Online Estate Agents....to use or not

micsten

I used Sell A House Online to sell my house recently and they were great. I can't recommend online agents enough because of my experience. Traditional high street agents in my opinion take the p*55 with their percentage fees. I mean, what do they actually do for their money?

I admit I was sceptical at first with the online agent, but having had a bad experience with a high street agent I thought why not.

I saved loads of money and the estate agent i dealt with at "Sell A House Online" was brilliant, far far far betteer service than the high street agent. Maybe this is because they are a relativley new company and eager to please.

I would say shop around for a decent online agent. I saved thousands of pounds, had a quick sale and a stress free experience thanks to great staff and customer service. They were also stupidly cheap compared to other Online Agents.

I paid in total £399 - that included For Sale board, EPC, Valuation and even all of my conveyancing legal fees on their special All In deal.

I would recommned them to anyone looking to sell

Find a decent one and go for it is my advice

Davesnave

Post 32 reported as spam.

micsten

Davesnave wrote: »

Post 32 reported as spam.

Why has my post been reported as Spam? Am I not allowed to mention brands?

dell12

As someone who works for a (bricks and mortar) estate agent I do have to declare a vested interest here.

80% of the work done is after the offer is accepted such as holding the chain together, hand holding first time buyers and ensuring any problems with the survey or searches are sorted quickly. Equally I'd still maintain a good agent will more than cover their commission in achieving a higher sale price. The best, most serious buyers will always visit an area before they buy, and register with local agents. Equally I'd hazard a guess that 30-40% of properties we sell never reach the internet, bought before they can go onto the market properly.

That said there's definitely money to be saved in fees by using an online agent instead of some of the cowboys which exist. While in general you might 'save' a little in fees, a good agent has every incentive to get you every penny they can.

nic_santorini

I had no viewings with house simple and they had great photos and floor plan but because we lived in an area that was not so poplar, we could not get anyone through the door. Gave in and used an estate agent who got 4 viewers through the door and 4 offers. However, to be fair to house simple they did say we asked too much and did sell it £15k cheaper with an estate agent, as we got the house we wanted for £40k cheaper. So it may have attracted more with a better price, however, we had loads of hits on the net but no viewings.

Davesnave

micsten wrote: »

Why has my post been reported as Spam? Am I not allowed to mention brands?

Brands are one thing, links are another.

The answer to your question is in the site rules. The link is on this page.

Charlton_King

Resurrecting this thread to ask whether the online agents get access to Rightmove.

It's sad that the latter has such a monopoly and the government should certainly do something about it... but for me at the moment this can be the only consideration worth talking about...

eire13

Yes most of the online agents I have researched use Rightmove.

Davesnave

Charlton_King wrote: »

Resurrecting this thread to ask whether the online agents get access to Rightmove.

It's sad that the latter has such a monopoly and the government should certainly do something about it... but for me at the moment this can be the only consideration worth talking about...

There is no Rightmove monopoly. Zoopla has become increasingly popular and Prime Location still exists, though its popularity is lower. Most agents have heir own sites, but these are only worth bothering with individually if someone is looking for niche property. e.g. smallholdings.

Would you like the government to place some kind of restriction on the big portals to give others a greater market share? How would having a multiplicity of sites to check for new property help the consumer?

nonnatus

I've bought and sold through online agencies and it all went brilliantly.
The amount of money the traditional agents charge is to pay for their high street shops and numerous staff / secretaries!

An online agent doesn't face any of those charges so doesn't pass them on. I got a great board and dealt with just the one agent who knew me and my property properly. She conducted all the viewings herself. Once an offer had been made, the Agent handed the business over to the Sales Progression team who were again very efficient. I had a named contact who kept me informed by e-mail every week as to the status of the chain.

Once we had exchanged, I was handed back over to the initial Agent who dealt with Completion and handover of keys etc (and got a lovely gift to say thanks for my business!!)

I really couldn't fault it. House sold for £249,999. Agents fee's were a fixed price (no daft percentages) of £750.

I'd do it again anytime!