housenetwork - a review

becs

when you search for a house in an area you wouldn't search an agent so all properties in that area come up. This does work for housenetwork as well, any properties they have will come up in the search. I tried this by searching their national list first and then entering the location of the first property on a normal search and it comes up.
Henpecked the fact agents didn't do viewings in our area was the main reason for us going with housenetwork, I thought why should I pay them thousand for advertising the house and nothing else, so I didn't!

dirtmother

Not completed yet so stuff can happen but we've been pleased with House Network. We chose them because we only look on Rightmove and they presented houses well. I really didn't want non-serious viewers so local agents idea of just a few titivating photos didn't appeal in the slightest. However, local agents were a much better guide to price - unless something goes wrong we'll be getting £25,000 more than they suggested we put it on for, because they don't have an understanding of the area (ours has some sought after features for the area) If you have a pretty standard place for the area perhaps it would be more accurate.

Our viewers have rated the experience well too and the front line staff are a cut above those we've dealt with in High Street agencies. Very quick to go live as well.

A few hiccups - they were a bit slow with For Sale board and a bit slower with the 3D plan (in the end we got a refund on that with no quibbles and to be fair to them it is something they contract out)

I have not though been terribly impressed with our Account Manager - nothing I can quite put my finger on and still way less irritating than the agent for the house we are buying.

I would just be a bit cautious if I'd had my house for sale for a while with conventional agents and not much interest and didn't *have* to sell.

Sheppyd_2

dirtmother wrote: »

Not completed yet so stuff can happen but we've been pleased with House Network. We chose them because we only look on Rightmove and they presented houses well. I really didn't want non-serious viewers so local agents idea of just a few titivating photos didn't appeal in the slightest. However, local agents were a much better guide to price - unless something goes wrong we'll be getting £25,000 more than they suggested we put it on for, because they don't have an understanding of the area (ours has some sought after features for the area) If you have a pretty standard place for the area perhaps it would be more accurate.

Our viewers have rated the experience well too and the front line staff are a cut above those we've dealt with in High Street agencies. Very quick to go live as well.

A few hiccups - they were a bit slow with For Sale board and a bit slower with the 3D plan (in the end we got a refund on that with no quibbles and to be fair to them it is something they contract out)

I have not though been terribly impressed with our Account Manager - nothing I can quite put my finger on and still way less irritating than the agent for the house we are buying.

I would just be a bit cautious if I'd had my house for sale for a while with conventional agents and not much interest and didn't *have* to sell.

I must say I didnt even think that asking House Network for a valuation would be of any help. I have just gone with the valuations given by two local estate agents which were very similar.

Out of interest how quickly have people been getting viewings? We have a second one booked- that is since going live on Friday. Did people find that the viewings continued to trickle through unlike a local agent where you tend to get a vast number up front?

becs

Ours was back in 2006 that we sold with them and we had a 1-2 viewings a week and the house sold in either 6 or 8 weeks can't remember which.

Sheppyd_2

Oh good that sounds... gives me hope that we will continue to get interest. I am finding the fact that you get so much information on their website about clicks rather addictive and I keep going to see how many people have viewed the house :rotfl: Then when hours go by with no clicks I start to panic !!!!!! hehehehehehehehehe

I need to get out more!:o

airhostess

I sold with Housenetwork in November 2007 and they were fab. They made an online video type thing showing all the rooms of my flat, loads of excellent photos, and a great floorplan. All the people who came to view were serious buyers as they'd already seen what there was to see on the HN website, so no nosy parkers.

My flat sold in a month for the asking price which was the most a flat has ever sold for in that road, and none have been sold for more since then either.

I would really recommend them and I think they offer far more than a traditional agent do.

cashndash

Well we've bitten the bullet and have a chap from HN coming round on Friday to do the business!! Received a phone call within 5 minutes of pressing the pay button, so hope they are just as keen for the rest of the proceedings!

Feeling a bit nervous, but to be honest couldn't really think of a good reason not too!! If it all goes pear shaped we have an agent in reserve, but at least we will have tried - it's the wondering how much we could save that we kept coming back too. All in HN will cost under £1k, an agent will cost over £6k! Worth gambling £199 up front I reckon.

discount_dude

I have just recently sold my house with HN, I got several estate agents around for valutions and they were all keen to have it on their books.
I stuck it on with HN and of course it went onto RM, the end result was selling it for 10k more than the highest estate agent valuation, the service was good, so I have been impressed with them.

becs

Is anybody else noticing the recurring theme of houses selling for quite alot more than local agents valuations? I wonder what that is all about?
One of my local agents that valued my property valued it at £130k (2006) which I thought immediately was taking the mickey! As I sold for £165k I wasn't wrong!

cashndash

we had 6 agents and they came in between £325k and £425k! the lowest was an insult and the highest was ridiculous! We have gone for £385k but we won't be looking for low offers!