Online Estate Agents -would you recommend?

jimjames

We used Visum for letting via Rightmove and were very impressed. They also do sales but I've no experience of that. Price was excellent value for letting but you do need to do your own work - photos, viewings etc.

http://www.visum-sales.co.uk/

Hoof_Hearted

The estate agents on here love to throw mud at online agents as they are a significant business threat.

I love the idea that a high street agents will get the vendor more for their fat fee. A local agent valued our house a £385K with a worst case of £375K. We ended up with £410K with HouseNetwork.

We paid a flat fee up front and found the service to be excellent in every way. We always got feedback from viewers through HN, too.

It may not be for everybody, but it worked for us and it is probably the biggest money-saving tactic when moving house.

Well done,TVA, for identifying yourself as an EA. Other EA posters in this thread are not so honest.

I have posted before about HN as a very satisfied customer and one who has had very negative experiences of high street agents.

hotpot1000

I was very satisfied too when I sold through HN, I saw your account when you used them, all the viewings you had, etc and it swayed me to use them.

I moved in with parents and now am buying on to my next house which has been a nightmare, only 2 houses in the chain, both EA's did zero and so everyone wasnt kept informed, not like HN who chased everyone up for me and kept my sale on track.

my vendors have not been able to get their high st EA on the fone, theyve had to keep going into the office themselves.

Better_Days

TVA wrote: »

In terms of the negotiating a good EA will get you a higher price in many situations as we can read the clients - we've heard it all before.

I agree. But here lies the rub. How do you find a good EA? In the past I have sold three properties using EA's and none gave any assistance whatsoever with negotiation.

I have been looking for a property for around a year now and have had contact with most of the local EA's. They are all very slick when it comes to selling their services, but when it comes to selling properties it is a different matter. I think that if EA's put as much effort into selling properties as they do into promoting their services there would be a lot fewer people dissatisfied with EA's.

It is easy to see the attraction of the likes of Housenetwork when vendors are unable to identify what extra high street EA's offer in return for their (in some cases horrendously) higher fees. Although to be fair I would say that on the whole the Independent High St EA's seem to offer a better service.

TVA - as an EA - how would advise vendors to choose an EA, and especially how can vendor's identify an EA that will negotiate and work hard to progress a sale?

Hoof_Hearted

Better_Days wrote: »

Although to be fair I would say that on the whole the Independent High St EA's seem to offer a better service.

I wouldn't necessarily disagree with this. A local EA will do viewings and have better local knowledge than online agents.

However, living in the expensive south east, the difference in the flat rate fee of an online agent and a local EA's 1.5% commission is enormous, particualrly when VAT is added. We saved getting on for £7,000, all for the sake of doing a few viewings and a bit of research.

Better_Days

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

I wouldn't necessarily disagree with this. A local EA will do viewings and have better local knowledge than online agents.

However, living in the expensive souith east, the difference in the flat rate fee of an online agent and a local EA's 1.5% commission is enormous, particualrly when VAT is added. We saved getting on for £7,000, all for the sake of doing a few viewings and a bit of research.

I think I wan't quite clear Hoof Hearted. What I meant was that Independent High Street EA's seem to offer a better service than the Corporate High St EAs.

I am sorely tempted to use the likes of HN because I have been so underwhelmed by what the local EA's have to offer. The only thing that is discouraging me is that my property is likely to appeal to an older demographic who are not so likely to be internet savvy. In addition our local paper which comes out every Friday has a thriving property section in which all the local EA's advertise and which again older people are more likely to look at.

Hoof_Hearted

When we sold, we looked at it as a gamble. We though we would risk £400 on HN as we weren't in a hurry to sell. We thought we would be going to a local agent after a couple of months, but it all worked out really well for us. If you have an relatively expensive house, I think it's worth a shot.

clairibel

TVA wrote: »

As an EA I feel obliged to point out the drawbacks of these companies - I have taken over properties that they have been unable to sell. Firstly you pay upfront so they have no incentive to sell, secondly with most of them you will end up doing all the viewings and negotiating - some at least do no follow up what so ever on viewings and I have known them be unable to say who has viewed etc. In terms of the negotiating a good EA will get you a higher price in many situations as we can read the clients - we've heard it all before. In some areas there may also be issues with the valuations - most will be fine but they may not have the same level of local knowledge which in certain areas will cause problems. That said they are cheap, they advertise in the right places (although some just give your phone no to interested parties which may put viewers off) and you know what you are getting.

This is our dilemma at the moment, we have had it valued by EA and are thinking about online agencies as we need every penny we can save.

EA's round here leave all the viewings up to you and seem to need to be chased for feedback etc, my mum has just sold hers and they didn't even tell her that she had recieved a better offer after she said she would sleep on the original one :eek:

So it was a pleasant shock when she got her settlement letter but still she should have been told, i said she should go for a discount

What puts me off online is the people who don't have the internet could be our buyer, those who window shop the local EA's. We want to sell quite quick and will price it right.

Any advice pls?

richardw

Do all online agents use 08 telephone numbers generally?

MobileSaver

richardw wrote: »

Do all online agents use 08 telephone numbers generally?

I wouldn't know as all my dealings with House Network were through email/messaging; this was a huge benefit for me as it allowed me to respond late at night and automatically gave a paper trail as the sale progressed. High Street EAs seem to be way behind the times in their use of technology.