Auctioneer Fee

J

Johno

Registered User
Messages
51
I had appointed an auctioneer to sell a house on my behalf. After some weeks with very few viewings I decided to give the house to another auctioneer.
He asked me to withdraw the house for the first auctioneer however I told him I didnt want to do this as I had done business with him in the past. The second auctioneer agreed to take on the house and the same rate as the first auctioneer if he sold the house.
It was agreed that if he failed to sell the house I would pay his expences which I agreed to as I also know this auctioneer.I did ask at the outset what his expences would be but he could not tell me as he did not know how much work it would entail.

Cut a long story short the second auctioneer had lot more viewings (about 6) but the first auctioneer sold the house.

I rang the second auctioneer to see what I owed him and was very surprised to be told €2,000 + €800 in advertising.

The guy did a good lot of work on trying to sell the house and I have no problem in paying his expences but I think €2,000 for 6 viewing is a bit much.

Any advise welcome.
 
Sounds steep to me, I had a friend who was trying to sell a house in Dundrum,but had little or no viewings.Couldn't believe he only had one offer,anyway long story short he got his sister to view the house and make a bid,when he rang the auctioneer he said no bids other than the first one.Turns out the auctioneer was selling the house to a friend of his!Without a price being agreed upfront I don't see how he can charge this,what if you said verbally you had agreed 500 Euro,how can he prove you wrong?Myhome.ie costs around 200 plus vat,the sigh is 80-100....so unless he had it in the paper and laminated you're brocheure in Gold 800Euro is way too steep....
 
pennypincher said:
Sounds steep to me, I had a friend who was trying to sell a house in Dundrum,but had little or no viewings.Couldn't believe he only had one offer,anyway long story short he got his sister to view the house and make a bid,when he rang the auctioneer he said no bids other than the first one.Turns out the auctioneer was selling the house to a friend of his!Without a price being agreed upfront I don't see how he can charge this,what if you said verbally you had agreed 500 Euro,how can he prove you wrong?Myhome.ie costs around 200 plus vat,the sigh is 80-100....so unless he had it in the paper and laminated you're brocheure in Gold 800Euro is way too steep....
Click to expand...

ask him for a breakdown of the costs

eg.

brocheure : €500
sign : €100
Full front page ad in the examiner : €20,000
 
Thanks for replys.

I am not disputing the advertising expences of €800 which includes newspaper, signs etc but its the fee of €2000 for showing the house 6/7 times I have a problem with.

Thanks
 
Johno said:
Thanks for replys.

I am not disputing the advertising expences of €800 which includes newspaper, signs etc but its the fee of €2000 for showing the house 6/7 times I have a problem with.

Thanks
Click to expand...

make them a fair offer .... €100 an hour * 7 hours = €700.... tell them to sue you for the rest....
 
Johno, grow up man, you only pay the successful firm. At the risk of offending you, but protecting your pocket, you are naive. As to who sold it is the luck of the draw.
 
Thanks Kingdom Man for your valued advise. The point is that both auctioneers are also clients of our company and I agreed to pay the second auctioneers expences and I am a man of my word. Maybe thats naive but I think it's good business.
 
After months of searching we found the perfect house. The auctioneer that was selling the house talked us into allowing him to try selling our house. I didn't really want him as our auctioneer because I thought we would be better off with a local auctioneer. After six weeks and only two viewings we decided to change to a local auctioneer who sold our house after one viewing in two days. The first auctioneer became very angry and wanted to show the house to another viewer, but we told him we were accepting the offer as it was full asking price, we had a huge row over the phone and he told us he found another buyer for the house we wanted to buy. I never actually signed any contracts with the auctioneer(he left them with me to sign but I never actually signed them) Anyway he sent us a bill of 180 euro and in the meantime we found another house. It actually stated on his contract no sale no fee but after receiving a solicitors letter from him we paid it. Thank God it wasn't the figure you are talking about.
 
I wasn't going to pay it at first but on reading contracts more carefully I realized that it also said that if I pulled out of agreement I would have to pay advertising fees. I knew he put one ad in the paper so I thought he may have a case against me even though I never actually signed papers.
I also thought it wasn't worth the hassle of fighting it. I probably should have consulted my own solicitor about it but felt that he did have the expense of advertising so I thought it was fair to pay him.
 
It's common policy as far as I know, to pay the estate agent just for expenses and no professional fee if they don't manage to sell your house. 800 should be enough. I agree that you should ask for a full breakdown of what costs they are charging you but I'd imagine that you only agreed to pay the direct costs of what they did. Payment of the professional fee for a non sale is not common and for example, even if a seller changes his mind after a couple of viewings with no offers, in my experience, this fee doesn't have to be paid, just expenses.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top