housenetwork - a review

googler

Patr100 wrote: »

Obviously the final decision and judgement is yours as the seller, but do HN advise somehow on what they would recommend as an initial asking price or do you have to do the homework there all yourself?

Depending on where you are and where the HN rep is travelling from, it's possible/probable that they'll have zero knowledge of your local market, and they'll just be using the same online tools that are available to you. Just knowing what's sold isn't enough.

suestew

I have not read all the comments on this subject as too many, but below is my honest experience using House Network:

In 2007 I put up my flat with them, I had one viewing and that person purchased my property. I also used them to buy my next property at the same time. So a good experience but possibly just good luck. Do not use the solicitor's they recommend though.

End of last year I persuaded my other half to put his London flat up on HN, we got one viewing and they had just started looking and didn't know where they wanted to live in London so pretty much time wasters, after that not a sausage, even when we dropped the price as it was up too high to begin with (bad advice from an EA). We decided after 2-3 months to go with an EA who sold it for us. We still kept our property on HN but in over 6-7 months one viewing is just not good.

I had high hopes of using them again and I still don't understand why we didn't get more viewings as they advertise on RM but second time round was just a waste of money really.

Windsorcastle

Patr100 wrote: »

Obviously the final decision and judgement is yours as the seller, but do HN advise somehow on what they would recommend as an initial asking price or do you have to do the homework there all yourself?

HN do not give a valuation - they allow you to set the price. Just get 3 local agents round to value it and base your asking price on those.

googler

Windsorcastle wrote: »

HN do not give a valuation - they allow you to set the price. Just get 3 local agents round to value it and base your asking price on those.

... and people are surprised at high-street EAs charging more than online agents. Hmm.

Hoof_Hearted

Most local agents offer a wonderful free valuation service. It can't be totally relied on, but will give you some idea.

safsnowball

I promised an update of my Housenetwork experience. The agent came today at 1145 to take photos and measure up for the floor plans, by 1700 I received an email to say the completed advert was ready online for checking and approval. Access to the draft ad allowed for changes to the text, alteration to photos etc. All my amendments were approved within minutes and the full ad went live on the HN network before 1800.

Really pleased with the quality and variety of photos taken.

Lets see if we sell.

For anybody interested here's a link to the HN ad

http://www.housenetwork.co.uk/my_site.asp?id=peterbclg&house=1

Hoof_Hearted

It looks a very nice, well-presented house.

crow99

So, I have listed my House on HouseNetwork and am under offer after just over a week. My decision was made based on a lot of reviews on the Internet so I thought it only fair I do the same.

I was initially a little disappointed with the guy who came round as I had asked for a 'Market Appraisal' with a view to list it depending on what was said but that message hadn't got through to the HN Rep so he was in a bit of a hurry. Their valuation fee was ridiculous and was about two years out of date and was 10% less than I have it under offer for. Similarly the guy didnt seem to ask the same detailed questions that traditional estate agents did.

Aside from that as it was £565 all in I thought I'd give it a punt as I knew my market value, strategy for selling and firmly believe the two things that make it work - listed on Rightmove / Zoopla / Prime Location and great photos.

The guy took a load of photos and floorplans and within two days I had a email to log on and amend my listing.

The floorplan was great but didnt include measurements, although room sizes were on the website I'd have liked them to be on the floorplan.

Photowise the quality of the images were excellent although I noticed a couple of things that I didnt move as he went from room to room and think it was due to the hurry he was in that I didnt have a chance. Like the kitchen tea towel, toilet lid being down. Overall I was happy with all of them except the front of the house which I thought could be better.

Onto the listing, their default listing text was appalling - me and the gf basically wrote it from scrap, I really liked that I could and to me it was a big benefit but wouldnt be for everyone. Their text contradicted parts between starter home and family and didnt emphasis any of the good points. Similarly they had too many photos listed and they were in no particular order.

The platform you use is awesome though, you can edit the photo's, upload more, change the order of everything and write anything you want. In essence you are paying for some photos, a application to use and the fact they list.

From a viewing perspective they have all been done through the telephone and their online system, all the viewers have said how good they were and so far been great through the sale.

We are now looking for someone to do the conveyancing as have no local knowledge and I have used Beaumont Legal previously.

Overall I would use them again (so far) but I'd ensure I spent more time with the HN Rep as he took photos and agreed them before he left and secondly you ave to be willing to list, negotiate and manage everything yourself - realise you are buying a platform.

Lots of comments, hope it helps someone.

House below!
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40556152.html

Tancred

crow99 wrote: »

So, I have listed my House on HouseNetwork and am under offer after just over a week. My decision was made based on a lot of reviews on the Internet so I thought it only fair I do the same.

I was initially a little disappointed with the guy who came round as I had asked for a 'Market Appraisal' with a view to list it depending on what was said but that message hadn't got through to the HN Rep so he was in a bit of a hurry. Their valuation fee was ridiculous and was about two years out of date and was 10% less than I have it under offer for. Similarly the guy didnt seem to ask the same detailed questions that traditional estate agents did.

Aside from that as it was £565 all in I thought I'd give it a punt as I knew my market value, strategy for selling and firmly believe the two things that make it work - listed on Rightmove / Zoopla / Prime Location and great photos.

The guy took a load of photos and floorplans and within two days I had a email to log on and amend my listing.

The floorplan was great but didnt include measurements, although room sizes were on the website I'd have liked them to be on the floorplan.

Photowise the quality of the images were excellent although I noticed a couple of things that I didnt move as he went from room to room and think it was due to the hurry he was in that I didnt have a chance. Like the kitchen tea towel, toilet lid being down. Overall I was happy with all of them except the front of the house which I thought could be better.

Onto the listing, their default listing text was appalling - me and the gf basically wrote it from scrap, I really liked that I could and to me it was a big benefit but wouldnt be for everyone. Their text contradicted parts between starter home and family and didnt emphasis any of the good points. Similarly they had too many photos listed and they were in no particular order.

The platform you use is awesome though, you can edit the photo's, upload more, change the order of everything and write anything you want. In essence you are paying for some photos, a application to use and the fact they list.

From a viewing perspective they have all been done through the telephone and their online system, all the viewers have said how good they were and so far been great through the sale.

We are now looking for someone to do the conveyancing as have no local knowledge and I have used Beaumont Legal previously.

Overall I would use them again (so far) but I'd ensure I spent more time with the HN Rep as he took photos and agreed them before he left and secondly you ave to be willing to list, negotiate and manage everything yourself - realise you are buying a platform.

Lots of comments, hope it helps someone.

House below!
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40556152.html

You seem to forget that yes, YOU have to do some work! HN is not for those who want to leave everything to the agent - if you wanted that approach then you should have used a High St agent. And for valuations you should have used some High St agents - why didn't you?

crow99

Tancred wrote: »

You seem to forget that yes, YOU have to do some work! HN is not for those who want to leave everything to the agent - if you wanted that approach then you should have used a High St agent. And for valuations you should have used some High St agents - why didn't you?

YOU seem to have not read my post properly, I'm more than happy to do some of the work and you can read that I actually liked that fact. It was a major reason in choosing them. I didn't want that approach and therefore didn't use a high street agent, simarly I did get valuations and mention I knew my strategy. I've been recommending House Network to my friends but my review was meant to be a in depth summary for people who to decide what works for them as everyone might not be aware of the process.