Would you buy from an online estate agent?

Thrugelmir

pinkteapot said:

justwhat said:

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

Not true. Decent EA's have dedicated 'sales progressors' whose job is to chase everyone in the chain regularly and keep things moving.

Progressors can only ask not tell.  Certainly reduces stress levels in terms of keeping everyone informed.  

lookstraightahead

MobileSaver said:

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"...

Except as soon as they see the sign, they would know whether it was online or not. Do you think buyers don't know what rightmove is? Fair enough never thought of it like that.

what stands out for me personally when I see an online agent is "this seller has had a difficult experience with an EA, or not willing to negotiate, or they think they know best. Sometimes that might be correct (indeed we did our own probate sale of my late MIL house as my husband knew what he was doing), but I walk on by. It's the same feeling as when I see a car with a for sale sticker in it on a driveway. Might be a good idea to enquire, but I'd rather not.

For some, of course, they might feel the opposite.

lookstraightahead

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.

Our vendors EA was exceptional when the solicitor on their side was dead slow. Without the vendors EA, we would have definitely walked.

Snookie12cat

lookstraightahead said:

MobileSaver said:

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"...

Except as soon as they see the sign, they would know whether it was online or not. Do you think buyers don't know what rightmove is? Fair enough never thought of it like that.

what stands out for me personally when I see an online agent is "this seller has had a difficult experience with an EA, or not willing to negotiate, or they think they know best. Sometimes that might be correct (indeed we did our own probate sale of my late MIL house as my husband knew what he was doing), but I walk on by. It's the same feeling as when I see a car with a for sale sticker in it on a driveway. Might be a good idea to enquire, but I'd rather not.

For some, of course, they might feel the opposite.

A lot of online agents are pay upfront, so you must consider these people are likely more serious as they have parted with their money already. 

Those who use an EA don't normally pay until the sale completes and so could just be testing the market knowing they won't lose a penny if they don't find that perfect house they are hoping for or just change their minds.

deeboy12

MobileSaver said:

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"...

Ha, you may well be right, and your comment about Rightmove made me giggle!

But that doesn't negate the value of the question for an 'informed buyer'.

There's clearly a number of people on this thread who would see it as a red flag or even a deal-breaker (while others wouldn't of course). So I'm definitely going to tread carefully on this one.

 I'm glad I raised the question and I'm grateful for the advice and different opinions everyone, thanks!

julicorn

babyblade41 said:

No I wouldn't .. done it once and never again, painfully slow and made an easy transaction twice as long 
I dismiss any property that use them 

I could have written this exact comment. 

jenni_fer

Our experience with Yopa last year was horrible, but in a market where suitable houses are in short supply I wouldn't miss out on a property just because the current owners chose to use an online agent. I'd whinge and moan about it all the way along but I'd still buy the property.

deeboy12

jenni_fer said:

Our experience with Yopa last year was horrible, but in a market where suitable houses are in short supply I wouldn't miss out on a property just because the current owners chose to use an online agent. I'd whinge and moan about it all the way along but I'd still buy the property.

LOL!

Thanks - do you mind me asking in what way(s) your experience with Yopa was horrible exactly?

jenni_fer

deeboy12 said:

jenni_fer said:

Our experience with Yopa last year was horrible, but in a market where suitable houses are in short supply I wouldn't miss out on a property just because the current owners chose to use an online agent. I'd whinge and moan about it all the way along but I'd still buy the property.

LOL!

Thanks - do you mind me asking in what way(s) your experience with Yopa was horrible exactly?

Ultimately it was the vendor who was at fault for essentially disappearing for a few weeks at the point of exchange before pulling out.

But our experience was that Yopa's method of communication is to send an email once a week asking for updates and do nothing with any replies. The way we found out the vendor had pulled out was to receive and automated email telling us we had withdrawn our offer!!!

julicorn

jenni_fer said:

deeboy12 said:

jenni_fer said:

Our experience with Yopa last year was horrible, but in a market where suitable houses are in short supply I wouldn't miss out on a property just because the current owners chose to use an online agent. I'd whinge and moan about it all the way along but I'd still buy the property.

LOL!

Thanks - do you mind me asking in what way(s) your experience with Yopa was horrible exactly?

Ultimately it was the vendor who was at fault for essentially disappearing for a few weeks at the point of exchange before pulling out.

But our experience was that Yopa's method of communication is to send an email once a week asking for updates and do nothing with any replies. The way we found out the vendor had pulled out was to receive and automated email telling us we had withdrawn our offer!!!

This is actually more communication than we received from Yopa when we bought our flat back in 2017. After our offer was accepted, our estate agent went completely AWOL basically, making it impossible to get hold of anyone on their end. We communicated mainly through solicitors, and our chain free purchase took 6 1/2 months. We were FTBs and only realised later that a decent EA could have really made a difference.