Selling without an Estate Agent

chickmug

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1567371

Hi lovethymini

Just thought this thread may be of use.

JF77

Hi,

Interesting thread!

Just thought I would add my experience. We went with HN in mid January until mid March with 1 price reduction after 1 month. We did not have a single viewing during that time.

We went with a local agent 2 weeks ago at the same price as HN and had our 5th viewing today. :T

The local agents have been great from the word go and, I know I made the right decision ditching the online one. :rolleyes:

chickmug

JF77 wrote: »

Hi,

Interesting thread!

Just thought I would add my experience. We went with HN in mid January until mid March with 1 price reduction after 1 month. We did not have a single viewing during that time.

We went with a local agent 2 weeks ago at the same price as HN and had our 5th viewing today. :T

The Agents have been great from the word go and, I know I picked the right one. :rolleyes:

How easy was it to 'pick the right one'?

JF77

I found it really easy as I kept my eye on their activity and they seemed to be the only agent selling properties in the area.

I was registered with them as a buyer and they were very pro-active in calling me about new properties to view but, not in a pushy way. The properties I was viewing were very competitively priced. I went in to have a chat with them and that was that. I managed to negotiate a discount from their standard fee so I was very happy.

One thing I have learned is that there is more to this selling malarky than just being on Rightmove, as the agent pointed out to me as I sat in his office discussing the housing market over a cuppa!:rotfl:

confused31_2

JF77 wrote: »

I found it really easy as I kept my eye on their activity and they seemed to be the only agent selling properties in the area.

I was registered with them as a buyer and they were very pro-active in calling me about new properties to view but, not in a pushy way. The properties I was viewing were very competitively priced. I went in to have a chat with them and that was that. I managed to negotiate a discount from their standard fee so I was very happy.

One thing I have learned is that there is more to this selling malarky than just being on Rightmove, as the agent pointed out to me as I sat in his office discussing the housing market over a cuppa!:rotfl:

They may have got you five viewers, i dont know how long you have had your house on the market for but you have to have a little patience in the selling your house, i see from one of your post's at then end of january you was happy with the house network, you said you have made one reduction in that time, and if you have had 5 viewers and no offers maybe the property is priced to high?

We had more viewers from local estate agents but no offers, we all have our own opinions, but if it takes a nice cuppa and a bit of buttering you up in the estate agents office, for a nice tidy fee, they can keep the cup of tea.

It made me laugh when i went with WOW, when the local estate agent came round he knew who we was with and we had no board outside, and his words were who the fxxx are WOW, but in my eyes they had done the job, has if he had seen my house so had everybody else.

When you have your next viewer ask them were they first seen your house??

Estate agents are has bad has holiday reps, they will just tell you what they think you want to hear.

Ill come back and see your post's in another couple of months, when your patience has run out with local estate agents.

And another thing i would defintely not do is view a house when im not in a position to buy, maybe they just let anyone view properties, i mean they let you view properties and you are in no position to buy.

I informed my agent when we was up for sale, that we would not accept any viewers who are not in a position to buy, if your agent has sent you 5 viewers, how many do you think out of the 5, are in a position to buy??

They are just sending rubber neckers round your house to be nosey, and trust me it happens, thers plenty of post's on here about it.

googler

Looked at WOW, who claim to have 'sold 150 properties since Oct 2008' on their home page, and also claim to be selling or have sold at least one per day.

They seem to have 209 agents in various locations throughout England and Wales (but none in Scotland).

Oct 2008 to present day = let's say 4 months exactly (120 days or so) for the sake of statistics.

150 properties, 209 agents, 4 months - that's certainly at least one property sold per day, but it works out at 0.2 properties sold per agent per month, or each agent selling one property every FIVE months..... for £999, or a share of same.

Feel free to take issue with my arithmetic.

googler

confused31 wrote: »

It made me laugh when i went with WOW, when the local estate agent came round he knew who we was with and we had no board outside, and his words were who the fxxx are WOW, but in my eyes they had done the job, as if he had seen my house so had everybody else.

.... (snip)

They are just sending rubber neckers round your house to be nosey, and trust me it happens, thers plenty of post's on here about it.

I'd suggest that the agent knew you were selling with WOW because that's his job - to know what's for sale, with whom, in his local area. Just because he knew it was on WOW, doesn't mean that ANY of the general public have seen it......

"They are just sending rubber neckers ..." is a totally unsupportable comment, based on what the previous poster told you. You don't know anything about the viewers who've been to his house, what position they're in, etc.

JF77

confused31 wrote: »

They may have got you five viewers, i dont know how long you have had your house on the market for but you have to have a little patience in the selling your house, i see from one of your post's at then end of january you was happy with the house network, you said you have made one reduction in that time, and if you have had 5 viewers and no offers maybe the property is priced to high?

We had more viewers from local estate agents but no offers, we all have our own opinions, but if it takes a nice cuppa and a bit of buttering you up in the estate agents office, for a nice tidy fee, they can keep the cup of tea.

It made me laugh when i went with WOW, when the local estate agent came round he knew who we was with and we had no board outside, and his words were who the fxxx are WOW, but in my eyes they had done the job, has if he had seen my house so had everybody else.

When you have your next viewer ask them were they first seen your house??

Estate agents are has bad has holiday reps, they will just tell you what they think you want to hear.

Ill come back and see your post's in another couple of months, when your patience has run out with local estate agents.

And another thing i would defintely not do is view a house when im not in a position to buy, maybe they just let anyone view properties, i mean they let you view properties and you are in no position to buy.

I informed my agent when we was up for sale, that we would not accept any viewers who are not in a position to buy, if your agent has sent you 5 viewers, how many do you think out of the 5, are in a position to buy??

They are just sending rubber neckers round your house to be nosey, and trust me it happens, thers plenty of post's on here about it.

Hi,

I was on with HN for 2 months with 1 reduction after 1 month. We were/still are the cheapest on the estate by at least 10k and even the ones at 10k more are a further 10k cheaper than others. I know price was never an issue and we went on with local agent at same price as the reduced HN price.

I was very keen to use HN and like there Rightmove marketing i.e. virtual tours and floor plans etc and I liked the fact you could arrange your photos and delete certain ones. I was very optimistic but nowt.

The local agent knew I was on the market and told the vendors this so it was them making the decision to let me view. The local agent are very good a finding out peoples position and always let us know and we decide. The 5 viewers have included 2 on the market, 2 with nothing to sell and 1 proceedable.

The point I was making about the cuppa in the office was that some people like to go in to the office and find out about property rather than surf and, this was an argument I often had with my hubby. He would argue this point and I would say that everyone checks Righmove so I was unfortunately proved wrong. The cup of tea will actually save me hundreds as like I say I managed to get a reduction on the fee.

So, I am not trying to say HN are no good but just give a real life experience of using them. I am a patient person but no viewers in 2 months compared with 5 in 2 weeks (3 of which were very proceedable)

Also, I am not saying that agents are great cos I know there are plenty of rubbish ones just that some are actually very good at what they do.

confused31_2

JF77 wrote: »

Hi,

I was on with HN for 2 months with 1 reduction after 1 month. We were/still are the cheapest on the estate by at least 10k and even the ones at 10k more are a further 10k cheaper than others. I know price was never an issue and we went on with local agent at same price as the reduced HN price.

I was very keen to use HN and like there Rightmove marketing i.e. virtual tours and floor plans etc and I liked the fact you could arrange your photos and delete certain ones. I was very optimistic but nowt.

The local agent knew I was on the market and told the vendors this so it was them making the decision to let me view. The local agent are very good a finding out peoples position and always let us know and we decide. The 5 viewers have included 2 on the market, 2 with nothing to sell and 1 proceedable.

The point I was making about the cuppa in the office was that some people like to go in to the office and find out about property rather than surf and, this was an argument I often had with my hubby. He would argue this point and I would say that everyone checks Righmove so I was unfortunately proved wrong. The cup of tea will actually save me hundreds as like I say I managed to get a reduction on the fee.

So, I am not trying to say HN are no good but just give a real life experience of using them. I am a patient person but no viewers in 2 months compared with 5 in 2 weeks (3 of which were very proceedable)

Also, I am not saying that agents are great cos I know there are plenty of rubbish ones just that some are actually very good at what they do.

Like i say we will have to wait and see, maybe the house network had these people contact them and when they told them the circumstances they were in they, didnt think it was worth bothering you with people who are not in a position to buy.

If you think patience is waiting 2 months, id get yourself ready for a very long wait.

confused31_2

googler wrote: »

Looked at WOW, who claim to have 'sold 150 properties since Oct 2008' on their home page, and also claim to be selling or have sold at least one per day.

They seem to have 209 agents in various locations throughout England and Wales (but none in Scotland).

Oct 2008 to present day = let's say 4 months exactly (120 days or so) for the sake of statistics.

150 properties, 209 agents, 4 months - that's certainly at least one property sold per day, but it works out at 0.2 properties sold per agent per month, or each agent selling one property every FIVE months..... for £999, or a share of same.

Feel free to take issue with my arithmetic.

I think you have gone of track a little here, the topic was selling your house yourself without a agent, i said earlier, my opinion if you can get on right move then i think you have has good at a chance as any local estate agent, which i still believe.

However you can not sell your house yourself and get it on right move, but the next cheapest way to get right move coverage is the housenetwork, or without a up front fee use wow.

Local estate agents it was reported a few months back were selling one property a month, so do the maths depending on how many agents they have they are not doing great either.

I would never use a local estate agent again, but thats my opinion and when i look at houses, i look on right move, if i see a house i like i would call the number at the side of the house and arrange a viewing, and thats what most people will do.

If your house is priced right and its on right move you will sell it, i dont care whether you are with a local agent, online agent or doing it yourself.

Tell me what a local estate agent does, that any online agent doesnt, infact tell me why a buyer would not buy through a online agent?

Nine times out of ten a buyer will not even meet the agent they will phone the agents number next to the house they want to view on right move and arrange a viewing.

The vendor usually shows you around not the estate agent.

Then if the buyer wants to make a offer they will ask the estate agent to ask the vendor.

I know they do the photographs and description, but that is not really that hard to do, so basically your are paying a load of money for someone to make a few phone calls.

People say the agent might get you more money for your house, bottom line the buyers will only pay what they think the house is worth.