Lewes Forum thread

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Buyers fees - estate agents

On 26 May 2016 at 7:44am Not a DFL wrote:

One estate agent in Lewes is advertising properties with 'buyers fees apply' which presumably means the purchaser to pays the b@stards to buy the house as well as them collecting �� from the seller.. Are they preying on the desperate? I'm not sure why a house vendor would agree to such practice when presumably any offer would be reduced to take this cost into account. Does anyone know why vendors don't just choose an EA who doesn't charge buyer's fees? At this rate they'll all be at it soon!

On 26 May 2016 at 7:57am Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:

I don't understand why, if a particular type of property is so sought after that they can get away with it, they don't just put the price up.
Maybe the agents are so desperate to get that house on their books they offered to sell it for now't, and are banking on getting their slice from the buyer. I suppose it's not so very different from buyer's commission at auctions.
Any DFL buying it as a second home will have to have deep pockets, what with 3% extra stamp duty as well as a buyer's fee.
Any chance of a hint that might enable us to see where this house is online, eg asking price or general area? I'm intrigued.
It certainly won't be the Nevill, there are a few for sale up here atm and we haven't had a leaflet through the door pleading with us to contact a particular agent if we're thinking of moving for at least 8 weeks.

On 26 May 2016 at 3:29pm Local wrote:

Cubiit and West. Western Road. Think I'll string them along for a few weeks, just to reward them for this outrageous move.

On 26 May 2016 at 4:16pm Fairmeadow wrote:

Is the deal that you have to pay to lodge a bid by tender, whether you win or not? They advertise to sellers that there are no fees to pay.
With such a system it would become very profitable to advertise not-really-for-sale properties with attractively low guide prices, and then tell all the bidders someone else won. Of course no responsible estate agent careful about their reputation would stoop so low. Just sharks, thankfully so rare in this honourable profession.

On 26 May 2016 at 7:00pm Bert wrote:

This isn't new in Lewes and has been going on at least two years. It's the way the agents try to compete in an overheated market where fees of 1% or lower are negotiable by sellers. If your property is desirable enough, or buyers wealthy or desperate enough, the seller has nothing to lose.

On 29 May 2016 at 10:29am Alternative wrote:

Lewes is small enough for people to migrate en masse to the online alternatives, save a bunch of money and f**k the cowboys such as Lewes Estates and C&W.
C&W btw prioritise those buyers who take out their recommended financial services.
can we build a local online alternative, that gets onto Rightmove (i.e. has to be a registered estate agent)?

On 1 Jun 2016 at 2:27pm just for the record wrote:

It's in C and W's advertising material. I assume it's the sales negotiated through closed bids. It seems to me to be altogether unhealthy and as Fairmeadow says could be open to misuse because of its secretive nature and the opportunity to evade accountability. What help does a seller have from the agent if a sale goes very wrong? Presumably it's popular in the London market. I suppose it will disappear when the bubble bursts and Estate Agents have to work a little more for their money.