How much does your estate agency charge? It is one of the first questions a prospective seller thinking of commissioning your company is likely to ask before instructing you to sell their home.
Vendors and landlords regularly negotiate fees with agents. Why? Because more time than not, they know they will secure a discount on the agent’s quoted price.
As a result, many agents across the UK are being underpaid for the job they do, according to industry leaders that took part in a recent roundtable discussion about the estate agency sector and the challenges it faces in the current climate.
Watch now:
Peter Rollings says estate agents are ‘lazy’ as business leaders discuss agency issues
What is our skill set as agents?
We evaluate value and our performance is rated by our ability to achieve that value.
That is not limited to property, we also assess the value of the people involved in the deal.
An agent who cannot demonstrate their value is destined for a ‘price reduction’ In their fees.
We operate in a local market where the average fees is around 0.9%+vat. Our fees are 1.5%+vat on 100% of our listings, no exceptions. We advertise that on our website and social media because there is nothing to hide when you truly know, and can demonstrate, your value.
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When I came into agency in 1988 and until I effectively left sales in 2002, fees were rarely an issue. I think online agents advertising low fees are to blame for raising the issue of fees which agents bowed too as they were scared of what online might do to their industry. Not too late guys….
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Not this again!
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We now live in a consumer market that is better communicated than ever before ….. the internet. You can’t escape it and has driven standards down and reduced incomes. Its not just within our industry, its everywhere and I doubt anyone can say they haven’t looked for the best deal when buying something today as it is far easier to compare. The genie is out of the bottle and you can’t put it back.
All you can do is redress what and how you do things in todays climate of every day consumer cheap, cheap cheap philosophy. Everything for nothing? The likes of on-liners only agents really started the rot into fees. Lower overheads = lower fees compared to high street was always going to cause a headache. Now time has moved on and the consumer can see how ineffective that model is (so many have been and gone under, others still catching up like the dodo). It also made some lazy and you cannot get anyway from the saying, you reap the harvest, you sow. Some are seriously lacking ability to sell oneself and able to justify their expenses and tackle cost objections and caved into fee reductions, the slow death!
We are people industry. Consumer expects good service and now they have to pay for it but will try it on! If you cave in that’s down to you and its not a simple answer to stand your ground and see the business go to someone else, but the only person that can do it …. IS YOU. If you offer a first class service that outshines your competitors the consumer will notice but if you waffle and no evidence at the market appraisal …… “you agents will say anything” syndrome reigns. Achilles heel for agents is ‘price’ and down to lack of training.
Forget about on-line only agents low fees. With all the ammunition available today to counter that. Justify your costs with your service to win the business. I doubt it has changed but I used to travel the UK for companies to check on their staff standards and those of their competitors and it was shocking to see who really sold themselves or should I say lack of!
Simple test …. ‘compare the ……’ comparison sites on the web clearly show the best costs but not necessarily the best deal and some are very expensive but they are all in business.
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Listening to Russell Quirk pontificating about fees is ridiculous. The man tried to build a business on low fees which ultimately went bust ! Zero credibility !
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I respectively disagree with you PepeM. I appreciate that this will not be a popular view point, However surely Mr Q’s views are all the more valid precisely because of his experiences, not in spite of them.
I for one cannot disagree with any of what he is actually saying. Honestly, can you?
Should you not argue on the points he is raising rather than your personal viewpoint of what he did or didn’t do in the past? I do appreciate that his experiences inform at least part of how he has arrived at the conclusions he has, but that should not invalidate those viewpoints.
Are you seriously suggesting that any agent who has until now built their business on “cheap fees” should not change their approach and learn from others such as the people in this video?
Play the ball not the man!
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I think this is an excellent series of videos discussing some of the most important issues in agency today from people who know what they are talking about- thanks to all of you.
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