Recommend me an online Estate Agent

freddieD

Yes I am going to read the previous threads about online agents. My house asking price is £270,000 in the country. Is at the right price level for an online agent?
Another thing, do these online agents check the status of enquirers/people who make offers (or which ones do it the best) like local Estate Agents do? There is another thread here from a buyer complaining that the EA's are rather intrusive in their questions before they even show them the property, which is good from the seller's point of view. That's what I expect them to do.

From my point of view I am looking for someone who will do the best job selling the house rather than the cheapest.

Doozergirl

googler wrote: »

I didn't claim to have sold any, merely directed the OP to threads which he didn't seem to be aware of.

What 'vested interest' ???

You're a super-huge mega-fan of the high street estate agent.

And you constantly put House Network down and turn up on every 'internet EA' thread, despite never having had any personal experience of them. Why's that?

new_home_owner_3

Doozergirl wrote: »

It has never taken me six months to sell a house.

Wouldn't it actually be fair that if you took up six months of marketing that agents charged you proportionately for the services you use than charge you for other people?

I've seen people on HN up their asking price into the millions so that instead of officially withdraw it from the market they could take advantage again by dropping the price back, at their leisure, to something that people would consider. Abuse the system and everyone ends up paying for it? That's exactlywhat we pay for in the higher fees on the high street.

I've not used anoter internet agent but I would still rather pay for the services I use than pay the same % of a sale as someone who sticks their house on for too much money and then changes their mind after two years on the market. They get their marketing for free.

just remind me someone this is a moneysaving website isnt it?

I think its a safer bet not paying a fee up front as it encourages the estate agent to work for their commission.

Like i say i used both and housesimple were better in my opinion, ive also used online letting agents to advertise my property for rent and i never used housesimple i used urbansalesandlettings.

The thing is if housesimple sell your house you will be happy paying the 999 pound fixed fee, if they dont sell it you dont pay anything.

If Housenetwork sell your house they get a fee ,and if they dont sell it they still get paid a fee, so they have nothing to gain by selling your house.

new_home_owner_3

wodgerdodger wrote: »

For accuracy's sake on this same page it does show that a current offer they are running if you choose Otion 1 then you will in fact get 12 months marketing as against 6 on their other options.

thats great but most estate agents dont charge this fee.

googler

Doozergirl wrote: »

You're a super-huge mega-fan of the high street estate agent.

A preference, not a vested interest.

Housenetwork have no presence in Scotland, and that was my main criticism of them when I first posted here. It's a statement of fact, not 'running them down'.

Others have provided their experience of their customer service, why shouldn't I direct interested parties to it if they ask?

wodgerdodger

new_home_owner wrote: »

thats great but most estate agents dont charge this fee.

True, but assuming it is priced correctly I would hope to sell within 12 months and I would much prefer to pay just over £400 plus VAT ( currently 17.5%) rather than £4050 plus vat at 20%.

It all comes down to what extra service you expect to get from an EA. We have recently taken ours off the market after 3 months with an EA who whilst promising the earth in fact only carried out 1 accompanied viewing we did the other 10!!!!!. In several of these we even had to print off the property details as the viewers had just seen it on Rightmove and hadnt even been into the EA's office to arrange the viewing as was all done over the phone.

In any case most of the viewings were outside 9-5 or a weekend and agent already booked up or unavailable to accompany so we were, not unhappily, left to show them around pourselves.

I dont think the agent we chose was any better or worse than the norm and we have otherwise had a good relationship with them apart of course not selling the house !!

When we next market ,probably very early next year we will go down the Homenetwork route ourselves.

Doozergirl

new_home_owner wrote: »

just remind me someone this is a moneysaving website isnt it?

I think its a safer bet not paying a fee up front as it encourages the estate agent to work for their commission.

Indeed it is a money saving website and I've saved thousands by only paying £400 odd to sell a house. Paying upfront has never been an issue, the houses have moved quickly. I wouldn't have saved that much money if I was afraid of paying upfront, yet the houses would still have sold. If I'm selling a house, I'm selling it. What's the risk? I can take control of my own listing and sell it myself with the help of some nice marketing. Bargain.

And that's because I know that it's ultimtely my own responsibility to sell a house, not the estate agent. I don't believe that online agents are for people that need their hand holding at all. You have to responsible for yourself.

freddieD

Looking at this thread, and others, 90% of the talk about online EAs is about Housenetwork and Housesimple. Is the choice really between these two only? or is it that few people have used other online agents so there are not many people here who have had experience with them?

How common is it for people to use joint agents, one being high street and the other online? Having joint agents both being either high street or online seems like a duplication that can lead buyers to believe that the property is unsellable, e.g when they see the two boards at the property.

Ju&Mel

Anyone used 'hatched'?

new_home_owner_3

ive used housesimple, housenetwork, wow property and urban sales and lettings, and out of all of them i would choose housesimple again.

Ive also used 5 traditional estate agents and to to be honest all but one of them where full !!!!!!.