Websites where houses are sold directly?

tigerminxy

Let's not ignore the fact that a lot of people don't use the internet. For people like us who frequent forums it might seem odd, but when I think about the people I know who don't even have an e-mail address, let alone think of using the internet for something like looking for a house, it becomes more obvious why traditional estate agents still prosper.

I hate having to pay EA fees as much as the next man, but they do still provide a service, especially to those who prefer to visit their offices or see particulars printed out.

spunkeyrich

I feel there is alot of negative thoughts about Estate Agents. I used to be one and if I sell my house now, i would use one.

To get the best possible price a home needs to be marketed to the maxium number of people. I fyour looking to buy one you visit the agents in the town to see whats available. The Fees agents charge seems alot if your sale procceeds to completion. This is a service that is not paid for, unless the agent sells the home. its a gamble that the agent will get paid, so they put in the work (or not in some cases) I used to have whole chains fall through that were close to exchange which effectively lost alot of money, no exchange no money. The successful sales made up for the unsuccessful ones. If people were willing to pay UP FRONT for the service Agents would be able charge an awfull lot less. But people are not willing. I tryed on a number of occasions without success. What other service do you get where the customer doesnt pay any money for work done? not many.

As tigerminxy says, there are a huge number of buyers who dont use the internet but if it becomes the norm then things might change. 99% of people want to view a home personally to get a feel of the place and at that time will visit agents to see if there anything similar.

You may think that is all the agents job is, to introduce a buyer then get paid. Nope, the negotiation part is very psychological and any decent agent will make his fees at that moment by getting a buying up in price, whereas a private seller may not have the experience in negotiating and therefore lose money that he never knew he could get.

Estate Agents are not bad people fleecing people of thier money, some are better than others like in all businesses, some are making a living just like you and me, so please dont make assumptions that all agents are bad.

Always negotiate a fee with an Agent that you are happy with. if your not happy then dont use them.

cheers

rich

Doozergirl

No one is saying that estate agents are bad. There are however people here who are prepared to do that job for themselves. It isn't rocket science. And yes, I know exactly what is involved, thanks!

Estate agents don't save chains from collapse, honest and clear communication does.

Of course 99% of people want to view a house! A private sale, or an 'internet' sale doesn't prevent people from arranging viewings.

The 'For Sale' board makes up for a huge proportion of viewings. It's perfectly feasible to parhaps wait a little longer if it saves you 1-2% of your sale price. From some of the success stories on here, however, it seems to work very well and people can acheive very quick sales. I can't see why people wouldn't want to use someone like Housenetwork.co.uk to sell their house at a cost of about £400. If I lived in London, I wouldn't even think twice! In my part of the world, I'd consider supplementing it with an ad in the local property paper.

If your property is aimed at certain sections of society, eg. FTBs or young families, I think you are almost guaranteed to get enough hits using internet.

moov-in

Doozergirl wrote:

No one is saying that estate agents are bad. There are however people here who are prepared to do that job for themselves. It isn't rocket science. And yes, I know exactly what is involved, thanks!

Estate agents don't save chains from collapse, honest and clear communication does.

Of course 99% of people want to view a house! A private sale, or an 'internet' sale doesn't prevent people from arranging viewings.

The 'For Sale' board makes up for a huge proportion of viewings. It's perfectly feasible to parhaps wait a little longer if it saves you 1-2% of your sale price. From some of the success stories on here, however, it seems to work very well and people can acheive very quick sales. I can't see why people wouldn't want to use someone like Housenetwork.co.uk to sell their house at a cost of about £400. If I lived in London, I wouldn't even think twice! In my part of the world, I'd consider supplementing it with an ad in the local property paper.

If your property is aimed at certain sections of society, eg. FTBs or young families, I think you are almost guaranteed to get enough hits using internet.

Teach a monkey to hand out enough property brochures on a street corner and you'll get people wanting to buy.

Anyone can get an acceptable offer, that's the easy part. And if moving were that easy then everybody would be fools to use agents.

However, according to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister nearly 30% of agreed sales fail to complete.

So the average estate agent is happy to accept this figure.

So the solution to the problem could be;
Do your research and find an agent with very low failure rates and you're onto a winner and they'll be worth every penny.

moov-in

courtjester wrote:

Don't run away with the idea that agent's 'valuations' are valuations at all, they are not. The only valuation is that done by a professional surveyor based on comparables of properties which have actually sold (provided for mortgage applications).

The problem you run into with this argument is where do you think surveyors get comparables? Daily I urge the surveyors to use nethouseprices to do comparable research and stop calling us, they really are a nuisance, but I'm told time and time again that this is no good to them because the land registry is missing vital information they need!

courtjester wrote:

Anything else is just a guess coloured by the agent's own self-interests (sales targets this month, over-valuation to obtain an instruction etc.) with a percentage added for negotiating room...

I totally agree with this and wish some agents had enough intelligence to produce factual hard evidence of their valuation. If vendors did their research first then called the agents, they'd know who was trying it on.

courtjester wrote:

WHICH have reported on numerous occasions the huge disparity between agents so-called values of property, showing clearly that they are only giving 'opinions' on the likely possible target area a buyer *may* be interested in making an offer - not a valuation.

All vendors (including those using an agent) should do their own research into local property prices, both asking and actual sold prices, in order to arrive at the 'benchmark' region at which you can set your own price by comparing property features and location of your property with those you are competing with (on the market - asking price) and those that have been sold at an agreed price (sold prices - land registry information available from a number of free websites).

Hooray! I wish there were more like you out there, this really is the answer. If more vendors did their initial research, working out who the scammers and tricksters are becomes simple and it will become seriously difficult for an idiot estate agent to scam you with an overvalue linked to a very long time agreement.

courtjester wrote:

There is no scientifically correct value to set your asking price - remember this is an "offer to treat" (open negotiations or guide) not a fixed price.

Redbedhead

fivemice wrote:

I don't know but thought I'd say Hi because I think I know you from the yellow forum?

Mousie x

Would the name of the yellow forum start with H? If so, I think I know you as well:D

Redbedhead

spunkeyrich wrote:

why privatly by the way. if you are selling you may miss out on getting a fair price for your home, if you are buying you wont know of all the properties in your location.

rich

I am checking all the estate agents and rightmove regularly, so would be looking at both. Just wanted to ensure I wasn't missing any houses really.

yellowlawn

I signed up with houseweb, I didn't even get a sniffing. TBH I still think it's early days and traditionally when your looking for a new house you tend to do the rounds with EA's.

The time for EA's to fear is when the likes of ASDA & Tesco's throw there two penneth into the ring.:beer:

And if anything they certainly need to regulate EA's officially not the crappy voluntary NAEA, which has as much clout as a Meat Pie.

Doozergirl

I'm just wondering how much clout a meat pie has. Thrown correctly it might cause a bit of a thud or temporary deafness in one ear?

BobProperty

Doozergirl wrote:

I'm just wondering how much clout a meat pie has. Thrown correctly it might cause a bit of a thud or temporary deafness in one ear?

Isn't "temporary deafness in one ear" a characteristic trait of EAs anyway?
Hope Lynz doesn't catch it