A property search agent has strongly advised people against trying to sell their own homes via one of the ‘passive intermediary’ sites on the internet.
David Brooke-Smith, of Stacks Property Search, also said that while online agents offer a better chance of success, there is still potential for failure.
He said: “Traditional agents tend to charge somewhere between 1% and 2.5% of the selling price, plus marketing costs, plus VAT. So it’s no great surprise that people are tempted to do the job themselves.
“A plethora of TV programmes has produced a nation of property experts, and there is now a range of options available to the would-be DIY seller. But I would encourage caution.
“If you are in a position to know the true ‘value’ of your property, if you know how to present it at its best, if you have a significant level of IT and SEO skills, if you have strong negotiating and diplomatic skills, if you have endless patience, and if you’re prepared to put in full-time effort and place your life on hold for several months, you may stand a chance.
“In our experience, those that try to go down the DIY route often find it’s simply not working and revert to more traditional methods.
“The greater chance of success comes from using an online agent that offers help with photography, floor plans, and crucially, listing on the main portals such as Rightmove and Zoopla.
“But even with all this help, there’s still a great deal of potential for failure.
“Valuing is the first hurdle to overcome. Vendors may find it difficult to recognise the weaknesses in their own property and will consequently overvalue and discourage enquiries.
“The owner will of course be required to conduct viewings, and whether or not this is a process they embrace, they will have to fall in with potential buyers’ timings, and adopt a non-emotional technique, not always easy when it’s the family home.
“If a vendor should succeed in overcoming these hurdles, potential failure still lurks at the negotiating and conveyancing stage.
“A good estate agent does a great deal of behind-the-scenes work holding a deal together and ensuring it reaches a successful conclusion. It’s often difficult to maintain a professional approach to tense negotiations, and sentiment can be the greatest saboteur of a property transaction.
“The problem with this journey, apart from not achieving a sale, is that you will have incurred substantial non-refundable expenses.
“Selling online requires upfront fees, so if you revert to selling through an agent, you will be duplicating a fair proportion of the cost.”
People who sell on line might think they’ve saved money on fees, but they will never know what price a good local agent might have achieved for their property. So they could be living in a fool’s paradise.
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Mr Trendall – not saying that you are wrong but I think it only fair to add that “we would/could have sold it for more” is an argument which has rumbled since long before it was even possible for the “Online” Agents to exist.
The beauty is that it can never be disproved.
The reality is that it is one that you (whoever ‘you’ may have been every time it is uttered or even thought…) lost and someone else sold – and it is the OTHER Agent who can pin the “I Sold It” medal on their lapel.
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Like the people who tell me their home sold the first week and they had three buyers to choose from. They don’t realise that a good agent might have asked more for the priory in the first place or managed the high demand by inviting best offers to get the best price rather than just giving it away. Sellers are paying for expert advice as well as marketing when they use a good agent, not forgetting the role as a counsellor during the moving process!
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1% to 2.5% I remember those days. (just about)
but what’s all this “Online Agents offer a better chance of success – WE ARE ALL ONLINE……. AAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH
Even those supporting us, are missing the point in writing their bit.
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Strikes me that the people who mainly benefit from (solely) on-line agency are estate agents themselves. £500 to get your place on Rightmove & Zoopla (sadly not OTM) – then I’ll do the rest, thanks. Including the valuation… and the viewings… and the conveyancing.
Perhaps Sarah Beany’s ‘personal account managers’ are just confidence guys, “you’re doing great… keep going… push the sale… get them through the door… get an offer on the table… maybe drop the price?’
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Thanks, Stacks, for the sort of vote of confidence.
“David Brooke-Smith… also said that while online agents offer a better chance of success, there is still potential for failure.”
POTENTIAL?? Let’s look at that “potential” in a wee spot more detail:
According to the website of our regular contributor Mr Day, the one with the header that states “ The UK’s Trusted Online Estate Agent“… even though he now refuses to class himself as an Online Agent, they have listed well in excess of 7000 homes for sale, yet they have not yet completed on 4000 of them.
So basically the “potential” to NOT sell with them (but pay out a wedge of money for the privilege of ‘trying’) isn’t that far from 50:50.
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