Who has sold a property using an online estate agent?

taxiphil

googler wrote: »

Crikey, you're taking issue with me not seeing/remembering ONE of your posts from last year ... ?

I'm flattered you think my memory might be up to that, but...

If someone had categorically put me straight about a fallacy/misconception that I'd been using as a backbone to my argument for a long time, then yes I'd remember it. Even more so if I was an Estate Agent who ought to have been familiar with the PMA 1991 and the EAA 1979 in the first place. I don't want to sound rude, but your memory should be up to learning and understanding the two main Acts of Parliament that govern your profession.

googler wrote: »

From Rightmove's FAQ;

"In order to give buyers and sellers the best possible protection and service, Rightmove does not accept property advertisements from private sellers or private landlords. All the property featured on our site must comply with the requirements of the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991."

That's a statement of their own policy, not a statement of law. They are not saying that the law prohibits them from taking private adverts.

Just to return to a more general point, even if Rightmove were bound by legislation on misdescriptions (which they're not), what's to stop them offering a service similar to that of House Network, whereby a surveyor visits the property to verify the accuracy of the particulars of sale? They could charge the seller £200 or whatever the market rate is. There are plenty of surveyors out there who'd be glad of the work.

Rightmove would then have their backsides covered, and the private seller would be able to save a great deal on EA fees. A good idea, right?

nelsons_column

Gone with homesalebureau.

Had chats with Foxtons and the local estate agent. The local guy was very nice and sincere. Foxtons was... well, less so.

Reason why I went with an online agent was the commission. 2.5% local guy, 3% Foxtons! (This is north-west London). The rates were only marginally less if sole agent. 2.5% on £250k is total of £7500, or 3% we'd be coughing up £9k.

It's just too much. If it was 1%, maybe I'd reconsider. But I have the time to do the legwork, I work from home a fair bit, am happy to do the viewings. And the service thus far in these early days has been very good, bar a poorly written first draft of the sales brochure (some strange typos and poor grammar, I rewrote it and sent it back to them).
Within three days, we've got three viewings lined up. Rapid response to emails, helpful on the phone.

Of course, we're also looking to buy, so have viewing half a dozen properties, all of them through different high street agents. The quality of the service has been hugely variable. Some very pleasant and sincere, and good at getting back to you and enthusiastic about the house without being pushy. Whereas one guy could barely hide his contempt at having to deal with us (no idea why, I thought we were pleasant to him), made the least possible effort to show us around the property. My wife also noted that the one female estate is pretty much the only one to make an effort to talk to her.

So anyway, online estate agents. Like I say, early days. We have time on our side at the moment. If time starts to run out, we'll head back to the local agent. But for now, it's £450 against commission of up to £9k. The slight gamble is an easy decision.

Tancred

googler wrote: »

... And the same person who visits takes all the phone calls relating to that property back at the office ... ?

They employ a lot more than one person!

In fairness, my experience with them has been good. I only wish they would stay open in the evenings as most people are too busy at work during the day to deal with house buying/selling matters.

UsernameAlreadyExists

I feel the need to post here.

I was looking at online estate agents because I don't think the high-street ones are worth their 1%, 1.5% etc charges (or whatever you can negotiate)

I had a "free appraisal" from a high street EA ... and it transpired he was one of the directors of a "mid sized" chain of 6 branches in the local area.

I argued the toss with him about what services he could offer that were over and above those of an online EA (in terms of I wanted my property on rightmove/zoopla, and to have viewing requests directed to me to conduct myself), and he struggled a little.

I put it to him that I should go with an online EA, unless he could change his business model to suit.

He took my offer up. I paid him £750 up front and have had the pics done, the measurements, and some quite nice marketing blurb on Rightmove, Zoopla, and their own website.

I've had a few viewings now and 3 weeks later (no sale yet), I still have what I want from an EA.

I am posting this because I took my argument to a real high street EA, and given I've paid upfront I have exactly what I want. Best of both worlds?

lessonlearned

That's very interesting Username.

I did try to post earlier on in this thread, about how I can see a time coming when EA's will change their business models and evolve to meet changing circumstances and the demands of their clients.

Unfortunately Lit - up wasn't interested in having a proper discussion about this. He just wanted to vent his fury against all property professionals because he cannot sell his property.

I was going to advise him to try another EA and make just the kind of deal that you have done. However, he was so irrational that I felt it would have just been a waste of my time and effort. He was beyond reasoning with.

Frankly I doubt that he has the necessary negotiating skills to broker a deal. Tact and diplomacy don't appear to be part of his skill set. Logic and sweet reason would also appear to be alien concepts to him.

Anyway - I pointed out that EA's had already adapted and evolved their business model to meet the threat that the internet had posed and how I felt that they would shortly be adapting and evolving again in the near future.

The EA's that will survive will be the ones who can be flexible and who can tailor packages to suit the needs of individual clients. A one size fits all approach will not work in the future. Not just EA's but many businesses in the service sector are going to have to learn how to offer a "bespoke" service if they are to survive and thrive.

You negotiated with an EA to get the package that best suited your needs. Your EA was savvy enough to realise that he had to be flexible or he would not get your business.

You say he was a director with a chain of 6 local offices. I bet he will be monitoring your progress with great interest. If it works well you may find he will adopt this as part of his future business model.

Why wouldn't he - it makes perfect business sense.

You paid him £750 which he will get whether or not you get a sale.

You may not know this but on average 1 in 3 sales fails to complete, even when an offer has been made and accepted.

Add in all of those properties which languish and never even receive an offer and you will start to see that a guaranteed £750 for each property on an EA's books may well be a better bet for an EA than the no sale - no fee system currently in place.

A bird in the hand and all that.. Definitely the best of both worlds, for both you and the EA . Win-win;) - which is the best basis for all business transactions.

As a matter of interest is the £750 the final figure or will there be an further payments required should you successfully complete a sale.

Also will your EA still "progress the sale" once you have received an offer or will that be up to you.

It will be interesting to see how you get on.

UsernameAlreadyExists

lessonlearned wrote: »

.. <interesting stuff> ...

As a matter of interest is the £750 the final figure or will there be an further payments required should you successfully complete a sale.

Also will your EA still "progress the sale" once you have received an offer or will that be up to you.

It will be interesting to see how you get on.

I paid the £750 upfront because they'll incur the costs associated with the appraisal (MD's time), the visit for the photos/measurements, and also the "computer monkey" time of transferring the pics from the camera to the PC and the uploading to Rightmove/Zoopla/own site.
They'll also have to field the calls and then pass them to me for the viewings.

When I get an offer he's said that they'll "chase the sale" for an additional £250.

So all in £1000 ... I've not had the offer as yet to be "chased", so I've not paid that yet.

I looked at HouseNetwork and I reckoned about £1K would give me their "top whack" service (again, upfront) with premium listings, EPC, floorplan etc ... but compared to the high street EA's figure of 1% (subject to a minimum of £2K) I was prepared to gamble and split the difference on the low side!)

The EA "would" have wanted £2K + VAT (post sale), but ended up happy to take what will be £1K (inc vat) up front.

UsernameAlreadyExists

Addendum: I've just bothered to read the rest of the few posts that were on this thread when I first noticed it, and bit my tongue.

I've since realised that I actually like both googler (for his reasoning and logic) and also lessonlearned because he's a realist. High street EAs have their place, but as has already been pointed out ... the customer base and business model is changing.

There is a compromise to be had, and it will probably be found.

*waves at googler.

taxiphil

UsernameAlreadyExists wrote: »

I paid the £750 upfront [...] When I get an offer he's said that they'll "chase the sale" for an additional £250.

Just out of interest, does a properly drafted contract exist for all of this, or it is just a gentlemans agreement?

I just hope he didn't sniff an easy £750 for uploading some pics onto Rightmove, and he still feels incentivised enough to actually sell your house.

Sponge

MobileSaver wrote: »

I'm genuinely surprised at this; did the High St. EA advertise the house at the same price initially advertised by the online EA?

Yes. House advertised at the same price with both agents.

I don't know if my buyer came from local advertising, or they saw the house online, e.g. Rightmove, and tossed a coin as to which agent to contact - and the high street won.

I have actually been with 2 high street estate agents whilst also being with an online agent. I was getting nowhere with the first and my business was poached by the second after they came to speak to my neighbour who was deciding on whether to sell or rent.

We weren't too fussed about switching, but they made us an offer we couldn't refuse: We were originally down to pay 1% +vat and they offered a flat fee of £750 (not up front), saving us nearly £600.

Hoof_Hearted

nelsons_column wrote: »

So anyway, online estate agents. Like I say, early days. We have time on our side at the moment. If time starts to run out, we'll head back to the local agent. But for now, it's £450 against commission of up to £9k. The slight gamble is an easy decision.

We used exactly the same reasoning. It was worth a gamble and if it didn't work out, we would have gone back to the high street agent. We paid £400 against £7,200 the hs agent wanted and sold quickly.