With fees like theirs it is no wonder they are too ashamed to publish them!

The world of estate agency charges is a murky and secretive one where few High Street agents are willing to publish what commissions they will charge you on their web sites or in their advertising. They will tell you that they can’t quote thier charges until they come and look at your house and see what’s involved, but this is disingenuous. The real reason is that they want to come along, meet you, and see what they can get away with. If you look on the ball and have a number of agents out then you might get quoted 1.25% or even 1% if you are lucky. But look less clued up or just invite the one agent out and it will be 1.5% or more. The internet has dramatically reduced the cost of marketing homes to potential buyers, but don’t expect those saving to get passed on to you by most High Street agents. The ones in Welwyn Garden City are so determined to stop you hearing from estate agents with clearer and lower fee structures like ourselves and a few others in the area that they have effectively hijacked the Welwyn and Hatfield Times. They get hugely reduced advertising rates but anyone without a High Street office or with lower fees has to pay top dollar. They can’t hold back the tide forever. There are alternatives for sellers, like selling with a national online agent who won’t give you a full service but will get you on the property portals. Or business models like BigBlackHen.com where we still believe in the importance of human contact and negotiation skills when it comes to selling your most important asset, but also think that you deserve much, much better value for money that has been the case in the past. The choice is yours. Use an agent who is ashamed of what they charge, or one who is proud to deliver successful sales and save you money!