The online estate agents revealed that these house sellers didn’t haggle for a better commission fee, which could have saved them hundreds or thousands of pounds.
By negotiating a quote down from 1.25% to 1%, a house seller could save £1,250 on a £500,000 property.
Housesimple.com claimed that a 0.25% reduction in agent fees could have saved house sellers £487m over the last 12 months.
More than four in 10 (41%) didn’t know that the commission fee could be negotiated and 46% felt pressurised by their estate agent.
Over half of house sellers (55%) paid at least 1% commission to their estate agent.
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Sam Mitchell, CEO at Housesimple.com, said: “The survey highlights how much home sellers could potentially save by negotiating and not taking no for an answer.
“There is always room for manoeuvre on the fee and an estate agent that is not willing to reduce their rate will need to have a very strong case as to why, particularly if it is significantly higher than other agents are quoting in the area.
“Unfortunately, for many people, they don’t feel comfortable haggling, and estate agents are extremely good sales people who can put forward a convincing argument as to why they are worth the commission they are charging.
“But, at the end of the day, they also want to secure your business, and if they are as good as they say they are, then your house shouldn’t be on the market for long, and they will have had to do very little work to make their commission.”



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