Guess what… Estate Agents have hiked their fees and commisons to make sure they’re taking as much money as possible from your house sale.
Which I suppose is fine, because we’re all well-off at the moment and it’s not like there’s a credit crunch, mass unemployment or financial insecurity in almost every household!!
At a time when the economy’s on it’s knees and home sellers are thinking: “just how the hell do I sell my house?”; estate agents should be doing all they can to encourage sales, help vendors and kick-start the housing market. But instead, some of Britain’s best-known chains have raised their commission rate and made it even harder to negotiate deals of less than 1.5 per cent.
There’s no doubting that selling your house on the open market is pretty tough right now and Estate Agents are being bombarded with vendors screaming “sell my house quicker!” But some agents are rubbing salt into the wound by not only charging more for the sale but also asking sellers to cough up several hundred pounds or more for marketing costs.
By asking for money up front to pay for advertising, extra photography and the like, the agents hope to tie you in and make you committed to them. When faced with these added costs, many sellers have decided to use the free house selling services provided by professional house buyers to secure a fast cash sale.