Appointing more than one auctioneer?

Whattosell

Have our house on the market for a while now with little feedback from our agent. Although I don't blame her for the fact that the house hasn't sold I was thinking of putting it on the market with another agent or maybe more than two. I was wondering is it the successful agent that gets the fee or do they split it?

Also what are peoples opinions on offering a private house as a rent-to-buy? We are in a position that we have to rent the house as we had to move for employment reasons. Until we sell it we can't buy another house. But we can't really afford the continuing mortgage plus rent where we are living. The house was rented last year but now no interest for the last 2 months it has been idle. I was thinking about advertising it as a rent-to-buy?

Reloc8

whether you offer your house as a rent-to-buy is pretty much a commercial/economic decision as opposed to a legal one.

without offering you legal advice, which I would not do on here and which quite correctly is not appropriate, whether a person is entitled to appoint more than one agent in any situation is completely dependent on the arrangement entered into with the first agent appointed and this should appear pretty plainly on the written terms of the appointment. If one didn't have a written document on appointment, it would be necessary to discuss what the implied terms which are likely to have been reached are, and that would definitely vary on an individual case by case basis. A person in that position would need proper legal advice on their position before doing anything.

Victor

You need to separate "estate agent" and "auctioneer". It would probably be unwise to appoint two people to be auctioneer. However its perfectly OK to appoint two auctioneers as estate agents.

Jo King

It is not unheard of to have a joint agency. The main issue is what to do with an existing agent. Some may have no difficulty in continuing as a joint agent, some may resign. The usual joint agency provides that if either introduces a buyer the fee is split.

nuac

I think appointing two agents is often counter-productive, especially if they are in the same area. A joint agent might be inclined to give priority to selling another house in same area/estate for which (s)he is sole agent.

I have seen joint agency work OK in a larger type property e.g. hotel etc where a Dublin agency might have a wider coverage, and a local joint agent better at showing the property and negotiating. A Dublin firm may be able to make the contacts, but often do not send out anyone senior enough to show the property.

When the property boom was on I was amused to meet people in some of the larger city firms who were not a wet week in the property or any business calling themselves "negotiaters", pontificating about prices and market valuations and trends. If a good prospect takes the trouble to travel to see a property that prospect should be seen by and shown the property by a local property professional who knows the property and knows the area, rather than some callow youth with no real experience of any sort of business.