housenetwork - a review

becs

I would say definately go for it Wallybird. My parents have been looking for a new house for the past 2 years now (very fussy mother!) My dad is 65 and Mum is nearly 60 and 90% of their search has been on rightmove. My mum didn't even know how to turn the computer on 2 years ago but her desire to look at houses all the time has meant she has learnt to switch it on, bring up the internet and log onto rightmove! So I would say definately rightmove is the way to go which was our main reason for chosing Housenetwork because of the presence on there.
Good luck!

beccad

I have been reading this thread with interest as my husband and I are looking to sell our flat soon, and we wanted to avoid the traditional estate agent mainly because of the costs.

I think House Network will probably be better for us because there's more properties listed in our area, and presumbly that means more buyers being drawn in via all the portals that they use.

23rdspiral

thanks for all the chat and advice. we are just about ready to bring our house to market and have been quite puzzled over how to do it. there's 2 estate agents in our little town but one is very devious (property still on their website 3 months after it sold!:eek:) so the other one is very complaicant, and has been trying to sell our neighbours house since May.

so we are wondering about Housenetwork but my OH worries because there are no propertys with them anywhere near ours (near market harborough) - do people with experience think this is a problem?

chickmug

HN lack of similar in your area is not a problem in my eyes.

When I was trading far more enquiries came in by email than post or person. The reality is we could of operated from a desert island and done just as well. Except for getting to valuation appointments as I dont have a boat and get sea sick.

not_loaded

If someone wants your house they’ll buy it regardless of the EA, and regardless of other houses on the market locally. They’ll view the ones they want to view, and make their decision.

If someone doesn’t want your house they won’t buy it.

Your two local EAs sound dismal!

becs

Hi
When we put ours on the market house network were very new and there were no properties with them within a 100 mile radius of ours and I don't think it mattered. I think as most people say a huge proportion are looking on right move and really don't pay much attention to the agent that is marketing the property. I think if anything it may have encouraged more people because their details on the property are so extensive that you already know so much about the property before a potential buyer would contact them. If they only had 1 photo say of the outside of a property then maybe a potential buyer would have some concerns but to be honest I never bothered contacting any agent with that situation because I thought the inside was obviously too bad to show therefore not interested.

WallyBird

I agree with Becs - I have thought the same thing myself - if there are no pictures, the inside must be too bad to show! With lots of pictures and a plan, people can tell if the house is likely to suit them, even before they see it.

I am feeling very positive about this now - all your support is much appreciated. Just got to make the house look nice now!

19vivat

i have just seen this thread. so presumably you have to show the people around yourselves (viewing I mean). I wondered two things: what happens about the hips package? what happens about the mortgage? I mean do house network follow up things in the way high street agents do?? thanks for any info.

23rdspiral

Thanks everyone for the advice and comment - i'll tell the OH that lack of other properties isnt a problem when using HouseNetwork. Just gotta persuade him it's ok to use people he hasnt met!

becs

Yes you do the viewings yourself but in my experience of estate agents most are very reluctant to do viewings these days and also nobody can actually sell a property like you can yourself. You know the good points of the area, you know the positives of your own house and you'll be much more likely to be ina position to answer questions that viewers have. My parents had a very expensive property on the market a couple of years ago and they ended up putting it with a high end agent which was totally the right thing to do for their property. However despite being in a position to earn nearly £10k commission from the sale they only did the viewings when my parents couldn't be there! I even had to drive 40 miles to their house to do a viewing when they were away because the agent wouldn't/couldn't!
As for mortgages well if you read my earlier post mortgages and estate agents should never go hand in hand! Any buyer with an ounce of common sense would see a professional broker or research the mortgage themselves and steer well clear of commission based sales of mortagges through the agents.
Once you accept an offer on a property it's in the hands of solicitors so all mortgage chasing etc would be done through your solcitor to your buyers solicitors.