Any Estate Agents or anyone else who may know

pastmybest

My Pal's daughter is in Estate Agency (a negotiator) but several hundred miles away.

He was thinking of getting his local EA's round to value and asking if (like on rented) they will get the buyer lined up and then his daughter can take over issuing the paperwork and seeing the sale through.

It isn't to get the commission down but he is so fed up with agents, over the years, who don't seem to see the matter through very thoroughly. He feels it has cost him sales more than once.

Doozergirl

There is no law that says that an EA has to follow the sale through. I never rely on an agent to do this - they are useful where there is a chain but in the scenario where there isn't one then it's quite easy to communicate with a buyer via phone or email when things pop-up. I just sold a property privately and it worked very well - we would email each other whenever we received paperwork or a call from solicitors so the other would now what was coming and we could both guage that our solicitors were on the case.

So his daughter could perhaps progress the sale in a much more informal arrangement, perhaps via email with any buyer or by advising her parent on where they should be in the process.

If an EA isn't progressing a sale very well then it's likely that they simply aren't trying - I find this to be the case most of the time but my persoanl preference is not to have them sticing an oar in - I cannot think of a time where the EA has acted as progressor and we haven't ended up at virtual loggerheads with a buyer. The EA is aggressive in pushing things on and this ends up being perceived as the other party being aggressive - which it often isn't - but it ends up that way! I have always had a good experience when I can spea directly to a purchaser/vendor.

pastmybest

Thank you doozergirl for your very interesting thoughts.

The daughter came up with a thought that made me think. Why would an EA spend the time getting a buyer and trusting the progress chasing to an unknown person. I thought it would save the EA time but if they are the better sort and get paid at completion they may not like it.

But still interested in anyones elses views particularly EA's in the forum.

princessamy86

I'm an EA (just so you know!), I'm not sure how many would go for it in the sense that you outlined in your OP. I think the best way to approach it would be to negotiate a fee based on marketing, then your friend will get the rightmove coverage and a board up for a point of contact. I wouldn't mind doing something like this, although in our company it's probably something which would need director approval so this is worth bearing in mind. We actually do quite a lot the other way round, people sell privately and then pay us to see the sale through once they have found a buyer. The obvious issue for the agent is that they lose control over the sale and possibly their commission as they won't have any means to make sure the sale stays on track. I think it's worth a try though!

pastmybest

Thanks princessamy and as doozergirl says some EAs are not good once they agree the sale. My pal's local agents (two) are independents but both apparently are very nice, trustworthy but once they agree a sale they seem to think that it will sort itself out.

princessamy86

Yes I can totally appreciate that some agents think sales will look after themselves! Some of the branches local to us are an unmitigated nightmare when it comes to chains. I think your friend should give it a go.

pastmybest

princessamy86 wrote: »

Yes I can totally appreciate that some agents think sales will look after themselves! Some of the branches local to us are an unmitigated nightmare when it comes to chains. I think your friend should give it a go.

He was thinking of housenetwork but another mutual friend hasn't got on so well with them as the forum seems to usually say.

princessamy86

I think part of the problem with housenetwork is that they're still quite new, and buyers don't necessarily understand what they do and whether or not they can "trust" them iyswim. It takes a while to build a brand, and because they are a bit different to the average agent it will take some time for buyers to catch up to a different way of doing business.

Doozergirl

pastmybest wrote: »

He was thinking of housenetwork but another mutual friend hasn't got on so well with them as the forum seems to usually say.

I'd say that House Network would be perfect if they get the right sort of coverage where your friend lives.

The great thing about them if you want to see this through yourself is that they are not hand-holders - if you feel competant pulling things through yourself then this would be the way to do it.

House Network will work the same as other agents - in a bouyant market they were selling the houses for everyone on here that was using them - with the market struggling, HN would be struggling to sell as much as any other agent has done, but they would not be suggesting price drops etc. That is a service you're not paying for and therefore not receiving - you take responsibility for the majority of the work basically. In practice I didn't find them any different to the majority of high street agents.

I first used them coming up for four years ago and it took me while to be persuaded by others on this board to use them, but the results spoke for themselves at the time.

WallyBird

Housenetwork do provide useful information to help you decide whether or not to change the price. They send you statistics from Rightmove, which show how many people are searching for your type of house, and how many actually click through and view the details on your specific house. This is compared to averages - if it is green, it means you are getting a lot of clicks and so will probably get viewings, and if it is red, it means you are below average and should consider dropping the price.

MissMotivation

WallyBird wrote: »

Housenetwork do provide useful information to help you decide whether or not to change the price. They send you statistics from Rightmove, which show how many people are searching for your type of house, and how many actually click through and view the details on your specific house. This is compared to averages - if it is green, it means you are getting a lot of clicks and so will probably get viewings, and if it is red, it means you are below average and should consider dropping the price.

Lots of EA's do this....along with a telephone call to actually explain what the stats mean.