Any info on House Network?

kent_lady

Hi

Does anyone have any info about HOUSE NETWORK? They have just sold a house over the road from me and I called them last week to discuss how they work. They told me that they have 3 "Plans" - and that the more that's paid up front, the cheaper any package will be. They state that they will measure, photograph and market my house on rightmove, zoopla etc for an upfront payment of £399 and then a further £75, total £474. This is much cheaper than an estate agent, even at 1% and so I wondered if anyone's dealt with them/heard any success or horror stories about them?

Thanks!

GAH

There have been some good reviews about them on here.

They are obviously cheap as it is just an advert on the internet, compared to an agent that will do everything for you and ususally won't charge you until exchanged contracts.

The main thing in this market is properties that are priced correctly will get interest, properties that aren't price correctly, won't.

kent_lady

GAH - thanks for that. I did do a search on here but couldn't find them :undecided. I'll wait to see what the concensus is before making a decision .

googler

The more you pay upfront (non-refundable?) the more you lose if they don't sell it for you. You normally don't pay a regular EA until your house sells.

Yes, they're cheap, but as someone else said around here - "Cheap fees don't sell houses" (Yes, OK, they sold the one across the road - but you can't say they sold it because they were cheap)

The extent of their promotion is placing you on websites.

No local promotion, no high-street presence, nothing in print. No local knowledge, no local networking, no cross-promotion between properties, no promotion of your property when the agent is talking about or viewing another. You have to do your own viewings. You'll probably determine your own asking price because whoever arrives from HN to photograph your house will be travelling from a distant call-centre.

Essentially, it's cheap because it's only part of what an agent should be doing to promote your property - it's just an internet listing.

Plenty of previous threads, but search their trading name, which is Housenetwork - all one word

Hoof_Hearted

Googler, of course, is a high street estate agent scared stiff of the new kid on the block. My tip is use HouseNetwork or similar initially as you are only gambling a small amount of money compared with the thousands traditional agents charge. Do avail yourself of the free valuations agents like Googler provide, althought they are rarely accurate as they over value to get the instruction.

I had an excellent experience with HN and sold my house for less than £400 in fees. The majority of people search Rightmove and other sites when looking for a property and HN uses these sites.

I don't think there is any disadvantage to paying a smaller amount up front as you get the same excellent service.

Hoof_Hearted

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3512893

googler

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

.....you are only gambling a small amount of money compared with the thousands traditional agents charge.

...but they only charge when the house is sold; so there's no 'gambling' involved.

Hoof_Hearted

I guess if your house is not going to sell, then go with a high street agent who will charge nothing (in most cases).

If you think you house will sell then save shed loads of money by going with an online agent. What high street agents do is over-rated for most properties. I saved £6,800 by going with HN.

googler

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

Googler, of course, is a high street estate agent .......

Yet you're the one perpetually banging the drum for one online agent, and one online agent alone........ hmm. Why would that be?

Hoof_Hearted

googler wrote: »

Yet you're the one perpetually banging the drum for one online agent, and one online agent alone........ hmm. Why would that be?

To be fair, the thread is about HouseNetwork, although I do use the term "online agent" frequently as there are others. I "bang the drum" for them, as you put it, because:

1) I had excellent service from them
2) I saved £6,800 against a high street agent's 1.5%
3) This is a money saving forum and there is loads of money to be saved. HN claims to have saved £16.5 million for sellers against the 1.5% high street agents charge.
4) HN doesn't play silly games with phantom bids, over valuations, lies and subterfuge, dodgy contracts, etc.

I have absolutely no connection with HN, other than as a satisfied customer. I do dislike high street agents as I have witnessed their commission-led dodgy tactics. Much better to take commission out of the equation. Wherever there is commission, it seems that misselling is not far behind.

WebGuru

Googler represents high street agents who charge you a commission of many thousands of pounds when your house sells and will try and rip apart any argument for saving money on estate agent commission.

He is the only one that thinks estate agent commission represents value for money.