Our fee
Whilst other local agents choose not to publish their selling fees, we believe in absolute transparency.
We will only charge you a percentage fee on the successful sale of your property.
Our fee: 1.25% plus VAT
Are all Estate Agents worth the commission they charge?
The short answer is…… No.
The saying, ‘you only get what you pay for’ springs to mind. While this may not always be accurate and it may appear controversial, coming from an Estate Agent. Generally, it’s easy for us, as consumers, to acknowledge price differences between brands with tangible products, whether it be luxury cars, white goods, clothing or electronics. This quality related concept also applies to service driven industries.
However, please bear with me while I explain two main types of agent.
The Middleman – Gets everywhere, industry damaging, often ‘buy cheap, buy twice’
Within every industry there are competitors that are just simply “not very good”, with the volume based ‘middlemen’ leading the way. You will normally find your fee buys you:
- A basic link between your property and the property portals
- Limited industry knowledge, experience, professionalism, negotiation and marketing expertise
- Reduces levels of interest & service, after sale but prior to completion
These types of Estate Agents are those that should be avoided and certainly not worth the commissions they command for doing nothing short of sitting back and waiting for the phone to ring.
The Proactive Expert – Niche specialism, personalised service, value for money
These are the ‘word of mouth’ agents, setting industry standards while working incredibly hard, employing every resource at their disposal. Although the fees may appear to be slightly higher, you generally will receive is:
- The best price for your property
- A superior, expertise driven, comprehensive service
- Dedicated teams that ensure your sale reaches completion
These types of Estate Agents are out there and if the job is done properly, you will find that they are worth more than the commission they request. A lot more.
The Challenge
Prior to sourcing the right agent, understand and remember two important factors:
Your home is one of the most valuable and cherished assets you will own in your lifetime
The nationwide fall through rate is around 33% meaning even once your property ‘sells’, it has a one in three chance of falling through; this will cost you time, money and even the chance of completing on the new home you set your heart upon.
That is a big responsibility for you, an Estate Agent or even an “online agent” to be left to deal with.
So, why is a good estate agent worth their commission fee?
What goes on behind the scenes in the most reputable and successful Estate Agents?
One of the important factors has got to be an understanding of the best way to market your property. A golden rule in selling anything is that higher demand equals a higher price and the only way you are going to generate the most demand in your property is to ensure it is presented its full potential.
What does this require?
Marketing
Is the marketing reflective of your property?
- Architectural and lifestyle photography
- Engaging property descriptions written by a professional copywriter
- Detailed floor plans
- Magazine style brochures that ‘do your home justice’
- Bespoke branding
Each of these should showcase your property to its full potential, ensuring your property stands out in both slow and buoyant markets. In most market conditions, an agent can reduce the time waiting for sale, simply by taking time to create your competitive advantage, especially considering the often higher, property to buyer ratio.
Investment in the Right People
Who will be dealing with the sale of your property? Like any business, an estate agency is only as good as its weakest link. A good Estate Agent will:
- Invest in local staff, with established property expertise
- Continually invest in training and development, using all opportunities to promote growth
- Nurture passionate, curious and solution driven colleagues, who are as invested in promoting your property to the maximum potential
Be aware of:
- Some online agents who utilise outsource to call centres with staff that have zero personal connection to your property, and often no idea of where your property is even located!
- Organisations that use ‘viewing’ personnel; staff that hold keys and purely respond to viewing requests. These individuals rarely accompany visits and hold basic information on the property, so are unable to respond to enquiries effectively.
Engaging the right agent for you
If you’ve had the pleasure of arranging a valuation with an Estate Agent, you’ll find that most will want to talk to you about three things:
- The value of your home
- Their commission for selling your property
- How they will market your property
The general priority for the majority of sellers focuses on the valuation figure and commission. This contributes to only a 50% national average of successful sales conversion, excessive periods of inactivity surrounding offers and frustration when the optimum sale figure isn’t achieved.
The most important success factor is the marketing of your property
Estate Agency always has been and always will be a people centred business. A good Estate Agent will never underestimate the value of building relationships with local buyers and sellers, in order to provide the best experience for the customer.
When it comes to marketing your property, a good agent will actively apply both proactive and reactive marketing.
Reactive marketing utilises the agents own property website in conjunction with a combination of external property portals, E-zines, property magazines, video updates and the distribution of sales particulars. While reactive marketing will generate some interest, if engaged well, lead sources will need to be actioned by an established, local, and passionate agent, as opposed to a remote call centre, for this approach to be fully effective. The danger of reactive reliance is that individual aspects, such as internet only advertising, form just a piece of a large jigsaw puzzle; in order for optimum success, all pieces must be in place.
Proactive marketing is an approach that agents with the highest success rates apply. By compiling a database of the requirements of potential buyers, this will allow an agent to actively target serious purchasers, decreasing completion time and increasing sale value. Through building effective customer relationships and understanding the requirements and ideals of prospective purchasers, a proactive agent will make recommendations to both established clients and fresh viewers.
Beyond the offer stage…
Finally, a passionate agent will not lose interest in your property once an offer has been received. As mentioned earlier, the national rate of fall throughs for property sales is around a worrying 33%. The last thing you want to happen once you’ve gone through the process of locating a buyer and accepting an offer is to have to have the whole process start all over again. A good estate agent will recognise this and will have a sales progression solution in place to manage the whole after offer process, reducing the risk of any issues.
As a result we utilise a vast wealth of knowledge and experience to ensure your property reaches completion and keep you in the loop every step of the way. You will often find that agents with this type of set up have a much lower rate of fall throughs since they can identify any potential problems early and have the experience to deal with them quickly and efficiently. Establishing the lower chain and the upper chain – liaising regularly with buyers, sellers, conveyancing teams and solicitors is a time-consuming business and can quickly turn sour if not handled correctly.
Summary
There is a huge misconception that all it takes to sell a property is to get it listed on Rightmove and wait for the calls to come in. I’ve highlighted a number of key areas and hopefully been able to reveal a bit more of what goes on behind the scenes and what really needs to happen if you expect to achieve the best price – in a slow or buoyant market.
With regards to commissions, the UK has some of the lowest Estate Agent fees in the world. In America, you would expect to pay somewhere in the region of 5-7% of the sale price and even upwards of that in Australia.
I can only speak on behalf of Addison Mead when I say that a good Estate Agent offers an incredible value for money service when you weigh up all of the above, plus the many other factors not mentioned which are involved in a successful property sale. Especially when considering that we can often achieve £1,000’s more on the final sale price and the extra peace of mind, assurance and experience you have access to whilst your property is on the market.
As with all consumer products, there will always be the presence of a cheaper option, as there are always sellers who will go for the cheaper option (even though most of the time you pay a fee up front regardless of whether you sell or not). However, do you really want to leave the sale of your most expensive asset to the cheapest bidder, who has less inventive to maximise your sale and deliver fantastic service? While you may save a few hundred pounds on your fees, you may be losing thousands on the price you achieve.
As a local, independent agent specialising in the sale of quality property, we value our customers and we’re always looking for ways to improve what we do, whether it be our property presentation, marketing or customer service. We are determined to provide our buyers and sellers with the ultimate experience.
Instructing a good Estate Agent to manage the sale of your property should be seen as investment in ensuring a great experience and a great price rather than a cost. Plus, you won’t have to pay any commission until the property is sold. There are very few industries, if any, that will employ this business model due to the risk of not actually receiving any commission if the property doesn’t sell.
So if you’re thinking of buying or selling, don’t settle for second best - Contact Addison Mead.