housenetwork - a review

Davesnave

emmamack wrote: »

I thought I'd try to set the record straight so to speak.

You have a posting record and a joining date years old. This puts you in a different league from those no-post-newbies who come here to talk up a product/service, or bad-mouth others, purely for their own ends.

People quickly learn which posts to ignore, or at least treat with a high degree of scepticism. That's what the stats are there for (though they also indicate which of us sad folk spend too much time here! :rotfl:)

jamesperrett

Patr100 wrote: »

How do you check and confirm your protential purchaser has the funds to complete so you're not defrauded/messed about?
What do EAs do to confirm this to themselves?

In my experience there isn't that much that either you, or an estate agent, can really do apart from talk to the purchaser and get a feel for what they are like. With our last sale, our purchaser's funding seemed to disappear for a while so we were hanging around not knowing whether we had a sale or not - and this was with a decent agent involved. I didn't commit to spending any money on our purchase until our buyer had done a survey as that's a sure sign that they are serious.

James.

pewpewbarneymcgrew

Just a word of warning about Housenetwork.co.uk - we recently committed to their service and after a couple of weeks were dissatisfied with their level of service - they seem to close their office when they feel like it without providing cover so potential viewers aren't able to arrange viewings. Our complaints fell on deaf ears - their excuse was that they only received 2 complaints so weren't interested (!). There's been no offer of a refund (or even partial) so we've delisted our property with them at our expense and are using a traditional estate agent instead. It's more expensive, but the levels of service are much better. Would advise anyone considering using them to pay as little money up-front, or use another firm.

aless02

Patr100 wrote: »

I've thought of a crucial question.
You try to sell privately or through say HouseNetwork.
You get an offer.
How do you check and confirm your protential purchaser has the funds to complete so you're not defrauded/messed about?
What do EAs do to confirm this to themselves?
I don't think Solicitors would be involved in this process til it's much later.

EAs will ask for proof of funds for the deposit - so a bank statement where the money is kept. Then you'd need the mortgage offier, which comes from the mortgage company. Could a private seller not just do the same?

Racky_Roo

Hi, sold my house with Housenetwork back in July and yes they do ask for proof of funds.

My only gripe is that I gave the buyer of my house my mobile phone number so we could arrange exchange of the keys and she has text me a few times to whinge about "issues" since. I text back the first time, but have since ignored her. It might be best to see if friends could do the exchange of keys to avoid this!

richardw38

We used House Network to sell our house in Birmingham. We have very good comunication during the sale, and had several viewings booked. We have sold the house recently, and are very happy.

We have our forsale sign on ebay now!.

googler

richardw38 wrote: »

We have our forsale sign on ebay now!.

Why on earth would you put the sign on eBay?

taxiphil

googler wrote: »

Why on earth would you put the sign on eBay?

The signs cost £48 extra on top of House Network's package prices, so he's recouping a few quid by selling it on eBay (as opposed to just throwing it in the bin) and giving someone else an opportunity to get a sign for less than £48.

googler

Why can't Housenetwork re-use them, same as any other agent would do?

emmamack

Patr100 wrote: »

I've thought of a crucial question.
You try to sell privately or through say HouseNetwork.
You get an offer.
How do you check and confirm your protential purchaser has the funds to complete so you're not defrauded/messed about?
What do EAs do to confirm this to themselves?
I don't think Solicitors would be involved in this process til it's much later.

Just thought I'd let you know - the chap we were dealing with at House Network didn't formally let us accept our offer until he'd seen a faxed copy of our first time buyers mortgage agreement in priciple from their IFA.

Seen another person's comments re opening hours - I guess that's the only thing I forgot to mention, HN phone lines aren't open on a Sunday. Found that a bit odd but it wasn't really a big deal as you can still send communication through their online system and that allows for last min viewing cancellations etc.

In terms of customer service, I have to say I thought they were spot on - very polite, always came back to me quickly. I work in marketing and tend to be quite fussy about service and promotional material. I'd use them again.