Which Online Estate Agent?

chrisrsmith

Hi

I have been obtaining various local high st estate agent costs to market my property and come to the conclusion, I am going to use an online agent instead.

Apart from having to accompany our own interested parties, i can't justify there ridiculous charges (the high st agents that is)….

So, the big question is - which online agent to use?

Any/all feedback greatly appreciated.

I am in Buckinghamshire.

BitterAndTwisted

What makes you think an online "estate agent" will garner you more interest from serious buyers than paying a High Street agent?

How much are the online agent's upfront fees?

hamiltonian

I used HouseSimple recently - very efficient, always returned calls, generally dealt with any queries, and were able to apply pressure on buyers and other involved parties. Oh, and the cost was about £600, which compared well to the £12k a normal agent would have charged.

To 'bitter&twisted's comment - I don't think agents actually do any 'interest garnering' these days. Unless your house/location is very unusual, buyers will find it through the online portals... your agent does very little...

yoshiyella

We used House Network and they were fantastic! Ordered their package on a Tuesday evening (about 9pm) - photographer came out on Thursday and listing was on Rightmove and Zoopla within 24 hours. Probably also helped that 12 hours later we had an offer. The photos really sold the house as well. An online system that was really easy to use - open until 8pm and saturdays. Kept up to date reguarly. Their cheapest package I think is about £400 but we paid for the lot which included 18 month advertising if so needed. IN end we also went with their conveyancing team! Very happy people - just wish our buyer was just as good and helpful!

googler

hamiltonian wrote: »

I don't think agents actually do any 'interest garnering' these days. Unless your house/location is very unusual, buyers will find it through the online portals... your agent does very little...

... and this view is based on your experience with ... how many agents?

tigsly

sent you a pm

Hoof_Hearted

I live in Bucks and property is selling very well here, so I doubt you will have much difficulty selling. In this case, an online agent is the way to go to save an awful lot of money.

We were also delighted with Housenetwork but others may be just as good. Personally, I would buy just the basic package as the most important thing is to get on Rightmove etc.

Check the reviews. Trustpilot has positive reviews for both the companies mentioned.

MobileSaver

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

What makes you think an online "estate agent" will garner you more interest from serious buyers than paying a High Street agent?

I'd turn this around and ask "What makes you think a High Street agent will garner you more interest from serious buyers than paying an online "estate agent" ?"

In my humble opinion, in the majority of cases, any serious buyer will be using Rightmove so as long as your house is advertised on there you'll get all the interest you need.

There will always be exceptions and for example if someone does not want to do viewings themselves then by all means pay (literally) thousands more for a High Street EA. But for most people an online EA will get their house sold just as well and save them a small fortune in the process.

Dan-Dan

If you know your target market and have a good idea of local prices etc etc etc , PLUS your selling a `bog` standard house AND for good measure your lucky enough to be in a buoyant market , you cant really go wrong with an online option , but there is always room for high street agents , there are good ones ,who do a lot of hand holding , a lot of running around (often times for no end product) , and some people , well they dont actually mind paying for a service!

BroncoBill

I also recommend HouseNetwork unequivocally. They are excellent (providing you can do your own viewings and are online/on the phone).
Have pm'd you.
Feel free to pm me for further recommendations (and a code to save you money).
Tried local EA first and since we changed to HouseNetwork have had same number of viewers in 2 weeks than I had in 10 months with High Street Estate Agent (probably the best one in our town).
Wonderful service.

googler

MobileSaver wrote: »

I'd turn this around and ask "What makes you think a High Street agent will garner you more interest from serious buyers than paying an online "estate agent" ?"

Onlne agents can't (and don't?) cross-sell between their listings. A local agent will have all their listings concentrated in their town, village, or city area. If a buyer/viewer asks about house A, the agent can also show them B and C, which are in the same locale. An online agent, based in (say) Manchester, but with listings from (say) Cheltenham to Whitley Bay, can't do the same. If you're selling B or C, wouldn't you say it was an advantage to have someone pointing enquirers about A to your house?

Former agents who've posted here in the past have pointed out that the majority of buyers didn't buy the first house they enquired about (i.e. the one they found on Rightmove)

In my humble opinion, in the majority of cases, any serious buyer will be using Rightmove so as long as your house is advertised on there you'll get all the interest you need.

Disagree, on the basis of the above comment. Especially if the house for sale is in Scotland, which has large pockets where RM doesn't reign supreme as the primary portal....