Page 68 Daily Mail, Friday, August 30, 2019
Property Mail
the high street
fightback
against online
estate agents
DEVON (ONLINE)
£145, 000
LONDON (HIGH STREET) YORKSHIRE (ONLINE)
ON THE MARKET... High Street and online
SECOND Avenue is in the
Camels Head area of Ply-
mouth and a ten-minute
walk from Keyham station.
The house has two bed-
rooms and a wood burner
in the sitting room. Yo p a.
co.uk, 0333 305 0202.£600,000 £180, 000
W
e all know how it’s a
tough decision to sell
your home, especially
in today’s hard-to-read
housing market.
But after taking the plunge there’s one
more difficult choice to make — which
estate agent to use? With no end in sight to
economic and political uncertainty, a
proactive agent is a must have for selling.
a survey by The advisory — an impartial
consumer advice service for sellers and
buyers — shows that the ten largest online
estate agents were between them market-
ing just 3.8 per cent of all new properties
listed in a two week sample period in July.
In recent years traditional High Street
agents have fought back with much more
competitive pricing and an emphasis on
local knowledge and ‘people on the ground’.
They now market around 95 per cent of
properties,’ says The advisory.
Whatever your choice of agent, there are
five key questions to ask them to optimise
your chance of moving before Christmas.Q1
What do you charge?
ComparISon website getagent.
co.uk says a High Street agent charges an
average 1.2 per cent commission, plus VaT,
payable if a home is sold. on a £300,000
home that’s £3,600 plus VaT.
around five years ago 2 per cent was the
UK norm, but today’s 1.2 per cent is the low-
est in the eU. ‘Competition from online
agencies and a market slowdown have seen
traditional UK agents lower commission,’
says Getagent chief executive Colby Short.
online agent fees vary from £99 to £1,000
and many want paying up-front: this is non-
returnable, even if the home doesn’t sell.
one online firm, Housesimple.com, offers
to sell homes for free — sort of. The agency
instead earns ‘referral fees’ from no-obliga-
tion products such as mortgages, convey-
ancing and insurance. ‘We believe selling
should be a great experience and that’s why
we are making it simple, transparent and
free,’ says chief executive Sam mitchell.Q2
What do I get for the fee?
HIGH Street agents typically do the
whole sales process for the customer —
advertising on websites Rightmove.co.uk
and Zoopla.co.uk and in the local press,
contacting would-be buyers, and accom-
panying them to viewings, or ‘open houses’
where rival purchasers view at the same
time to encourage competitive offers.online agents’ fees are usually basic and
include advertising on websites, but little
else. many charge extra for a For Sale
board or to accompany a buyer to a view-
ing. as the seller often pays at the outset,
there may be less incentive for the online
agent to push a sale to completion.Q3
What’s your sales record?
IT’S vital to choose an agent who
sells your type of home in your neighbour-
hood — even in your street. In late 2017, an
analysis by investment bank Jefferies
found that only half of Purplebricks.co.uk
customers sold their homes within 10
months — a figure disputed by the agency
itself. Jefferies says those who do not sell
through an online firm then typically hire a
traditional estate agent, meaning that far
from saving money they pay twice.
Check also the typical sale price each
agent achieves in your area: ask if it is close
to the asking price they put on the prop-
erty to begin with. In england and Wales,
the typical sale achieves 96 per cent of ask-
ing price according to getagent.co.uk.Q4
What type of contract and for
how long?
THere are several contract types — sole
selling rights, multi-agency or sole agency
— each with pros and cons. a good estate
agent should explain these and descrip-
tions can be found from consumer groups
like the Homeowners alliance (hoa.org.uk)
and Which? (which.co.uk)
agents predictably want to ‘tie in’ cus-
tomers for as long as possible but most are
so keen to get customers they will accept
just four to six weeks, meaning you can
change agent after that time if you are not
happy with their performance.Q5
What redress do I have if
there’s a problem?
all agents must by law be in either The
property ombudsman or the property
redress Scheme. Both have codes of prac-
tice and can order compensation for cus-
tomers in extreme cases of poor service,
but as membership is compulsory this
does not indicate that the agents are
necessarily ‘best in class’.
many good agents are in the national
association of estate agents or the royal
Institution of Chartered Surveyors. poor
service can be reported to local Trading
Standards departments.THIS two-bedroom house
on Wimbledon Road is
between Earlsfield and
Tooting Broadway. There
is an openplan kitchen/
sitting room and a rear
garden. Barnardmarcus.
co.uk, 020 8879 7222.THE master bedroom is
en-suite in this house in
the Leeds suburbs. There
are a further two bed-
rooms, a modern kitchen
and the garden has a
patio. Purplebricks.
co.uk, 0800 810 8008.GRAHAM NORWOOD