housenetwork - a review

RenStar

Patr100 wrote: »

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?

I'm not sure that they do to that level although they say they ID check people who enquire to check that they are who they say they are before sending them to view. My understanding is that they do more in depth checks at the point at which an offer is made (finances, chains etc). I think this is what most agents do.

The HN agent who came around to do our pics and particulars said that they took that many pictures and provided the virtual tours so that people who just wanted a nose around could do so on-line. They said they found that people who requested viewings with them tended to be more serious so as a result you got less viewings but more serious buyers and this does seem to fit with the experience that people who have sold with them have.

WallyBird

RenStar wrote: »

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.

Lucky you - at least you have a viewing! We are still waiting for our first - the one we thought we had did not leave the correct phone number so could not be contacted to arrange the time. We waited in all day on the day they had requested, just incase - but they did not turn up.

Hopefully, since you have had one viewing, you will get more soon.

RenStar

WallyBird wrote: »

Lucky you - at least you have a viewing! We are still waiting for our first - the one we thought we had did not leave the correct phone number so could not be contacted to arrange the time. We waited in all day on the day they had requested, just incase - but they did not turn up.

Hopefully, since you have had one viewing, you will get more soon.

Thank you. I'm sorry to hear about your viewer, that must have been frustrating to say the least! It works both ways, we're moving 15 miles to be near my mum and aunt and were on our way to view a property this afternoon. About 10 mins to destination, the EA calls to say the vendors have decided to pull the house off the market. This was our second viewing, arranged over a week ago and they tell us 10 mins before we get there :mad:

It's a difficult time of year to be trying to sell so I don't think you're alone in having little or no viewings. We've decided to leave our property on till the end of this month and if we get no where, we plan to take it off and restart again at the end of Feb next year when hopefully activity picks up.

Good luck with your sale and hope things pick up for you soon.

catmiaow

Surprised to hear such positive comments - I haven't had a single viewer in the month it's been up with them and my house is up for a good price. Haven't heard anything from House Network, complete waste of money!

Doozergirl

catmiaow wrote: »

Surprised to hear such positive comments - I haven't had a single viewer in the month it's been up with them and my house is up for a good price. Haven't heard anything from House Network, complete waste of money!

I wouldn't expect to hear anything from them. It's quite clear that they are not going to hold your hand through the process.

What are you comparing your price to if you know it is a good price? I genuinely do not believe that the agent you use makes much of a difference if you have good looking marketing material and the house is priced correctly. I think once you get up into a certain price bracket then buyers start to expect more of a service from agents but my own experience in the past of House Network is that they were as good as any of the bog standard high street agents, just cheaper.

The proof is indeed in the pudding and you will find out when your new agent starts marketing the property.

catmiaow

Doozergirl wrote: »

I wouldn't expect to hear anything from them. It's quite clear that they are not going to hold your hand through the process.

What are you comparing your price to if you know it is a good price? I genuinely do not believe that the agent you use makes much of a difference if you have good looking marketing material and the house is priced correctly. I think once you get up into a certain price bracket then buyers start to expect more of a service from agents but my own experience in the past of House Network is that they were as good as any of the bog standard high street agents, just cheaper.

The proof is indeed in the pudding and you will find out when your new agent starts marketing the property.

I don't expect them to hold my hands, I do however expect them to contact people who are interested in my property and make some effort to sell it.

I can't see how their a good price if they I am not getting any viewings, simply a waste of money!

pault123

Is this housenetwork "boom" in certain areas? i've just had a look for all types of house for sales under £150k and in Manchester there are less than 4 properties!

on rightmove there are over 480.

Doozergirl

pault123 wrote: »

Is this housenetwork "boom" in certain areas? i've just had a look for all types of house for sales under £150k and in Manchester there are less than 4 properties!

on rightmove there are over 480.

They are just spread out. The number of properties in each area is irrelevant with them really as the point of them is that you get the property on rightmove which is where pretty everyone looks. So if they are looking in a certain area, the house will come up.

Doozergirl

catmiaow wrote: »

I don't expect them to hold my hands, I do however expect them to contact people who are interested in my property and make some effort to sell it.

I can't see how their a good price if they I am not getting any viewings, simply a waste of money!

They won't contact people for you. They respond to requests to view. You are not paying for a pro-active service. But if someone is looking to buy in your area and you property fits the bill, they will view it.

It's automatic for some people to blame agents when the viewings don't come but I personally see it as my 90% my responsibilty to get the house sold - make sure that I'm doing everything I can and that everything the EA is presenting for me is right.

I did ask what you've based your asking price on - if you think it's good, how do you know it's good? Do you have too many photographs up? Have you edited them down on the HN website or are there 57 pictures of the loo on rightmove? It's important to show the good bits and entice people to view the house. Some people think that making someone feel like they've already viewed means that you only get really interested viewers - if that is the case then perhaps no-one is really interested.

What is the market doing around you? Are the other houses coming to market going under offer as well? How do those houses compare to you?

superpacman1972

catmiaow wrote: »

I don't expect them to hold my hands, I do however expect them to contact people who are interested in my property and make some effort to sell it.

I can't see how their a good price if they I am not getting any viewings, simply a waste of money!

It is important with any agent, Housenetwork or otherwise, to fully check out before you sign with them for what they offer in terms of service and how it meets your expectations.

Housenetwork don't have a list of potential buyers or leads in an area, so they wont contact them to promote your property, and they don't anywhere claim to offer this service.

When someone is interested in viewing your property, Housenetwork will get in touch with you. At least that is what has been our experience.

It sounds like you might be better off with a typical standard estate agent if this is the kind of service you want, although many these days also don't do this either.

We have been with them for almost 2 months and had 14 viewings, 1 low offer, but crucially no sale.

The weakest thing we have found with them is how they handle the offer process. It is rather poor, but everything else has been very good.