43% Of Homesellers Will Change Estate Agents

July 5, 2011 - PRLog -- 43% OF HOMESELLERS WILL CHANGE ESTATE AGENTS

•   Avoid the stress of changing agents with tips on how to improve the relationship with your agent and saleability of your property

Moving house is often named as one of the most stressful things a person can do in their life, a fractious relationship with your estate agent can compound this. Property specialists, Move with Us, has found that 43% of sellers change estate agents at least once before selling their property.

Robin King, director at Move with Us, says: “Recent figures have highlighted that, on average, it takes approximately 78 days to achieve a sale. Often sellers can become frustrated with their estate agents leading them to put the property on the market under a different agency. This adds to the stress involved with moving. Move with Us, operates a network of 1,100 estate agents nationwide and we have used our experience to pass on our top tips to sellers.”

Motivate your agent

Estate agents are motivated by the fees they will be paid upon sale of the property. Generally fees are negotiated based on fixed percentage of the sale price or a standard fee regardless of what the property sold for.

In contrast, Move with Us is recommending sellers use an innovative ‘fee ladder scheme’ to incentivise estate agents to get the highest possible price for their clients, based on the valuation amount. The scheme also helps sellers obtain an accurate value of a property so their properties do not stay on the market too long and lose inherent value.

Under the stepped commission structure, a homeowner could expect to earn substantially more for their property. In a scenario where a property was expected to achieve £200,000 and the offer received was £195,000, an agent would be incentivised to negotiate the offer up. If the agent negotiated £202,000, the seller could achieve an extra £7,000 for their property at an additional £895.50 in agency fees.

Robin King, said: “Sellers often believe, thanks to overpriced valuations, that they will get more for their property, but they can make their agent work harder by paying according to performance through a tiered fee structure which is solely based on performance. The fee ladder system rewards estate agents for adding value. In doing so, it is a win-win situation for sellers.”


Be realistic

Move with Us estimates that over half the properties on the UK property market are struggling to sell because of inflated prices and unrealistic expectations. According to a recent Which? report, agents were inflating prices by 9% on average, with one-third of the agents surveyed marketing the property at a higher asking price than they thought it was worth.  

Robin King explains, “We recommend seeking three independent property valuations to mitigate the risk of over pricing. Our experience in selling property has shown that using the best agents in the area on a multi-agency basis to value the property accurately, from the start, means that the property is sold in realistic timeframes and sellers’ expectations are upheld.”

Incentivise your buyer

In the current property market, Move with Us advises that sellers should consider incentivising potential buyers. This may be in the form of paying for the stamp duty, a gifted deposit or even including the white goods in the sale.

Robin King says: “The sales process for selling a house is no different to any other commodity and offering additional items to the core product will position your property more attractively to buyers. An incentive may be just what they need to decide between your property and someone else’s down the road.”

-   ENDS –

Notes to Editors:

Statistics

43% of customers switch agents: Castles Estate Agent

Current Rightmove days to sell – 78
(taken from the Rightmove House Price Index)

Home.co.uk currently have 834,332 unsold properties in their database. As of 24 February 2011, 463,645 of the unsold properties were first indexed on or before 24 February 2011.
This means that 56% of the properties in their data have exceeded the national average days to sell. See comments on other release.

About Move with Us:


•   We are one of the UK’s leading residential property experts, providing a broad range of simple and effective services to help consumers buy, sell and value their homes. Our aim is to do property, properly.

•   We provide free, impartial advice and tools to home buyers and sellers in the UK through our website and consumer helpline.

•   Founded in 1997, we have become one of the largest estate agency networks, with more than 1,100 estate agents in the UK, ensuring that we have access to the best local knowledge.

•   We work with the best independent, accredited estate agents across the country, providing property instructions and a host of moving services to help provide our customers with a smooth and efficient move.

•   Through our partner network, we manage more than 5,000 moves a year.

•   Based in Cambridgeshire, we have approximately 300 staff.

•   Our business growth has been recognised with a number of awards, including The Sunday Times Fast Track 100 award in 2005, 2006 and The Sunday Times Profit Track 100 award in 2008 and 2009.

•   For further information, please visit: http://www.movewithus.co.uk

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