more expensive ones.

They essentially market your house, but if you can get on Right Move you don't need them.