housenetwork - a review

beccad

not_loaded wrote: »

With my pamphlet I focused on what the wow factors were, and put those photos on, plus the school and local amenity details. If you go to your postcode on upmystreet, you’ll find loads of useful ‘local’ information.

Click on Read The Full Profile> (lower LH side) and you’ll find tabs for schools, transport, leisure & fun etc.

Some of our viewers were completely unaware of great facilities on our doorstep.

Will do that, although I'm not sure highlighting local schools will help sell the property in my particular case :rotfl: It's a 2-bed flat, first time buyer sort of place, so schools are probably less of an issue, but will definitely take into account all the other factors.

WallyBird

At last - our first viewing has been requested!

BUT... the viewer requested via the website, and entered their phone number incorrectly, so now we just have to wait and see if they turn up or not, because the viewing could not be confirmed!

Thanks for all the encouragment though.

SheppyD

Oh that is fabulous! Fingers crossed it is the start of many!

cashndash

fantastic news WB, let's hope they offer too!

RenStar

I'm having a somewhat very different experience of Housenetwork at the moment - we instructed them 2 weeks ago and paid for their 'fast-track' HIP -but their agent couldn't come to us until last Saturday. He came, took some pics and did the EPC thing. He said he'd have the details all ready for us to approve by Monday (just gone). On Monday, I got an email telling me my property site was ready for me to approve - I looked at it and the description he'd written was very poor so I had to redo it all over again but to be fair they changed it very quickly. He hadn't loaded all the pics he took so there was none of the hall or the landing and only one of the bathroom but I was ok to let that bit go.

What is really getting on my nerves is that up till now, they still can't market my property because they are still waiting for searches from the Council to come back for the HIP. My account manager kept saying he'll chase their HIP department but nothing is as yet forthcoming so today I have written them an email asking them to find out exactly what the hold up at the Council is so that we can at least work out what to do. I know it's not their fault if they are indeed waiting on the council but they really shouldn't market their HIPs that they can get everything they need to market the property in 48 hours as clearly they can't always meet that claim.

Perhaps mine is an isolated case but just more than a bit annoyed at the moment. By the sounds of things, you're all having a much better experience than I am - I just hope things improve soon.

irisandalex

RenStar wrote: »

On Monday, I got an email telling me my property site was ready for me to approve - I looked at it and the description he'd written was very poor so I had to redo it all over again but to be fair they changed it very quickly. He hadn't loaded all the pics he took so there was none of the hall or the landing and only one of the bathroom but I was ok to let that bit go.

I had a similar experience. I was less than impressed by the housenetwork details for my house, but when I rewrote them they were happy to make the changes. They also uploaded a couple of extra/replacment photos I took myself. In the end the online details (complete with the 360 degree views) were of very high quality compared to agents listings.

I got a higher sale price than local estate agents estimated in the end so with the low fees I was certainly happy overall.

RenStar wrote: »

What is really getting on my nerves is that up till now, they still can't market my property because they are still waiting for searches from the Council to come back for the HIP.

That sounds strange to me, I'm involved with trustedlocal.com so I'm getting HIP quotes for people from local HIP providers all the time. I was under the firm understanding that an agent could start marketing the property as soon as they had the EPC in place (with HIP ordered), with the searches following on behind.

cashndash

RenStar wrote: »

What is really getting on my nerves is that up till now, they still can't market my property because they are still waiting for searches from the Council to come back for the HIP.

that sounds strange to me too. I had to fill in the online form and then it went live as soon as the details were agreed and I hit the button to market it.

It could have been on the day after the chap came round, but I wanted to wait until later in the week.

RenStar

I really don't know what happened either as this was what HN told me too when they 'hard sold' me their HIP service. But, they got the searches back from the council last Friday and they started marketing our property from then so it's all ended well. It was on RM from last Saturday and I'm addicted to the hit counter - I think the majority of the 'hit's are probably me! The pics and virtual tours are so much better than I have seen by any other agent so quite happy with that.

So far, we have had just the one viewing (yesterday) - a young couple who were quite nice and said they liked it, especially the layout and gardens but were ideally after something bigger. Hopefully, there will be more interest over the coming weeks.

I have to admit that I am still sceptical that it's going to work - I guess I know too many estate agents who have filled my head with the best way to sell a house is to get people through the doors / no judging till property seen mantra but we shall see. Besides, it's such little money compared to what traditional agents are asking and their terms so much fairer. Fingers crossed we're as successful as some of you have been with HN and achieve a sale.

Thanks for reading my rant, I'm in a much better place now.........

Patr100

Interesting thread.
A question? Do House Network verify how serious potential viewers are eg if they have a mortgage agreed in principle to deter timewasters?

gld73

irisandalex wrote: »

That sounds strange to me, I'm involved with trustedlocal.com so I'm getting HIP quotes for people from local HIP providers all the time. I was under the firm understanding that an agent could start marketing the property as soon as they had the EPC in place (with HIP ordered), with the searches following on behind.

When I put my house on the market in September (completion tomorrow!), I was told by the estate agent that the laws on HIPs and when the house could be marketed had changed. They used to be able to advertise a house as soon as the HIP was ordered, but now can only do it when the HIP is ready. I don't know when the change in rules happened.