On-Line Estate Agents

chickenmama

MobileSaver wrote: »

It's crazy that an otherwise great company would risk their reputation and repeat business for a kick back from a poor reputation company.

For the record I don't think many people would recommend that you use the EA-recommended conveyancer from any EA, whether online or High St.

It is and I was astonished to find out that my current estate agent ALSO uses the same terrible company (under a different umbrella title) as their 'recommended' conveyancer too. I am guessing they are getting a nice whack of a recommendation fee and therefore don't bother looking into it very far...

Oh and edited to say that I am with you on the latter comment.. as I say, I would hope that I am a little more wise this time round :-)

phoebe1989seb

nomoneytoday wrote: »

IMHO it depends on what you're selling.
A 1 bed FTB flat listed on rightmove and zoopla doesn't have the same typical customer as a retirement village advertised in the local paper

This ^

IMHO, if you're selling either a fairly bog-standard property or one in a fast moving area I think online EAs have their place. If otoh, you're selling something a bit different and/or it's located in a slower or stagnant area I believe you are better off choosing a good local EA with experience of selling that type of thing/in those conditions.

With the exception of one, all the properties we've owned - seven - have been a bit unusual and no matter how enticing the fees, I wouldn't have trusted an online EA to sell any of them.

A neighbour is currently attempting to sell his extremely quirky, large detached house that also happens to be in a slower moving area. He's using Purple Bricks. If he's successful I've offered to eat DH's socks.......yum!

Friends are selling a typical two bed terrace in a different and much faster moving part of the country. They also went with Purple Bricks and accepted an offer within a week. Their sale is progressing very slowly - despite it being a fairly short chain - and they're not happy with input from PB on chasing things up.

Hoof_Hearted

Another plaudit for HouseNetwork. We saved thousands by using them and had no problems at all. I quite like doing viewings. Who knows more about the house than the person living there?

hazyjo

I have decided to use eMoov or housenetwork next year to sell after reading lots of posts over the years. They always come out the best. I had decided on the latter, but eMoov have had lots of positive comments on here lately.


Let us know how you get on!


Jx

Arthritic_Toe

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

This ^

IMHO, if you're selling either a fairly bog-standard property or one in a fast moving area I think online EAs have their place. If otoh, you're selling something a bit different and/or it's located in a slower or stagnant area I believe you are better off choosing a good local EA with experience of selling that type of thing/in those conditions.

With the exception of one, all the properties we've owned - seven - have been a bit unusual and no matter how enticing the fees, I wouldn't have trusted an online EA to sell any of them.

A neighbour is currently attempting to sell his extremely quirky, large detached house that also happens to be in a slower moving area. He's using Purple Bricks. If he's successful I've offered to eat DH's socks.......yum!

Friends are selling a typical two bed terrace in a different and much faster moving part of the country. They also went with Purple Bricks and accepted an offer within a week. Their sale is progressing very slowly - despite it being a fairly short chain - and they're not happy with input from PB on chasing things up.

Its not really up to the agent to chase things up, it should be their solicitor.

I bought through an online EA and to be perfectly honest, the experience was absolutely fine. I prefered being shown round by the actual owners without the EA's flannel. I would use them (an online agent not nec. PB) without hesitation, on the sale next time around.

phoebe1989seb

Arthritic_Toe wrote: »

Its not really up to the agent to chase things up, it should be their solicitor.

I bought through an online EA and to be perfectly honest, the experience was absolutely fine. I prefered being shown round by the actual owners without the EA's flannel. I would use them (an online agent not nec. PB) without hesitation, on the sale next time around.

Ok, I used the wrong terminology......I meant keeping everyone in the loop re: what stage things are at. You know, 'sales progression' or whatever they call it ;)

TBH, last time we sold, our - smallish, local-to-the-area EA - were fairly good, whilst our also local (small rural market town with very laid back attitude) conveyancing solicitor was pretty bad, goading us to go elsewhere when we suggested he speed up a little as we were in danger of losing our onward purchase. Actually though, it was communication between us and our buyer that held the chain together, which I guess we could have achieved even if using an online EA!

Our buyer sold their house through the abysmal Connells. Almost every day she was in their office after work giving them hell as their communication skills were appalling.

Surrey_EA

Arthritic_Toe wrote: »

Its not really up to the agent to chase things up, it should be their solicitor.

You have to be kidding?

Apart from some very rare occurrences, most solicitors do not have the time or the inclination to spend owners on the phone chasing sales up, and chivying chains along, particularly if their bill is due irrespective of whether the sale goes through or not.

In my experience finding a buyer for a property is the easy bit. Getting from the point at which you're agreed terms to completion is the tricky part.

If you are lucky and perhaps there is only one buyer and seller involved, and the property has no survey or legal title issues, then things may move ahead without major incident. However, in most cases something will crop up at some point, and a decent EA and solicitor can help resolve things quickly.

That's not to say that some online EAs don't offer a good service to help navigate a path from offer acceptance to completion.

As others have mentioned in this thread, whether to use an online only EA or not will depend in part on the type of property you are selling. They will be better suited to some properties than to others.

FBaby

2. Any problems with the process and you are on your own.

How is that any different? This is exactly what I have found most frustrating with EA, that is that when the problems emerge, they are suddenly very good at pointing out that it is YOUR problem.

I have also found it very frustrating having to remind them that I am paying to get the best deal for ME not for them. Of course, there are a business and businesses care about making the most money for themselves, but that's why I too will chose to things myself as much as possible when I next go through the process again.

Surrey_EA

FBaby wrote: »

How is that any different? This is exactly what I have found most frustrating with EA, that is that when the problems emerge, they are suddenly very good at pointing out that it is YOUR problem.

There are bad traditional EAs, just as there will be bad online-only EAs.

However, as controversial as this may be, there will some EAs that when problems occur will be the difference between a sale happening and it falling through.

Sadly, it is likely to be quite difficult to identify which type you have appointed until it is too late.

FBaby

Probably, just always experienced the bad ones, so lost faith in them all, but agree, I'm sure there must be very good ones out there.

To me, the moment they insist on reducing the price in a patronising tone before you've even mention you're not in a rush to sale and they have even visited the property says it all.