Would you buy from an online estate agent?

Snookie12cat

Yes. I prefer it. Speak to seller directly and push things along. 
It makes no difference who the agent is, more who the seller is. If they are slow then they will be slow regardless of who the agent is.

babyblade41

A good EA is worth their weight in gold , they should progress the sale swiftly and keep communication channels open and freely
ETA  I think giving buyer & vendors personal numbers is a no no,  if you absolutely have to then make sure it's a land line and not a mobile 

Snookie12cat

deeboy12 said:

hazyjo said:

Delays are hard to label in property buying. Average purchase at the moment is likely to take 3-4 months. Are you expecting that sort of timescale?

Yes I would buy through them if the house was right. I'd buy via a demented rabbit if I thought the house was the one for me and the sale would go through eventually. Not me paying their bill!

Yes, I am expecting a timescale of 3-6 months.

I guess my concern is that they'd be slow to follow up on anything, so it would be down to me to do a lot of proactive chasing, via my conveyancer and hassling the vendor via the agent.

Your reference to the demented rabbit made me laugh way too much

Having sold a house through an online agent recently, the sale completed in 5 weeks and being able to speak to the buyer sped things up and she was motivated. No hassle at all 

I think you need to be that way inclined though and not care about chasing them and asking difficult questions. 

You will meet the seller at the house so can gauge them from this visit to see how motivated they seem. 

At others have said, it's the house I care about so the agent has no bearing on my decision

Ksw3

I'm a FTB who has been looking for around 6 months and have been constantly outbid on any houses we offer on, the EA wouldn't put off as I'd just be limiting my pool of available houses further. If the market was less competitive it might sway things or of it was a second home.

TripleH

You will get vendors and buyers who are both on the ball and efficient. The sale will progress quickly and the Estate Agent doesn't matter as much (but you won't know from the start if both parties in a sale are like this).

The problem is when one or both parties are inefficient / slow / etc. A good estate agent can help those dithering along or who need a little support to progress but that party has to be willing to put in the effort themselves.

Honesty is probably one of the biggest issues / causes of delays in house sales in my opinion. People go quiet when there is a problem, by being honest (just changed jobs and need 3 months of payslips for mortgage for example) both parties can get a better idea of timeframes, but it is this that iscwhen you need a good estate agent.

deeboy12

justwhat said:

EA's don't really do anything once the sale/purchase progresses. 

Once the offers in its over to the solicitors. EA's sometimes liaise with solicitors , but you can do that yourself.

Negotiation can often be done by the buyer/seller via the EA's website eg PB

That's absolutely not my 'live' experience of my just completed sale. My selling EA was totally invaluable in progressing the sale, liaising with the buyer and the two sets of conveyancers to move everything along.

In terms of liaising with solicitors, I doubt my buyer's conveyancer would have even agreed to speak with me.

user1977

deeboy12 said:

justwhat said:

EA's don't really do anything once the sale/purchase progresses. 

Once the offers in its over to the solicitors. EA's sometimes liaise with solicitors , but you can do that yourself.

Negotiation can often be done by the buyer/seller via the EA's website eg PB

That's absolutely not my 'live' experience of my just completed sale. My selling EA was totally invaluable in progressing the sale, liaising with the buyer and the two sets of conveyancers to move everything along.

In terms of liaising with solicitors, I doubt my buyer's conveyancer would have even agreed to speak with me.

I don't think the suggestion was that you speak to the other side's solicitors - they're not allowed to do that anyway (assuming you have your own solicitor).

MobileSaver

deeboy12 said:

would you be put off making an offer on a house through an online agent, and why/ why not?

The vast majority of buyers couldn't care less who the EA is and wouldn't have a clue whether they were online or high street. It's the house they're buying and with it being hard enough to find a suitable house at the right price already, very few if any buyers are going to walk away based on the EA chosen by the seller.

In fact I suspect if you asked a random sample of buyers which EA they bought their house through, a great many would answer "Rightmove"...

deeboy12

user1977 said:

deeboy12 said:

justwhat said:

EA's don't really do anything once the sale/purchase progresses. 

Once the offers in its over to the solicitors. EA's sometimes liaise with solicitors , but you can do that yourself.

Negotiation can often be done by the buyer/seller via the EA's website eg PB

That's absolutely not my 'live' experience of my just completed sale. My selling EA was totally invaluable in progressing the sale, liaising with the buyer and the two sets of conveyancers to move everything along.

In terms of liaising with solicitors, I doubt my buyer's conveyancer would have even agreed to speak with me.

I don't think the suggestion was that you speak to the other side's solicitors - they're not allowed to do that anyway (assuming you have your own solicitor).

I agree with you (though that is what this person seemed to be suggesting).

deeboy12

pinkteapot said:

To the original question: If I had the choice of a few equally-good houses, I'd use the fact one was with Yopa to rule it out. But if they had the right house for me I guess I'd go for it and hope for the best. It would have to be significantly better than other available properties though, especially if I had a chain below me I was worried about keeping together. 

Thanks for this - sounds like good advice. 

I don't have a chain below me, so that's one worry less.

I think my plan will be to probe and assess the position and motivation of the vendor as much as possible. If I have an offer accepted, I can then make a judgment call on whether or not to proceed before commissioning the survey and conveyancing.