Will Using Multiple Estate Agents Help Sell Your House Quicker? Yup!

Table of contents

• Estate agent contracts explained!
• Why home-sellers use multiple estate agents!
• When using a multi-agency strategy will NOT work
• Why property “experts” use the multi estate agent strategy
• How to use multiple agents and pay low fees!
• After the quickest sale possible (then don’t use the multi-agent strategy)?

Estate agent contracts explained!

First and foremost, let’s quickly go over the most common contractual agreements vendors have with their local agent. It will help create a clear picture of the overall scenario.

When instructing an agent to sell your property, you’ll most likely be presented with one of the following options:

• Sole agency agreements – this is the most common agreement used by estate agents.

  This agreement means that you agree to use only one agent for a set period of time, in which time you cannot use another agent (typically between 8 – 16 weeks). It’s normally best to negotiate for the least amount of time possible, so you have the flexibility to use another agent sooner rather than later if you’re dissatisfied with the service.

  You only pay the agent if they find you a buyer. If you find a buyer yourself during the fixed period, you won’t have to pay anything to the estate agent.

  The typical estate agent fee for sole agency is 1-2%.

• Sole selling rights – this should not be confused with ‘sole agency’, and you may want to consider before agreeing to the terms of this particular agreement.

  Sole selling rights is the same as sole agency except that you have to pay the estate agent even if you find your own purchaser e.g. family member or friend. This kind of agreement is more common for commercial properties.

• Multiple agency agreements as you’d expect, this type of contract allows you to use more than one agent to market and sell your property at the same time.

  Because this scenario naturally creates extra competition between agents, they typically charge a higher commission fee of the sale price, usually between 2.5% – 3.5%+VAT (instead of the usual 1% – 1.5% you would expect to pay under a sole agency agreement).

  You don’t need to pay every agent you instruct, only the agent that gets the sale.

  May the best chump win, right?

• Ready, willing and able purchaser – avoid, avoid, avoid! Any agreement that comes with this clause is garbage.

  If this clause is in your contract it means you’ll be liable to pay the estate agent fee even if you decide not to sell (for whatever reason).

  Toss it in the bin.

It’s worth noting that agreements can be updated (i.e. you can switch from ‘sole agency’ to ‘multiple’ earlier than contractually agreed upon) or prematurely terminated as long as there is a mutual agreement between both parties. Otherwise, both agent and seller are obligated to adhere to the terms of the agreement.

Needless to say, it’s critical to carefully check the terms and conditions of any agreement before you sign it.

Why home-sellers use multiple estate agents!

• Access to more buyers
  Many people assume that there’s generally no difference between using one or two local agents, because inevitably, the property is going to get launched onto Rightmove and Zoopla, and it’s going to attract all the same eyeballs anyways.

  That’s actually a common misconception.

  The most successful and resourceful estate agents accumulate leads from several sources, not just the portals, and many of those sources are unique to them. If you opt for using a couple of reputable and established agents, you potentially get access to more protective buyers.

• Quicker sale and higher offers!
  Obviously the more agents you have scrambling around trying to shift your property, the more potential buyers you will reach, and potentially the higher the offers you will receive. Multi agency agreements usually make traditional estate agents work harder because of the competition and the higher cash prize.

  On average an estate agent will only sell 50% of the houses they market, so that means using more than one agent will significantly improve the chances of your property being whisked away.

When using a multi-agency strategy will NOT work

Hold your horses. Maybe.

As wonderful as this whole multi-agency approach sounds, it’s unlikely to work for everyone, namely because of the following two reasons:

• The property is in area with insufficient agency density. For example, if you live in the ass-end of nowhere and there’s only two agents in town, then this approach is going to be useless for the obvious reason (if someone is looking to buy [in the ass-end of nowhere], they’ll just engage with both agents on their own will, so those homes will already have every buyer in their scope).
• The property is less than £200,000 (or thereabouts). This is just my opinion, but from experience I can confidently say that it’s tough to motivate agents to sell a property on a multi-agency agreement if the commission is too low. The reality is, competing against other agents adds an element of risk for agents, because their chance of getting the sale dramatically decreases.

  The most effective strategy will be based on a dangling carrot that all the agents want, because that’s how you get a motivated and energetic workforce.

Why property “experts” use the multi estate agent strategy

As mentioned, the professionals with in the industry tend to favour the multi-agency strategy when they’re selling. But why if they have to splash out more on commission?

The reality is, the property boffins aren’t paying the same rates as individual sellers that agree to a multi-agent agreement.

Unfortunately, while us mere mortals are lumbered with the ‘sucker rates’, the pros are groomed with significantly lower rates because they’re regular customers that sell in volume. Meanwhile, the average UK homeowner sells their house every 9 years, so agents aren’t incentivised to offer us those reserved glamorous low fees.

So while most of us have to dig deep and splash out on a 3% commission bill if we want to use multiple agents, the big-wigs are probably paying half that, because the local agents want their lucrative recurring business.

It really boils down to economies of scale (i.e. commodities and services get cheaper as you scale up).

So should you become a professional property mogul and start dealing in volume?

You could, if you really want to.

But it’s an unlikely solution.

How to use multiple agents and pay low fees!

The solution

Interestingly, this crusty old blog post was originally written in 2013 (blimey, I think I want to vomit!), but I’ve been forced to update it [in 2023] because of an interesting (and relevant) service that’s managed to worm it’s way onto my radar.

I think I may have discovered a legit solution for anyone craving to benefit from the perks of using multiple agents, but for the same price as a sole agency agreement (or thereabouts)!

A company called flyp recently infiltrated my inbox with an interesting sales pitch.

Great, another one! 99.99% of them are inevitably destined to be air-planed into the bin, so my enthusiasm and expectations are usually non-existent.

flyp claim to have a cure for our ailments (needless to say, just like every Tom, Dick & Harry does). In short, their service allows homeowners to get the strongest performing local estate agents trying to simultaneously sell their property, while only paying 1 – 1.5% fee of the sale price (which is the standard rate for most sole agency contracts).

In other words, a multi-agency strategy for the price of a sole agency strategy.

(Right, they’ve managed to pique my interest. Let’s hope they don’t screw this up.)

The how

flyp are able to negotiate better rates with our local agents than we, as individual sellers, could ever dream of, because flyp can use the large volume of properties they have in their books as hostage leverage.

Open sesame! Hello, glamorous low fees!

The results

flyp fully manage and deploy a multi agency sales strategy for a sole agency fee, and by doing so, they claim to achieve an 85% sales rate on average (compared to the standard 50% achieved by a single agent) and an offer within 3 weeks 80% of the time.

Bold and alluring claims.

The logistics of the service

You don’t deal with the agent(s) at all, you only deal directly with your flyp account manager, who will keep you updated on viewings, offers, and handle the entire management of your property until completion.

flyp does all the donkey work, including negotiating directly with your local estate agents and getting them on board to market your property across their various channels.

The cost

Like a regular traditional high-street agent, no sale, no fee applies. If your property sells, you pay one fee to the agent that bags the sale, typically between 1 – 1.5% of the sale price (the exact fee will be confirmed before any agreements are made).

flyp earns a 0.25 commission from the agreed upon sales fee, which is paid to flyp directly by the agent, not the seller.

I’m sold, which is why I agreed to partner with them. Genuinely sounds like a sweet deal to me. Ultimately, if I have a choice between a multi-agency strategy Vs sole agency strategy for the same fee, it’s a no-brainer.

How to get started (or find out more)

To find out more, jump over to my in-depth review of flyp’s services, or enter your postcode below to start the journey of getting a free, no-obligations appraisal.

Just to clarify, I’ve never used flyp’s service, therefore I cannot recommend them based on personal experience. But there’s enough buzz around the web to conduct your own due diligence to determine if their multi-agency service is a viable option for you.

I’ve done my own due diligence, which resulted in being comfortable in partnering with them and recommending their service. I’ve also noted that flyp’s service is being touted on theadvisory.co.uk (apparently that’s a big deal *shrugs shoulders*). So if they do actually suck, blame them. flyp has also been featured in some pretty notable publications, such asThe Times, Forbes, Bloomberg etc. Make of that what you will.

After the quickest sale possible (then don’t use the multi-agent strategy)?

Using a multi-agency strategy is definitely a proven means of turbo charging a house sale, however, it’s not the quickest.

If your intent is to achieve the quickest sale possible (which is often the motive for using a multi-agent strategy), then I’d be remiss if I didn’t – at the very least – lightly touch on services provided by Cash House Buyer Companies (also known as We buy any house companies). They appear to be growing in popularity among homeowners that are itching for a quick sale, which is why these companies are popping up all over the place.

I know what you’re thinking. And you’re right. These services aren’t for everyone and you do need to proceed with caution.

Nope, it’s not the perfect solution, no doubt about it, but it’s a trade-off many willingly make; selling quickly for less does have its advantages, especially in a stressed market (i.e. when the market is stagnant and prices are declining).

For all intents and purposes, using one is going to be the quickest route to get a sale in most cases – much quicker than going down the traditional and multi-agency routes. That’s why I thought I’d mention it.

Below is an example of what is possible in terms of costs/net value when using Cash House Buyer Company compared to a traditional estate agent. I snatched the example from one of the company’s websites, so make of it what you will (I’m just the messenger, so please don’t shoot)…

They sure do paint a pretty little picture, don’t they?

But how accurate is it? Well, it does highlight real benefits of using a cash buying service, but for one specific example. The reality is, using traditional methods to sell can be a long process, which in itself comes at a cost that many don’t consider (but should), and I think that’s what the comparison table shows more than anything else. Basically, time is money.

My HomeBuyers is an example of a reputable Cash House Buyer Company, and below is an overview of their services (so you get a gist of what you can expect from these services):

Cash House Buyer Company

Service	Rating	Features	Offers (up to)
My Homebuyers	Rating 4.8 TrustPilot Reviews	Features Guarantee to beat any genuine cash offer Members of The National Association of Property Buyers, members of The Property Ombudsman and Trading Standards Any property, any condition considered (England or Wales) Cash offer within 24 hours, Sales completed in as little as 7 days Free Legal fees included, No agent costs or hidden fees Guaranteed sale Direct buyer, with no middlemen	Offers (up to) 80-85%of Market Value	Get cash offer

Buyer beware, the cash buyer industry is notoriously full of sharks, so it’s important to do your due diligence and use a reputable. If your interest has piqued and you want to find out more, I recommend having a sniff through my complete guide on Cash House Buyer Companies.