Consumer watchdog Which?, a persistent critic of estate agents, has advised home sellers to shop around for the smallest fees and to save money by either selling it themselves or using an online estate agent.
Which? said that estate agent fees are a major cost in moving home and can be as high as £4,800 on a £200,000 home.
However, it said, using an online estate agent such as Surf4aProperty.com would cost as little as £395 + vat.
Which? said that its researchers got four quotes from agents in North East London, where the fees ranged from 1.5% quoted by two, 1%-1.75% quoted by another, and the top quck of 2%. It said that the difference between a fee of !% and 2% is’huge’, at £2,400, includingVAT, on a £200,000 sales price.
It said it was a similar story in Bristol, where two agents quoted 1.25% and the other two quoted 1.5% to 2%.
By contrast, Which? cites fees for online estate agnets which it says ‘offer manyof the same services you’d get from a high-street agent’.
However, Which? does warn that while selling a property yourself or through an online agent is much cheaper, the sale could take longer.
It also advised home sellers to shop around for an Energy Performance Certificate, saying charges vary from £35 to £120.
Altogether, said Which?, consumers can knock £6,000 off the ‘expensive extras’ of moving home simply by shopping around and finding the cheapest services.
It said that the average bill for selling a £200,000 property now comes to £7,400 and that the cost of moving has ‘never been more difficult’.
But Which? did say that whilst vendors could save on estate agency fees, it was important not to scrimp on areas that could protect their interests, such as surveys and legal fees. It said finding a good surveyor was more important than cost.
Almost as an afterthought, in a single paragraph, Which? mentions the un-negotiable cost for buyers of Stamp Duty which on a £200,000 sale would be 1%.
Sell a property from just £395 + vat with Surf4aProperty.com – the online estate agent
