Estate agent fees in North County Dublin

m_stan

Anyone done any research lately into the best deals offered by estate agents in North County Dublin - Swords in particular ?

I've called a few and the rates range from .7% plus VAT to .85% plus VAT. Some include myhome.ie listings, some don't.

Can someone give me the best deal they were offered to avoid me having to call every damn one of them ?

Beta Bill

I just got a flyer in the door quoting standard selling fee 0.50pc + vat which is the lowest fee I've come across. www.fpsireland.ie

m_stan

interesting.

http://www.fpsireland.ie/page0006.html

18 Ormond Drive, Swords, Co Dublin, Ireland

Is someone running this show from their front room ? Website sure is a bit naff.

jdivision

I'm not an estate agent but isn't it worth paying the little bit extra (comparatively) if you get a few thousand extra from a good agent.

Let's say e350,000 at 0.5 per cent is e1,750
e360,000 at 0.85 per cent is 3,060 meaning you pocket an extra e7,000 nearly (before Vat, which is obviously higher in the second case).

I don't know who the best agent is in north Dublin though.

m_stan

valid point there boss, valid point

Beta Bill

Where were you when Eddie Hobbs was presenting rip off republic! I wouldnt knock a cheaper fee. 'Brand Name' agents dont necessarily mean a better sale price - read other postings on other boards about those 'agents' and see for yourself......

mad m

Ill say it once and Ill say it again,they are a necessary Evil which ever one you go for.

jdivision

Beta Bill wrote:

Where were you when Eddie Hobbs was presenting rip off republic! I wouldnt knock a cheaper fee. 'Brand Name' agents dont necessarily mean a better sale price - read other postings on other boards about those 'agents' and see for yourself......

If you read my post I didn't say he should use a brand name agent, just that he should not choose based solely on lowest fee. I explicitly said I didn't know who the best agent is - that's something the OP will have to ask around about. However, my point remains valid: Paying a bit more to secure an agent who's good could well be worth the extra money. With a good agent he may pay e2,000 more in fees but pocket e7,000 more in profit, something I'm sure Eddie Hobbs would more than agree with.

Beta Bill

Define a 'good' agent if thats not supposedly a commonly known brand name agent. This is why consumers here get screwed over time and time again because they cant see valid competition when its staring them in the face. At the end of the day all the agents have access to the same advertising media, the same buyers and have equal opportunity to perform well for the vendor. If the 'cheaper' agent achieves a higher sale value then where does your arguement stand?

If it were not for the likes of Remax and other similar franchises the auctioneers in this country would continue to have the cartel they had for many a year. The current competition in the market is a direct result of such new entrants. Four or five years ago it would have been practically unheard of that an agent would be prepared to negotiate fee structure with the client.

jdivision

Beta Bill wrote:

Define a 'good' agent if thats not supposedly a commonly known brand name agent. This is why consumers here get screwed over time and time again because they cant see valid competition when its staring them in the face. At the end of the day all the agents have access to the same advertising media, the same buyers and have equal opportunity to perform well for the vendor. If the 'cheaper' agent achieves a higher sale value then where does your arguement stand?

If it were not for the likes of Remax and other similar franchises the auctioneers in this country would continue to have the cartel they had for many a year. The current competition in the market is a direct result of such new entrants. Four or five years ago it would have been practically unheard of that an agent would be prepared to negotiate fee structure with the client.

I never said it was the most expensive one that was better, merely that if a better agent cost a bit more it could be wise to go with them. the main reason fees are negotiable is because prices have doubled over the last four to five years, not because of new entrants. Remax is crap in general, that's why their agents sell houses quickly, they're commission only and they need to turnover properties quickly in order to be able to pay the rent on their desks - yes they rent their desks. Most of the other franchises are simply advertising and branding networks in order to reduce advertising costs. They're not new in any real sense, existing auctioneers joined them. A good agent is somebody who proactively sells, who tries to get two people bidding against each other in order to drive up the price, who has a list of potential buyers from previous houses they were selling and targets them for your home, who can advise you on how to present your home well, who knows what the last house on your street sold for and what similar properties in the area have sold for (rather than giving an arbitrary guess at what it's worth, pumping up the price in order to secure the commission), who uses myhome.ie and daft.ie (as op said not all do), who knows how to take photos well, who produces a brochure worthy of the name, who responds to your phone calls and shows a genuine interest in selling your property. If you're telling me that going with a guy who's charging 0.5 per cent and hasn't got a single picture on his website and may have no experience or contacts (obviously I'd research it before deciding) is better than going with somebody who for example may have worked for 20 years, is well respected, has referrences and charges 0.25 per cent more then that's fair enough. He could well be but I'd want to see proof of it, I'd want them to show me they achieved premium prices on previous sales, I'd want to know if they had to reduce the asking price, how long the sale took, whether they have any referenences.

Beta Bill

Obviously you have a fixed viewpoint on this and that's your perogative but I for one would be calling the smaller local agent quicker than I would ever call the HOK's, Sherry Fitz's or DNG's etc etc.

I have bought and sold quite a number of properties in the past and have dealt with most of these agents. In one instance one of those named above (and I will not specify which) got me dreadful results on a property in Ranelagh (yes you heard right, an extremely desirable location which any half decent agent should be able to promote interest in, with consequent positive results in terms of offers).

It was also commonplace until recently for the 'big name' agents to have the cheek to charge the client for putting up their own for sale board, charge for the service of printing a brochure, something which is less typical now because (excuse me for repeating myself) the Remax's and franschisee's offer free boards and more importantly often free advertising. Even if it does just pay for their desk well hey if they can sell my house for an equivalent sum to a recently sold neighbouring property they have my vote.