housenetwork - a review

Davesnave

crow99 wrote: »

Lots of comments, hope it helps someone.

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

That's about the best and most detailed review we've had. People can understand fully what they're buying into here.

It's fair to say that many people are now savvy enough to work alongside their agents, regardless of whether they're high street or internet, improving the end result. When I last sold in 2008, the pictures were a mix of theirs and mine, as was the blurb. I also Photoshopped the main picture, because agents weren't into that then. Much has changed in the 5 years since.

As a collector of agents' faux pas, I've noticed a sad decline in the really good ones over the last 5 years or so. I put this down to more vendors editing the text before it goes live, but it might be Mr Microsoft too. It seems the days of reading about a "close nit community, delightfully situated beside the Severn, famous for its boar" are long gone.

googler

Davesnave wrote: »

I also Photoshopped the main picture

To achieve ... what?

Davesnave

googler wrote: »

To achieve ... what?

To achieve a better picture. Did you think it was to hide something?

Hoof_Hearted

That's a pretty fair review -- HN is not perfect for everybody. The editing system is very good and I would want to edit what a high street agent would write. As stated elsewhere, I wouldn't bother using HN for valuations. Local agents are a better bet -- they offer free valuations (a great free service). The main thing is that online agents do save you a lot of money, especially on dearer houses.

googler

Davesnave wrote: »

To achieve a better picture. Did you think it was to hide something?

Sorry, I didn't ask that very well. What did you change to make it 'better' ?

Davesnave

googler wrote: »

Sorry, I didn't ask that very well. What did you change to make it 'better' ?

I just enhanced colours, and removed a few shadows, but I was also around to shoot the picture at the right time, which was when it was bright, but not in full sunshine. Rendered buildings can look terrible if hit by bright light from an angle which throws deep shadows and emphasises surface imperfections.

The agent took pictures on two occasions, but they were both lifeless. It isn't always possible for an agent to just turn up at the right moment in good weather conditions.

I know some agents add blue sky and fluffy clouds nowadays. I see nothing wrong with that, if it's done with reasonable skill. I'd not be happy if they cloned-out something ugly in the environment, like a pylon.

I remember, I had to keep the neighbour's rusty, orange VW caravette out of the frame! :rotfl:

crow99

I've also had great feedback from everyone of my viewings about how friendly and informative it was with the vendor themselves - not trying to make out I've done anything special but I think HN basically give you all the tools to sell your house better than the local estate agents - depending on how you use them will depend on your success.

I know it was the perfect set-up for me, I had initial reservations but their system and the freedom I was afforded more than made up for it. That said I know my sister would rather pay more and have someone do it for her and would therefore be better off with a traditional EA. Net result is I think you get out what you put in.

Saved circa £2.5K compared to Haart and also achieved a price around what they thought I could so its not like I sold under market value.

Hoof_Hearted

crow99 wrote: »

Saved circa £2.5K compared to Haart ...

I think this is the whole point!

reilly961

I have read many of the above comments with interest. I am an estate agent in a small village where I have seen 2 properties sell recently though HN and a third not sell. I fully understand people wanting to save money by using them.
Finding a buyer is not the difficulty part when the market is a strong as it is at the moment, it is just a matter of putting the right asking price on it.
Agents of my ilk have years of experience and are happy to give advice on many things, not just an idea of value.
This business is not what it used to be, competition between agents has pushed the agency fees down over the last 5 yrs. The average is now 1%. Many agents, even in this 'affluent' area have struggled to stay in business since 2008, even now our branch is not making a profit. We are the number 1 agent in quite a wide area.
With transactions taking months to go through due to lenders ever increasing caution and strict lending criteria, most deals remain fragile until the exchange of contracts. Our experience becomes very important during the process. We help take on the significant stress involved with a sale and purchase.
I am aware that some agents are not as good as others, so many of you will not see the value in that comment.

Our free valuations take preparation time, time is money.

If you are getting a free valuation in order use HN at least consider for a moment the plight of the agent.
Peter

nikkiowilson

I have read some of the above reviews with interest and read reviews here a few weeks ago when we were considering selling my mother-in-laws bungalow ourselves, rather than through an agent (I am writing this review on my wife's MSE account). We found that an online agent, such as housenetwork, seemed ideal for us. The reviews were not perfect but were generally good and we wanted to have full control of selling.

Local estate agents wanted about £5,000 to sell our property and we have paid just over £800 to housenetwork for their Star Buy package although we probably didn't need to spend that. The upgrade included things such as a For Sale board which they charge £50 for (expensive for a corrugated board). I didn't realise they only supply a corrugated plastic sign, no post, and erect it yourself (in fact their contract states a board will be erected and maintained by Countrywide Signs etc. etc. but they said that was out of date). Thankfully, I am a builder so no problem to do. The EPC which is an extra to the standard package is a compulsory item for selling your property (not compulsory to purchase via housenetwork). They include it in the Star Buy package or charge £95 + vat separately. In fact the agent who came to the house was not yet qualified to do the EPC and they subcontracted it to Justepc (who charge £35 according to their website so we could have saved there).

The photo's were mainly very good but we had prepared well and cleared the house of all clutter, cut down overgrown bushes and mowed the lawn etc, etc. However we are keen photographers and have a very wide angle camera ourselves so were able to replace any photo's we weren't delighted with, with our own and add many extra. The floorplan they did was pretty good but I added my own version as a jpeg image as I did a more accurate version. Their description was not very good and full of spelling and grammatical mistakes such as 'in a sort after location'. The great thing is that is just a starter as you can rewrite it yourself, which we did. Their software is very good and they were quick to action changes although needed several calls to get the EPC sorted.

We put up the 'For Sale' board and added my phone number on a separate sign on the post and had 2 calls and viewings the next day. We agreed the sale at full price to the second viewers. I believe we would have sold it if we had just scribbled our number on a piece of cardboard to be honest (apparently 1/3rd of houses are sold by the For Sale sign). I would much rather deal with the buyers myself than let any agent negotiate for me. I think it is much better to speak to people directly (not just to get the best price but to ensure they know the truth about the property, both good and bad, and to discuss how the sale will proceed etc. One hour speaking to people can save weeks or months of communications via agents or solicitors and is less likely to end in a failed sale/purchase).

Housenetwork aren't perfect but the saving over local agents is massive and local agents are not always experts in my opinion and are acting in their own best interests rather than yours. The local agents had valued the house much lower than we listed it at but I could not believe their valuations. I researched other bungalows in the area and believe we offered a bargain. The purchasers are delighted to buy at full price and are cash buyers so it should go smoothly.

I would recommend Housenetwork if you want to control the sale yourself, are pretty competent with computers and want the satisfaction of selling it yourself and saving thousands. If you can't do these things then maybe you will need to use a local agent but they are far from perfect. I am about to view a house for sale in an hour for a friend which has been for sale for well over a year with Reeds Rains. The description for the lounge reads exactly the same as the kitchen 'fitted with a range of base and wall units etc, etc'. This is still on their website and Rightmove etc. The agents brochure is poor with few photographs, no floorplan, and poor detail. The owner obviously hasn't complained and looking at the house, missing gutter at the front and missing door handle to front door etc. they haven't got a clue but neither have the estate agents. What are they doing to deserve their thousands of pounds.

We have had no interest via housenetwork but we told them to put the property as 'under offer' after 2 days and are pretty confident the sale will go ahead so they didn't have much chance. My wife booked the initial package at nearly £600 when I was out and didn't know about the 5% discount available if you use someones code. We used a code I found via Google when she paid the extra to upgrade to the Star Buy package. I have shown my code in case anyone wishes to use it and we also get paid if anyone uses it for recommending housenetwork. I hope you will realise that I have given an honest and somewhat critical review which I hope will be helpful.

My discount code is HGGFDIFLZE.