Foreign Perspectives

The biggest problem with commission payments is that they’re dependent on transactions taking place.

That’s fine during good economic times. Nobody minds too much paying the estate agent a few thousand to sell their house when house prices are rising and houses are selling in a reasonable time. Moreover, when the estate agent values (ie guesses) the price that your house will sell for they’ll tend to go a little high as that increases their commission a little bit.

However, these are still quite bad economic times. Houses aren’t selling fast. Thus to get an income the estate agent will generally underestimate the value of your house. That may reduce the value of your property in terms of commission for them but selling more houses quicker at lower prices is better for them financially than selling a few houses over a long period of time.

So don’t forget that it’s your house, not theirs. Your interest is in getting the best price you can, theirs is in getting it sold fast.