Online Estate Agent - Doorsteps - Review

RedSky1974

My house sale has just completed, so I thought I would share my experience with the online estate agent Doorsteps. I tried searching on this forum several months ago, but found a distinct lack of threads about the ultra-low cost agents.

***It's quite a long read - but should provide some guidance if anyone wants advice****

Prior to putting my house on the market, I knew that I wanted to try an online agent. I looked at Purple Bricks, Doorsteps, 99 Homes, and others. It was apparent that Doorsteps and 99 Homes were the cheapest. Doorsteps had significantly more reviews on Trust Pilot - so I went with them.


Signing up was easy - it was online. I went for the very cheapest option - £99. This just gets your house on Rightmove etc. There is also an online portal provided to manage viewings, as well as customer service agents on the end of the phone. In-fact, I found a discount code which brought the price down by a tenner if I remember correctly.

There were many additional options which could be added - a sign, viewings, photos, and so on. I didn't use any of these.

First things first - I took the photos. My brother had a camera and so came round. We took brilliant photos I must admit. I don't think an agent photographer could have done better.

I then had to write a description. This was also fairly easy. It was great being in control of what I wanted to write. I took some guidance from reading similar listings. On the whole though, it's very straightforward.

Floorplan....everyone needs a floorplan. This was simple. I went over to a website called 'Fiverr'. Here, people will do jobs for a fiver. It's especially good for graphics and the like. I sent my dimensions over to someone, and a professional floorplan was done in minutes.....for a fiver....



I was provided with an email address for my account manager and was instructed to send all of the detais over. So, I sent the photos, floorplan, descriptions, asking price, and any other relevant information.

Within hours of this email being sent, my listing was on all the big sites. Result!

I then logged onto the online portal. This was fairly basic, but had everything that was needed. There was a calandar at the top. This allowed me to write my availability for viewings. I kept it simple, and wrote the days and times we were available for viewings around our shifts.

Within minutes of it going live, we had our first viewing booked, and then the next, and the next, and the next. We had about 8 viewings booked in total. We couldn't believe it.

Granted - I think our house was in the perfect market to sell - very affordable for first time buyers, recently renovated and quite a popular area.

When the viewings are requested - you simply accept or decline.

We did the viewings ourselves. We are generally quite friendly people so didn't really see this as being a big issue. I imagine this is the part which would put most people off. However, it really wasn't bad at all!

After 2 viewings, we had our first offer (from the first viewers). We accepted as it was full asking. This was done online. Doorsteps then contacted - and we cancelled all future viewings. I was able to get contact details for the purchaser - which made things easy to chase.

Following this, solicitor details were provided and a Memorandum of Sale was swiftly created. Doorsteps did try to push their Conveyancers, however, it was a quick "No thanks - I'll use my own."

For the next several months, the solicitors did their work. I only heard from Doorsteps once - via email, asking if I needed anything. I replied asking if they would be able to chase the purchaser's solicitors - however, I didn't hear anything back. I wasn't really expecting to, afterall, I only paid £99.

The sale has just gone through and jobs a goodun. It cost me £99 (minus a tenner discount code) to sell my house. I couldn't be more happy. It was extremely straight forward and user-friendly. The system works well.

Would I recommend it? Absolutely. However - it would be on these terms. 1) You are happy to do the viewings yourself. 2) You are happy not to have much post offer support. 3) You have a property which is priced right and will likely sell fast. 4) You live at the property so the viewings are easily done around your work.

If the above don't apply, i would think further as it may be less stress to use an agent.


We found it incredibly easy and stress free, and saved ourselves a fortune in the process. Which, afterall, is what this website is about.

Any queries let me know - hopefully it's helpful to some.

googler

You've paid **** all, and they've done **** all, pretty much. You get what you pay for.

You've been processed through a series of automated systems, and you've done the non-automated donkey work yourself.

ka7e

My EA employs a professional photographer, who made my house look so good, even I would have been tempted to buy it! He also went round with an electronic measure and a sketch pad and drew a perfect plan of a complicated 4-story layout. Some houses just aren't suited to the DIY approach.

RedSky1974

googler wrote: »

You've paid **** all, and they've done **** all, pretty much. You get what you pay for.

You've been processed through a series of automated systems, and you've done the non-automated donkey work yourself.

Exactly - and this is what I wanted. My house was a standard semi in good condition, convenient area and am affordable price. It was a straightforward sale - the type of house which goes onto Rightmove one day and gone the next.

The £99 for those automated systems, and getting onto Rightmove, was money well spent. The time I spent on the leg work was very little, and actually quite enjoyable.

ka7e wrote: »

My EA employs a professional photographer, who made my house look so good, even I would have been tempted to buy it! He also went round with an electronic measure and a sketch pad and drew a perfect plan of a complicated 4-story layout. Some houses just aren't suited to the DIY approach.

Yes and I agree with that. I wouldn't recommend it if there are any complex matters, like you explained above, where professionals are required.


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Ultimately, I posted this review as I imagine there are many persons in the same situation - (and I couldn't find anything detailed on this site). They have a straight forward sale, happy to take photos and show a few people round, and just want to get the house onto Rightmove.

Not for everyone but certainly lots of money saved for others.

babyblade41

The marketing is the easy bit, getting it over the line is where the leg work comes in...

If I'd had an online conveyancer on my last one with no finance, empty house I think ~I still would have been sat there waiting for info

It was so complicated and then dealing with adverse possession , thankfully had an excellent EA and solicitors who knew what they were doing.

There is always an exception to the rule but for me it's a risk I would never take , but happy it worked for you

AnotherJoe

Good review. The unknown here is, could you have got more (allowing for commission) if you'd used a "traditional" EA. For example, playing devils advocate, you seem to have got many appointments within a few hours or days and an AP offer straight away. That could mean, you were say £10-£20k too cheap. Also, with an EA and all those viewings perhaps the EA would have had a "sealed bids" process and got you more even if you'd gone on at the same AP.
The other side of the coin is, you dont want to be languishing like some on too high price for months. So it's a trade off. But my gut feel is, if you get AP within a day or two, your price was too low because someone is snapping it up fast before a bidding process happens.