Estate Agent Fees

Humpty Doo

Does anyone know the standard percentage charged as a fee by estate agents on the sale of a property?

Cheers

Dellgirl

They vary. Ring and ask is your best bet. 1 - 2.2% ish.

GASUN

Humpty,

1. Im not Mary Harney but shop around. You should be able to get 1% Just tell them and dont let them tell you.
2. I'm not Eddy Hobbs but there is VAT (21%) :rolleyes: on this percent fee and after that some more cash for pics/brochure, adverts in papers, myhome.ie and the estate agents own site.
3. Most costs down to solicitors fees for handling the sale are quoted ex VAT and other costs so make sure your proces for your budget are 'all in' - no surprises.
4. Since you are selling you may be also buying somewhere else, so you should look at total costs for handling the sale of old house and purchase of new ....

GASUN
www.gasun.net
Music Photography

Oral Slang

Wish I'd asked that question a few days ago myself.
We made an offer on a house accepted & just went with the first Estate Agent we came across so our house would be on the market asap.
Only copped on yesterday that I didn't even ask how much they charge.
Got the letter today - 1.25% which I think is a little on the high side. After asking around I would have probably been able to get it for 1 or 1.1%...

Does anyone know if I swap agents, what they'd charge me for what they've done so far - ie - sign, brochure, daft.ie & 1 viewing session so far?
If I stay with them it'll be a good €700 more expensive which I'm reluctant to pay them.

dwayneburke

im just after selling and buying a new property. As far as oral slang is concerned i would either get a new estate agent or get them to lower the percentage rate (I got them down to 1% plust €80 per ad which was needed twice...all ex vat

If they dont lower it and you decide to move to another estate agent you will be caught for the advertismeents not too sure if daft.ie charge but if they do you will have to pay this also....as far as i know you wont have to pay for sign...

As one of the previous posters said....dont rush into anything as you can get great deals out there if your prepared to be a small bit patient and do a bit of research....Good luck

Oral Slang

Thanks for that...
Was so pissed off when I copped on - I just panicked a bit when we went sale agreed on another house & ours wasn't even up on the market. Wouldn't mind, but we backed out of that house on Monday, so there was no hurry..

JWE

Dear Humpty Doo, the norm (Dublin City Centre areas) is 1% of the sale price + VAT @ 21%, in addition there are charges for Web and Media Marketing, and we calculate a split of €455.00 to Web Marketing and €545.00 to the National Press.

Other related fees would be for the larger 4 X 4 Sign’s to be erected. This generally costs in the region of €300.00 + VAT @ 21%, , as for the smaller Flag type sign the usual cost is in the region of €100.00 + VAT @ 21%. Sales details and photos are not billed for.

Therefore if we can be of service please do not hesitate to contact us.

Hagar

That's very helpful I'm sure, but for a commercial enterprise it's also a damned fine ad.

I think it's in contravention of Boards Charter.

The OP has two posts and JWE has one. Talk about a set up.
The thread should be removed immediately.

Beruthiel

JWE wrote:

Dear Humpty Doo, the norm (Dublin City Centre areas) is 1% of the sale price + VAT @ 21%, in addition there are charges for Web and Media Marketing, and we calculate a split of €455.00 to Web Marketing and €545.00 to the National Press.

bullsh!t
I sold my apt a few months ago, and shopped around until I found an estate agent willing to take 1% including marketing on my homes etc....
estate agents are rip off merchants and all you have to do is play one of them off another until you can bring them down to a price you are willing to pay.

JWE
If you wish to advertise your company on boards you will pay the advertising like everyone else.
B

JWE

Dear Beruthiel, I appreciate your input, however I would wonder as to why the Agent had to drop his fees to absorb the costs of the marketing, after all if the Agent in question can’t negotiate a decent package for him / herself or the company he is working for, it begs the question is he/she going to do the same in terms of taking what he/she is given by the buyer, and not being able to defend is own corner, and do the best possible for the vendor who pays for the service.

At the very minimum we ask for the web marketing, and see if the national press advertising is needed to push the property to a successful sale, after all its in the vendors interest to give the property the maximum exposure to all possible buyers. That is why we use the dual marketing approach of web, and national press.

If you are only prepared to pay what can be called a yellow pack price / cheapest fees possible for a particular service or product then you can only expect a yellow pack service / standard service, as I know from my own experience that when a client tells you that he has some one willing to do it for 1% or lower plus vat to include advertising, then I just walk away from it and make my fees from some one who will pay the fees.

As in this market its not feasible to cut your own throat just to match some silly quote from some one who is more interested in just listing a property as to actually selling it, if then can do it for that price let them. But if you do it for one you do it for all and then where do you draw the line in the sand, and say that it’s silly to sell your self or your company short by playing this game.

As for the advertising comment, I was just replying to an enquiry about estate agents fees, if I felt that new business could be generated from the site I would be only all too happy to talk to the site administrators / moderators regarding same, but any advertising spent would obviously have to pay for its self to be mutually beneficial.

MorningStar

Hey JWE seeing as you are about you can give some explanantions to pricing
How much is the fee to advertise on myhome to your company?
On your own website how much do you charge for that?
How much do you charge to create a brochure?
Do you charge for signs in the garden?How much ? What is the cost of making a said sign?

People don't particularly think highly of estate agents or landlords here so expect some negative expressions.

Oral Slang

Well after negotiations, I managed to get my auctioneer down to 1.05%

Told her that I rang around & was quoted 1% by everyone I rang, which I was. They said that the 1% quoted was exclusive of various costs as outlined by someone earlier & that their fee of 1.25% was inclusive of all of that, so happy enough now with 1.05% - saved myself at least €550...

JWE

Dear Morning Star. Further to your reply here is the information you asked for. The cost involved is €199.65 For Myhome.ie €181.50 for Daft.ie & €75.00 for Nicemove.ie, there are no costs for placement on our own site. There are no charges for the standard sales details / brochure, but if the property requires a specific hard copy printed sales details / brochure it would be sent to the printers and a run of either 50 or a 100 is done up @ a cost from €180.00 to €250.00 depending on quality and number of pages. Garden signs are charged as follows for the large 4X4 double sided or V signs €300.00 + VAT @ 21% ( Covers signs, Text, Erecting and Removal), as for the smaller Flag type sign the usual cost is in the region of €100.00 + VAT @ 21%. (Covers signs, Text, Erecting and Removal). These are ordered from a sign company in Belvedere Place Dublin1.

As for peoples negative comments, I am used to that and a hole lot more, as with every thing when you are dealing with the public as much as we have to you come across all sorts and at the end of the day that is what we are paid to do, for better or for worse.

AndyWarhol

JWE wrote:

Dear Morning Star. Further to your reply here is the information you asked for. The cost involved is €199.65 For Myhome.ie €181.50 for Daft.ie & €75.00 for Nicemove.ie, there are no costs for placement on our own site. There are no charges for the standard sales details / brochure, but if the property requires a specific hard copy printed sales details / brochure it would be sent to the printers and a run of either 50 or a 100 is done up @ a cost from €180.00 to €250.00 depending on quality and number of pages. Garden signs are charged as follows for the large 4X4 double sided or V signs €300.00 + VAT @ 21% ( Covers signs, Text, Erecting and Removal), as for the smaller Flag type sign the usual cost is in the region of €100.00 + VAT @ 21%. (Covers signs, Text, Erecting and Removal). These are ordered from a sign company in Belvedere Place Dublin1.

As for peoples negative comments, I am used to that and a hole lot more, as with every thing when you are dealing with the public as much as we have to you come across all sorts and at the end of the day that is what we are paid to do, for better or for worse.

I'd say that'll put you on the road to a good banning if you keep up advertising spiels like that! Mods?

MorningStar

[QUOTE=JWEGarden signs are charged as follows for the large 4X4 double sided or V signs €300.00 + VAT @ 21% ( Covers signs, Text, Erecting and Removal), as for the smaller Flag type sign the usual cost is in the region of €100.00 + VAT @ 21%. (Covers signs, Text, Erecting and Removal). These are ordered from a sign company in Belvedere Place Dublin1.[/QUOTE]
I knew myhome was expensive for the service but I wasn't sure how bad. I was told they only allow estate agents use them too which if true just shows their bias slant. Either way the three big estate agents are making money for little costs there.
The signs prices you are quoting are expensive. Seeing as many signs are reused so much. I get the market has accepted it but nobody would pay that money to put a sign in their garden for anything else. I would expect the cost to the consumer to be realistic and not a profit making excercise.
It's the little things like that that make people assume everything the estate agent does is a swindle.

Beruthiel

JWE

banned for re posting your business details after being instructed that a Admin needs to be contacted in order for you to pay for the privilege of selling your wares on boards.
B

input, however I would wonder as to why the Agent had to drop his fees to absorb the costs of the marketing, after all if the Agent in question can’t negotiate a decent package for him / herself or the company he is working for, it begs the question is he/she going to do the same in terms of taking what he/she is given by the buyer, and not being able to defend is own corner, and do the best possible for the vendor who pays for the service

more horsesh!t from an estate agent trying to justify his reasons for ripping someone off

decbuck

What was the cost of selling a house 10 years ago. Was it always 1% or is this just a new thing.

As long as they are working of percentages they are ripping us off, as house prices are climbing faster than inflation.


Would be interesting to know what they charged 10 years ago.

MorningStar

Beruthiel wrote:

JWE

banned for re posting your business details after being instructed that a Admin needs to be contacted in order for you to pay for the privilege of selling your wares on boards.
B

I asked him a direct question on the issue in reference to fees. Are you even a mod here?

I missed he already had mentioned the fees

Why not ban Andy there for using duel IDs and bating people

Beruthiel

I am a supermod thanks for asking morning star
and if you had cared to take a look at his signature he had put his business details in it right after I had deleted them.
B

AndyWarhol

MorningStar wrote:

I asked him a direct question on the issue in reference to fees. Are you even a mod here?

I missed he already had mentioned the fees

Why not ban Andy there for using duel IDs and bating people

He was blatently advertising on another thread, read posts will you?

What are you talking about with your 'duel' [sic.] IDs?

EKRIUQ

Beruthiel wrote:

I am a supermod thanks for asking morning star
and if you had cared to take a look at his signature he had put his business details in it right after I had deleted them.
B

I'm sure a warning would of sufficed, I was finding that interesting just because you have the hump, please let the rest of us debate! :mad:

AndyWarhol

BingoBongo wrote:

I'm sure a warning would of sufficed, I was finding that interesting just because you have the hump, please let the rest of us debate! :mad:

Nah, he was blatently advertising here and in other threads. He was a newbie anyway and nobody really knew where he was coming from. He can register a new account and talk away as long as he doesn't spout out more advertising.

Gerry_J

Andy, Gerry_J here (AKA JWE) I took you advice and reregistered. However I did enquire as to what the fees were to advertise my so called wares to enable me to place my company name in the Signature box, as this is what people objected to, and as of yet no one has got back to me on the matter, can you please tell me what the costs are as I would know what it actually costs.
Regards
Gerald D Jacob

LegacyUser

The treatment of the guy on this thread was appauling!!
He was a newbie, and it should have been stated and spelt out to him "Please remove the contact and company details from your signature or we will ban you".

I don't think the warnings were clear enough. Advertising or no advertising, this thread was pretty interesting, and it was destroyed!!

(And I dohn't want to hear grunts about - pay for advertising!! Point be .. you were not clear enough before banning. He was a newbie)

Hagar

Banned.
Re-registered.
Admits it publically.
Uh Uh not the cleverest thing to do IMHO.

Supercell

I'm with bubbly on this one, if honest Estate agents want to post here then thats a great service to boards readers imho, on askaboutmoney.com Irish companies related to the property business post without impunity (REA, My First Castle etc ).

Lets not nanny (GWB) state this place please..just because he works for a company doesnt mean his input becomes contra indicated.

Gerry_J

To All the reason I disclosed who I was, is to avoid some one like Beruthiel / AndyWarhol /and Hagar to a lesser extent or any other critic of Estate Agents/Auctioneers stating that I had dual ids and therefore should be banned again.

I was not about to give them a chance to have another go at me or give them another reason for demonising Estate Agents /Auctioneers. If they as moderators insist I can’t make my company name know to others in my signature then I will have to abide by that rule, but I will be dammed if I let other peoples bad experience, bitching and outright loathing of Estate Agents /Auctioneers effect what I have to say and how I go about saying it.

But judging by the obvious chips on their shoulders they feel that if they b**chslap someone around the place by and banning and starting that my posts are just more S**t from and Estate Agent well then I guess I will have an up hill battle on my hands to prove that not all agents are as per their perception.

Regards
Gerald D Jacob


PS I would like to thank the following for their input on the discussion. Longfield / Bubby / Morning Star/ Bingo Bongo.

EKRIUQ

This guys being using his signature to make money for years

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/member.php?u=3111

But because hes not an Estate Agents he doesn't get banned.

One rule for some and another rule for others, mods should discuss this in their forum and get their guidelines straight and not banning members over a disagreement of opinion.

AndyWarhol

Gerry_J wrote:

To All the reason I disclosed who I was, is to avoid some one like Beruthiel / AndyWarhol /and Hagar to a lesser extent or any other critic of Estate Agents/Auctioneers stating that I had dual ids and therefore should be banned again.

I was not about to give them a chance to have another go at me or give them another reason for demonising Estate Agents /Auctioneers. If they as moderators insist I can’t make my company name know to others in my signature then I will have to abide by that rule, but I will be dammed if I let other peoples bad experience, bitching and outright loathing of Estate Agents /Auctioneers effect what I have to say and how I go about saying it.

But judging by the obvious chips on their shoulders they feel that if they b**chslap someone around the place by and banning and starting that my posts are just more S**t from and Estate Agent well then I guess I will have an up hill battle on my hands to prove that not all agents are as per their perception.

Regards
Gerald D Jacob


PS I would like to thank the following for their input on the discussion. Longfield / Bubby / Morning Star/ Bingo Bongo.

Look, you were pushing your luck with your signature. What pushed you over the edge was the fact that you were quoting how much better the prices of your company were compared to other companies. I agree with the Mod and that you should have been banned. Boards.ie is running verly slowly lately and if you really want to display to everybody the name of your company, you should cough up some of the estate agent fees you charge, pay the advertising rates and help buy a new server or two.

Anyway, you had about 3 posts on your old account. No big loss of reputation there. You've learnt your lesson and are back posting (without your ads) which is great. I look forward to continued discussions.

Welcome to boards.

Hagar

@BingoBongo I take your point but Tony is one of the soundest posters on Boards. He gives out lots of free information and asks for nothing in return. The weblink is not excessive or intrusive. I have never heard him giving anyone a quote or soliciting business or anything like that. He's a good neighbour. I'm backing him all the way. Our Gerald has yet to prove himself. He may be a sound poster but we don't actually know that yet. No offence.

MickserREMAX

It depends on where in the Country the property you're selling is? I work East Meath, North Dublin & South Louth and the average fees are: 1% of the Sale price plus VAT (@21%).

Competition may undercut that figure to get the listing, however be wary of this as 90% of the time, you get what you pay for and try to steer clear from the Mickey Mouse Estate Agents, as they won't sell your property as quickly as they wouldn't be able to achieve the same levels of marketing exposure as a Household Real Estate leader, such as RE/MAX.

If you would like any further information,

Please do not hesitate to contact me via www.remax-first.ie

Kind Regards,

Michael

mathie

I was quoted anything from 1 to 1.5% by roughly 8 different estate agents.
Some included VAT some didn't.
Some included listing on myhome (300 I think) some didn't.

I played them off against each other and got one for 1% all in.
Including VAT and myhome.

It really pays to shop around and ask if EAs can 'price match'.
It's surprising how quickly they do.

Works for solicitors too.

May result in slaps if you attempt this while buying something for your girlfriend though
M

Glenbhoy

I got 0.5% from an agent, with a an agreement to increase that to 0.75% if a certain target price was reached. Whilst you may not be able to get 0.5% anymore, you should be able to negotiate a structure with the agent that rewards them for hitting a certain realistic price.

esmeralda

On the subject of estate agent's fees, my partner is selling a cottage in County Leitrim (I presume you're talking about Dublin sales here, so I realise things might be different up in Leitrim), and has been sent an e-mail from the agent he talked to asking acceptance of conditions that sound outrageous to me. Maybe such conditions might hold in an area where there is not such a high density of agents but I wondered if anyone here could shed any light... The agent is asking for 2% of the final selling price, exclusivity for 6 months and - this is what REALLY gets me - an inconditional payment of almost 800€ for advertisements they will place, whether the house sells or not!!!!!

Only the 2% commission was mentioned when the agent viewed the house and agreed to take it on.


Any comments are very welcome!

esmeralda

Glenbhoy wrote:

I got 0.5% from an agent, with a an agreement to increase that to 0.75% if a certain target price was reached. Whilst you may not be able to get 0.5% anymore, you should be able to negotiate a structure with the agent that rewards them for hitting a certain realistic price.

Sounds like you did some good negotiating! Again, I presume this was in Dublin - any ideas if things could work like this in rural areas?

Glenbhoy

esmeralda wrote:

Sounds like you did some good negotiating! Again, I presume this was in Dublin - any ideas if things could work like this in rural areas?

It was in Dublin and it was negotiated 1 year ago, just at the end of the boom, although the agent obviously didn't know that.
Whether it would work in more rural regions depends on the level of competition amongst agents, but I would certainly suggest such a scheme to them. Agents tend to have an over optimistic valuation of the potential property price, so I would call their bluff and agree that if they hit that price or higher they can have their 1.5% (or whatever they say they can't do it for less than), hell maybe even a bonus if they achieve more, but if they fall short of your target I would suggest that the fee is reduced.
I have a number of acquaintances who have negotiated similar structures so it's not a new idea and it should reward both parties, so imo it's fairer than the normal procedure of a setting a fixed percentage.

Re the offer made to your partner, I wouldn't be rushing to take advantage of that offer, and given the demand for exclusivity, it would appear that there might be alternatives. Often however in rural areas it is difficult to get agents to compete re price.

esmeralda

Thanks Glenbhoy - some really useful pointers there.

dandelion

I found this post while searching the web for a related item. It always saddens me to see the number of people who believe that Estate Agents are "rip off merchants" without personally knowing any Estate Agents or anything about the business.

I've worked as an Estate Agent for 18 years and have never ripped anyone off.

Estate Agents fees can seem high because they regularly work for nothing - if they don't sell they don't earn any money, and lots of houses don't sell, even in the good times, so the time spent working on failed sales can be half the working week. Anyone I have ever sold a house to/ or for has valued my opinion my efforts and accepted my fees were fair for the work that was done.
Questions and comments are invited!

Glenbhoy

dandelion wrote:

Estate Agents fees can seem high because they regularly work for nothing - if they don't sell they don't earn any money, and lots of houses don't sell, even in the good times, so the time spent working on failed sales can be half the working week. Anyone I have ever sold a house to/ or for has valued my opinion my efforts and accepted my fees were fair for the work that was done.
Questions and comments are invited!

I personally found the estate agents I have dealt with to be quite good and have been very satisfied with them. Like any other profession there are good and bad agents, I think the problem with estate agents is that there appears to be little or no regulation. They were also (rightly in my opinion) perceived to be greedy during the boom years, house values shot up, demand did likewise, meaning there was very little work involved in selling, yet they retained a percentage based system. I have also heard many anecdotal stories of agents and phantom bids, bribes and assorted other shady practices. I have talked to agents selling new developments and heard them lie repeatedly to me, it's hard to respect people who can be so brazen.
All in all, there are good and bad and I've come across both, but I would always recommend anyone to use an agent rather rather than try and sell yourself in todays climate.

billyblanks

For the Record I'm currently selling my place for .75%, advertising costs of €400 which I do not have to pay until I sell the property....and they are doing a very good job.

I'm in Dublin....

mel123

I got my deal with estate agent for .75% but i believe thats probably cause my Dad does a lot of business with them...but perhaps just goes to show they can do it that low all the same. I paid 630 incl vat for brochures, myhome, their own website and when the place wasnt selling they put a tiny ad in the national paper...also had two signs but they were just cardboard type things....they never asked for them back, i binned them, not sure if i was meant to keep them to give back

Patrickof

esmeralda wrote:

On the subject of estate agent's fees, my partner is selling a cottage in County Leitrim (I presume you're talking about Dublin sales here, so I realise things might be different up in Leitrim), and has been sent an e-mail from the agent he talked to asking acceptance of conditions that sound outrageous to me. Maybe such conditions might hold in an area where there is not such a high density of agents but I wondered if anyone here could shed any light... The agent is asking for 2% of the final selling price, exclusivity for 6 months and - this is what REALLY gets me - an inconditional payment of almost 800€ for advertisements they will place, whether the house sells or not!!!!!

Only the 2% commission was mentioned when the agent viewed the house and agreed to take it on.


Any comments are very welcome!

In relation to the adverts, this is quite normal. If you want the house advertised, you need to pay for it. The agent will be billed by the newspaper within a week or two of the advert running and if your house doesn't sell for many months (or at all) then he's stuck with your advertising costs. Ask the agent for copies of all ads placed and the prices (they should give you these anyway) and any money in the €800 not used will be refunded. Remember a small photo ad in the indo costs about €600 + VAT!

In relation to the 2%, is the house in a rural area? Might viewings take quite a while by the time the agent gets there and back?

esmeralda

Thanks Patrick. I only have experience of buying and selling houses in England and Spain, my partner didn’t use an agent when he bought this house a few years ago, and Irish family and friends all bought years ago and were not sure of current trends - hence we need to know what is normal and your comments are really useful. Just for the record, in UK and Spain (at least in my experience – sister sold and bought through agents in the north of England 4 months ago, parents 4 years ago) it would be unthinkable for an agency to charge for an ad for a house that the owner has given permission to include in their list of available properties, and which will feature the agency’s name with their number. And by the way – we didn’t want to advertise, we just wanted to have the house on their own website and in the shop window! It was the agency who was pressing us to advertise.

In Spain the commission is sometimes charged to the buyer, particularly in the case of freelance agents, and depending on whether it is a blatantly buyer’s or seller’s market. But it is the agency that undertakes to market it in return for including it in its property portfolio, which in turn enables it to offer buyers a wider range of properties. I used agents in my initial search but ended up doing private sales anyway, which is a growing trend both in Spain and in the UK.

I may be wrong but it seems to me that in Ireland the seller seems to take all the risk, whereas the agent just picks up his/her commission if things work out well. Of course it is in the agent’s interest for the house to sell in order to get the commission, but if it doesn’t, no harm done. Maybe advertising is much more expensive here, or maybe it has something to do with the fact that it is much harder to sell because the population is far smaller which means far fewer potential buyers...

Re the rural situation, the house is actually about a 10 minute (max) drive from the agent’s office so that isn’t a problem in this particular case.

Although we brought up our doubts with the agent and have been offered much better terms than the ones I mentioned in the previous post (thanks glenbhoy), we’re still wondering if it’s worth it. Perhaps if I hadn’t had the experience of house sales in the UK and Spain I wouldn’t be so reluctant and would just accept things, but it does make you wonder!