Hi everyone,
Ten years ago I tried to sell my flat. At that time the cheapest estate agent I found that seemed good enough charged 1.25%. The absolute cheapest was willing to do it for 1%, but he was a one man band and didn’t seem big enough - but it is notable to have an idea of the market back then.
The flat didn’t sell, but that was mostly because we timed it spectacularly poorly - the unexpected (from the London bubble point of view at least) result of the EU referendum, then Grenfell, meant demand for flats in zone 2 essentially collapsed in 2016-17.
We have spent a decade waiting for the market to turn, and are now finally giving up. We are going to make a large loss, but just want to be free of it.
The estate agent market now seems much more expensive - even as the job has basically devolved to just organising photos for Rightmove, then escorting visits.
The cheapest agent I have found now is charging 1.5% plus VAT. This includes the one man band from a decade ago - he too wants 1.5% nowadays.
We expect the flat to sell for about 475 (noting the price was 575 in 2015 pounds - 😢). 1.8% of this (including the VAT) is £8550.
In percentage terms, is this the market price nowadays?
Is 1.5% as cheap as decent agents (and not so decent) now go? Or should I shop around?
To be clear, I don’t begrudge anyone a living. But I have never found estate agents particularly pleasant or scrupulous to deal with, and I want to be sure I am going into this with my eyes open.
For info - the flat and the agent are both located in Clapham in SW London - or the Clapham / Balham border to be exact.
Any thoughts or comments would be very welcome.