Using an online estate agent vs a local one to sell your property

applescruffs

Hello forumites
I've recently put my property on the market and elected to go for the online Estate Agent Strike. They gave a similar price estimate as the other local estate agents we invited in but were considerably cheaper. We have our listing on Rightmove and Zoopla - which I consider to be the main marketplaces for property sales. It's only been a week and we've had some requests to view, but not as many as I had hoped/expected - do people put a lot of consideration into the estate agent the property is listed with and gauge whether it's worth visiting the property based on that?
Any experiences or opinions welcome!

somerlouise

I personally wouldn’t view a house listed with an online only agent unless it was absolutely perfect. This is due to past bad experiences with online only agents. 

Natbag

I've sold and bought through a local estate agent, and am currently selling through my local agent and buying through Strike. Here are my thoughts:
Local agent:
Pros: Personal service, better quality photographs, know the local area, may have potential buyers on file, able to handle viewings, you're not tied to using their legal/conveyancing team, generally more likely to chase and give updates on your transactions. Cons: Less likely to offer evening/weekend contact, tend to deal more by phone than email/web, generally more expensive.
Online agent:
Pros: Cheaper, can be contacted evenings/weekends, more digital contact (emails/online forms/etc). Cons: They generally use call centres, and it can sometimes be difficult getting through/getting hold of your agent as they are juggling hundreds of sales nationally (and won't remember any of your details off hand), you may have to take your own photos, they don't handle viewings, you're often obliged to use their legal/conveyancing department which can often be busy and slow, they don't often provide regular updates.
Saying that, Strike have been good to deal with so far, both contacts I have there have been really friendly and helpful.
I think if your photos are good, and your property is priced well, it probably doesn't matter too much either way. As a buyer, the agent used wouldn't put me off (bar one locally who I've had major issues with in the past and wouldn't touch with a bargepole!)

juliedee4663

somerlouise said:

I personally wouldn’t view a house listed with an online only agent unless it was absolutely perfect. This is due to past bad experiences with online only agents. 

Same here, Purple bricks were a nightmare to deal with when we tried to by a house listed with them. They didn't want to get involved with the process at all and seemed to leave everything up to vendor/buyer to deal with themselves which I wasn't comfortable with. A house would have to be amazing for me to even consider viewing another one with them.

houghton91

We've just sold our house through Strike - we had 25 viewings or so within 24 hours of putting it on the market, and that was using their totally free service. They were great apart from the 'sales progression' team who I've heard nothing from, that being said I've just been texting my buyer so she wasn't really needed.

I'd say if you are competent at taking good photos and the house is in good shape, it shouldn't put people off. Our house mainly attracted FTB and investors because of the price/location/styling so I definitely don't think those groups of people have particular biases for/against online agents. I honestly didn't put any thought into using an online one either - as long as I have a contact number and an email for who I needed, it was easy enough to get what I needed.

oystercatcher

somerlouise said:

I personally wouldn’t view a house listed with an online only agent unless it was absolutely perfect. This is due to past bad experiences with online only agents. 

This, it would have to be an amazing house for me to want to view through an online agent. If there was a choice of several similar then I would look at the local agent properties as I would imagine they are much easier to deal with rather than a distant call centre.

Weathergirl_76

Hi, I viewed a few properties in December. One I wanted to view was being marketed by an online agent. I rang to book a viewing and was on hold for ages, in the end I hung up. 

Another online agent I did book to view with, it was mostly done by sms, only receiving a call to establish my buying position, which caused some confusion as I was a ‘cash from sale’ buyer as opposed to a ‘cash’ buyer. This aside, it put me off a bit with it all being by text. 

I did see there is a marketing option where you pay £99 (or similar) and you are advertised on all the big sites, but you handle the diary, enquiries etc all yourself. This I thought was a good idea, assuming you have the time etc to do it. Good luck 

cattie

I'd bypass any properties not listed with a high street agent & is listed only with an online agent. To my mind, paying a local experienced bricks & mortar agent is worth it as both buyer & seller get a better all round service.

Thrugelmir

High Street agencies will normally have people registered on their books actively looking. Ask how many they currently have.  No guarantees but should at least generate an initial flurry of viewings. 

Greymug

I'm about to put a property on the market and I did a fair bit of research on local estate agents. I decided to go with the agency that has the most properties up for sale in my area. They know the market extremely well, they know how much I could sell for based on dozens of properties sold by them in the same area. They know potential buyers, their demographics and how much they're likely to afford to pay. Another thing, they have a list of people registered with them who are actively looking. And last but not least, they can step in and take care of viewings should I not be available to do so.

v_rouge

I'm currently buying through Strike and as others have said, their sales progression team are non-existent which means I have to chase up my conveyancer and text my vendor with updates and it just makes the whole process a lot more stressful and time consuming on my part.
I previously tried to buy a house with a local agent (the vendor pulled out though) and the local agent did all the chasing and gave me a weekly update. Much less stressful, so if I had to buy again I would definitely go with a local agent who gets paid to take out the stress of house buying.