Online estate agents, are they worth it? Which one?

drummerflea

Hi all. I have been browsing this forum for a while, while I was purchasing my property and now I want to sell.

I am in no rush to sell so am going to try an online estate agent in the hope of saving about £5000 on my sale.

I was wondering a couple of things and hope that the people on this forum can help!

I am thinking of either using Hatched.co.uk, or Housenetwork.co.uk.

On hatched.co.uk you can pay £199 up front and £199 on completion, or a couple of commision based deals but I don't want to use one of those.

On housenetwork you can use one of three price bands. Option 1 is £425 up front and no fee on completion, option 2 is £650 in total with £325 up front, and option 3 is £890 total with £145 up front.

Hatched looks the best value for money.

I was wondering though, with only £200 to pay on completion where is the incentive for the company to sell your property as quickly as possible while selling at the best price? Or if I used option 1 on Housenetwork I would have paid all the fees up front, where is their incentice to sell the property if they have already been paid?

Also, has anyone had any dealings with either of these companies? I am not sure which one to choose so any help on this forum would be greatly appreciated. I am also open to suggestion of other companies who offer a similar service.

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes interest to help me!

Incyder

if you type the 2 company names in the search box at the top right of this page, then select search forums, you will find lots of previous posts about them.

Doozergirl

I've pretty much given up answering Seriously, if you look back, I think there was one yesterday.

I like House Network.

drummerflea

I cant find one from yesterday?

I just wanted a more informative answer than the one's ive searched and found. Maybe i'm doing something wrong?

geoffky

never heard of them....being on rightmove is the most important thing..

Incyder

I'm fairly certain that the influx of brand new posters who come here just asking the same question about online agents, again and again, are just trying to bump the same old spammy posts to the top, again.
Advertising by the back door some call it, spamming is what it is.

evansmummy

Incyder wrote: »

I'm fairly certain that the influx of brand new posters who come here just asking the same question about online agents, again and again, are just trying to bump the same old spammy posts to the top, again.
Advertising by the back door some call it, spamming is what it is.

I think you're being a bit paranoid Incyder.
I only joined the forums a couple of months ago and asked the exact same question. If you're new to this you don't start looking back on old questions you just jump straight in.

There seems to be plenty of people who are currently using them but not much on people who have actually sold with them.
Having looked into it myself I was initially eager to use online estate agents but have started to question them a little.
My first thought was to go with Housenetwork on the £425 plus vat but have been put off as I too think there's no incentive and the higher priced options don't save you much compared to traditional EAs. Hatched looks a better option on the £199 upfront and £199 after. I see it as if they don't sell it I've only lost £199 and i can put it up with a local EA later. That's my thinking anyway.
If you have a desirable house in a souht after location I would go for the online EA's but if you aren't and the houses in the area are struggling to shift I would go with local EAs as they can cross sell your property to their exsisting client base.

ColU_FC

evansmummy wrote: »

There seems to be plenty of people who are currently using them but not much on people who have actually sold with them.

Good point. :T

I've got my house listed with an online estate agent. Previously I was with a bricks and mortar agent. I'm currently under offer STC. Once I've completed, please god pretty please, I'll write a worts and all analysis of my online estate agent. I'll start a new thread for it and if others add their actual experiences then perhaps this will be of use to others considering this route.

googler

drummerflea wrote: »

I cant find one from yesterday?

Scroll to page 4 - "Online Estate Agents -would you recommend?"

evansmummy

ColU_FC wrote: »

Good point. :T

I've got my house listed with an online estate agent. Previously I was with a bricks and mortar agent. I'm currently under offer STC. Once I've completed, please god pretty please, I'll write a worts and all analysis of my online estate agent. I'll start a new thread for it and if others add their actual experiences then perhaps this will be of use to others considering this route.

Great idea I think that'd help considerably!

drummerflea

Incyder wrote: »

I'm fairly certain that the influx of brand new posters who come here just asking the same question about online agents, again and again, are just trying to bump the same old spammy posts to the top, again.
Advertising by the back door some call it, spamming is what it is.

You think I'm spamming? how odd.

@ Evansmummy - thanks for the reply. I was thinking the exact same thing as you, think it's in a pretty desirable location and near to the station so I reckon it wouldn't be difficult to sell.. has a lot going for it but I want a freehold!

Will be going with Hatched, and will let everyone know how good they are.