housenetwork - a review

googler

It's weird because a phrase like "Has anybody used any of the other "online estate agents"? Been looking at housenetwork....." seems to carry the implication that you haven't used them before; but that's evidently not how you meant it....

hazyjo

I read their website the other day and I'm sure it said they didn't charge any more for joint agency and you could bring any other agent on board.

Presumably you'd more than likely be paying a higher percentage to the other EA though...

Jx

Tom72TT

If you pay upfront then you can go with other estate agents at no extra cost.

I've had letters from a couple of local EAs offering to market my house at a reduced fee, one at 0.8% after my house went up for sale with House network. If I get no sale after a few months I may take them up on it.

kindofaverage

Tom72TT wrote: »

If you pay upfront then you can go with other estate agents at no extra cost.

I've had letters from a couple of local EAs offering to market my house at a reduced fee, one at 0.8% after my house went up for sale with House network. If I get no sale after a few months I may take them up on it.

thanks Tom. This is they way our firends are thinking. What has annoyed them most is the personal touch that was initially promised to them. There have been good points and bad points given about housenetwork and they thought they would risk an initial one off payment with them. Everything seems to be by emai and they just want to speak to their 'personal' advisor.

tower_view

I have just sold my house through HN and used their conveyance service too.

Everything happens very fast from the moment you instruct. Everyone is very helpful and you can always get help on the phone or internet.

You need to understand the local market to make sure you market your home at the correct price (nationwide house price calculator will help with this, and check sold prices in your street with right move), as HN will not advise you on price. These days the public has access to almost all the same data as agents when it come to accurately pricing a home. The important thing you have to do as an individual is be realistic about your homes worth from a non-emotional point of view.

My only complaint would be managing pictures on the website. There are several platforms to display your property, brochure, HN website, right move. It gets confusing as to what picture is appearing where and the customer interface part of the website needs simplifying.

The conveyance service was very efficient also and it was helpful to be able to upload all the documents I could in advance of the sale, to make things run smooth when the sale came.

Overall their service is very good and the price is very good. High Street agents are just a glorified listing service. The fee's they charge in no way resemble the quality of service they provide, unlike HN.

Yasmin02

Hello
I have read reviews and am seriously considering putting our flat for sale on housenetwork. i have a few questions though

1 What is the best deal
2 Are they effective?
3 i have had three estate agents around giving a valuation of beween 170 to 180k most probably will go for top end and see what happens
4 Do they do boards
5 Can we also go with other agents at all?
6 I presume they come and take photos etc

Thanks any advice would be most appreciated as they appear to be quite good from reading the reviews.

Kind Regards

Yasmin

Hoof_Hearted

Yasmin02 wrote: »

Hello
I have read reviews and am seriously considering putting our flat for sale on housenetwork. i have a few questions though

1 What is the best deal
I think paying up front is best as you pay less. There is absolutely no difference in the service you get.
2 Are they effective? Yes
3 i have had three estate agents around giving a valuation of beween 170 to 180k most probably will go for top end and see what happens They will advise but you can decide on the marketing price.
4 Do they do boards Yes but we didn't need one -- most peple look on Rightmove.
5 Can we also go with other agents at all? You can but you would be wasting your money, There is no penalty with HN but other agents will charge their fees regardless of how little they do or if the house is sold through HN (unless the contract says otherwise).
6 I presume they come and take photos etc Yes and draw up plans and a description.

Thanks any advice would be most appreciated as they appear to be quite good from reading the reviews.

Kind Regards

Yasmin

You could also consider looking at their website.

kindofaverage

tanks for the info hoof hearted.
- 5 Can we also go with other agents at all? You can but you would be wasting your money, There is no penalty with HN but other agents will charge their fees regardless of how little they do or if the house is sold through HN (unless the contract says otherwise). -
If we went with another EA what should the contract read? sole agent? thanks again

Hoof_Hearted

I would suggest that you go with HN for a month or so initially to guage the response through Rightmove and other sites. We found that HN was sufficient and we sold very quickly with them for less than £400.

avr79

I have just sold my central/east London flat through HN and couldn't recommend them highly enough. For a flat that was most likely to be bought by young professionals who were predominantly searching online this really worked for us - we got the same price that the optimistic high street agents had told us we could get and yet saved several thousand by going online.

Have a look and compare the quality of a few different agents' photos through something like rightmove and you'll see that they give LOADS of photos (I think we had 25 photos for a 2 bed flat), and they use a ridiculously wide-angle lens which means a teeny London flat looks great online. As well as price, the quality of photos was a big deciding factor for me.

We preferred being able to be there to get the house in order and show it ourselves and answer questions on the spot, rather than having people wandering through whilst you're not there. The communication from the office was brilliant with really thorough voicemails and emails whenever they couldn't get hold of you, and if your account manager wasn't in then someone else just steps in and picks up using the notes on their system.

We expected it to take longer than a high street agent (and luckily weren't in any rush), but we listed our property in the weeks before Christmas (very quiet period) and then eventually accepted an offer in early March, and then exchanged yesterday (7 June), which puts us at about 6 months start to finish, which was better than expected.

I'm not saying it is for everyone - if you don't have the time to show the flat, or if you think your likely buyer is unlikely to be searching through rightmove, then perhaps not. But certainly for us it worked a charm.