Online Estate Agency reviews? experiences?

nrishiraj

Hi everyone.

I’m currently in the process of just finishing off some house renovations and looking for a the best online estate agency that are commission free.

Has anyone had much experience with these online estate agents? Pros? Cons? Smooth process? 

With hindsight, I’ve only had experience of buying a new home and not selling.

Thanks

theartfullodger

MOST online reviews for ANYTHING are likely to have been fiddled.

I find the interesting ones, the ones worth reading, are the bad reviews. And what company says in response.

gwynlas

There are a number of threads already on this topic.  Whilst theoretically all properties are shown on national wersites such as Rightmove buyers still prefer to deal with bricks and mortat agents in the locality. To achieve the best price you would possibly be better off researching these whilst still paying commission.

babyblade41

You get what you pay for and I won't look at a property if it is under an online only agency, I did it once as the property was ideal and I have an excellent solicitor who could deal with some of the incompetence of whoever was dealing with that particular file on any such day

Scotbot

A big  con is getting viewings set up. Fine if you are willing to do it yourself, not fine if you need an agent to do viewings. There are very few humans and they cover massive geographies.  Another con is the photos. You get what you pay for, PB photos are always lousy and show properties in the worst possible light. 

desthemoaner

 We used an online estate agent to arrange a viewing back in August.  The process was straightforward, the representative who showed us round ( who was self-employed, building her business and desperate for a good review) was knowledgeable about the property, the offer process was simplicity itself. No issues, really. 

ShinyYellowBoots

babyblade41 said:

You get what you pay for and I won't look at a property if it is under an online only agency, I did it once as the property was ideal and I have an excellent solicitor who could deal with some of the incompetence of whoever was dealing with that particular file on any such day

Agreed. Rightly or wrongly, if a vendor has "cheaped out" on the agency then I wonder what home maintenance they've cheaped out on too.

I did view two places through Purple Bricks while I was househunting. The first was a one bed flat 20 minutes walk from the nearest tube. PB still notifies me when there's activity on the listing, eighteen months after I first viewed, so I can see that the vendor has increased his asking price since I viewed, which seems ambitious in current circumstances! I wonder if he might have been encouraged to be more realistic with an agent who had some skin in the game and hadn't already banked a flat fee.

The second was a total pit and the reason I stopped bothering with online agencies. 

Welshspacechick

Buying through PB and would never touch a property marketed by them again! Once its sold they seem to have no involvement whatsoever and rely on the vender and buyer  sorting it all out via the portal. If you want emails at midnight and the early hours of the morning from the other party constantly go ahead! 

caprikid1

A good traditional estate agent will be more likely to cover their fee with a better price and the management of the chain. It's not just a case of putting a house on rightmove , getting an offer and moving.

Some day they will get better but they are only really competition for people who don't know any better.

Waunakee

Had a very poor experience with Purple Bricks and their associated solicitors.
No sales progression,poor communication all round to the point that we withdrew from the sale.

MrsBrush

Totally agree. The whole PB buying experience was a nightmare. And don't get me started on PPL, their associated conveyancers! 

And much as I absolutely love my new house, complete with its total need to be cleaned top to bottom, redecorated top to toe, etc etc - there is something about the owners of a house looking to do things 'on the cheap'  and it does make you wonder. There are so many things here needing to be done as the previous owner seemed to have an aversion to spending money on anything. Which in some respects is better because we aren't un-doing perfectly good things that we just don't like!

On the up-side of all of this, we got the house for a steal as well. We need to spend about £15k to get it up to scratch, but we know that other houses nearby (in a better state than ours) are selling for £50k more than we paid for this. So we should be up when we have done the work - a good payback for the months of stress caused by the worst set of conveyancers known to man!