Would you buy from an online estate agent?

Thrugelmir

KeepOnKnitting said:

julicorn said:

 I've seen threads on here about people ruling out houses because there's only a small garage plus one additional parking spot in the driveway for a 2-bed house - that seems narrow-minded to me

they had no idea why a contract pack was taking so long

EA's have no control over the vendors solicitors nor indeed the vendors themselves.

MrsBrush

Thrugelmir said:

KeepOnKnitting said:

julicorn said:

 I've seen threads on here about people ruling out houses because there's only a small garage plus one additional parking spot in the driveway for a 2-bed house - that seems narrow-minded to me

they had no idea why a contract pack was taking so long

EA's have no control over the vendors solicitors nor indeed the vendors themselves.

Having recently bought through Purple Bricks, where the vendor also used the PB recommended conveyancing company (who were shockingly terrible!). I could quite safely say that the choice of EA is less of an issue than the conveyancers in the chain.

I was very fortunate in that the sales progressors at the EA selling my house were absolutely brilliant, and without their hard work we would have never got moved. Even so, I was on the phone to Purple Bricks on am almost daily basis because there were so many issues with the purchase caused by an un-informed seller and the worst conveyancing service known to man or beast. Notably, this conveyancing company were one of the affected group who caused havoc when they were hacked. 

My advice - buy or sell via any agent, but DO NOT use these shed factory conveyancers!! I would run a mile next time, not from the EA themselves, but from the "experts" they choose to recommend to do the legal side. In this instance, you definitely get what you pay for!

KeepOnKnitting

Thrugelmir said:

KeepOnKnitting said:

they had no idea why a contract pack was taking so long

EA's have no control over the vendors solicitors nor indeed the vendors themselves.

I wasn't suggesting they needed control. I had simply hoped that they might have knowledge. Not that I imagine online agents would be better, but I don't think they would have been worse. 

MobileSaver

julicorn said:

We're currently house hunting ... we have around 30 houses currently for sale that fit our key criteria, budget and location needs, and that we 'like'.

That sounds an incredible number to choose from! How did you decide which one to make an offer on out of those 30 houses?

julicorn said:

it's about weighing up the pros and cons, and an online agent would be a big con given our previous experience. A house advertised by YOPA would have to be a lot better than anything else around for us to consider using them again.

So based on one experience with one online agent you are dismissive of all online agents? It's a good job you've never had a bad experience with a high street EA or you'd really be struggling to find anything suitable in the future wouldn't you?

Of course, again, it's very telling that for all your protestations you admit that when it comes down to it you would consider a Yopa-advertised house if it ticked all the boxes which is my point really; buyers are buying the house and not some theoretical service from the EA - that's what the seller is paying for, not the buyer.

julicorn said:

I've seen threads on here about people ruling out houses because there's only a small garage plus one additional parking spot in the driveway for a 2-bed house - that seems narrow-minded to me, but we all use different criteria when making decisions.

That's very different though and is exactly the point I made; ruling out a house because of the actual garage situation is perfectly understandable but ruling out a house because the seller's EA might be rubbish seems madness. I sort of get that you would be reticent about a house advertised by Yopa (having had a bad experience) but what I don't understand at all is treating all online agents in the same way.

At the end of the day if a seller wants to pay £3,000+ to a high street EA to sell their house instead of just £1,000 to an online EA then that's up to them. FWIW I sold my house a few years back using an online EA and it was the quickest, easiest and simplest house sale I've ever had - the fact I saved literally thousands of pounds in fees as well means for me it's an absolute no-brainer in most cases.

MobileSaver

eddddy said:

MobileSaver said:

The sort of person who would genuinely dismiss your property because you are using an online EA is the sort of person who would dismiss your property because you chose the biggest high street EA in your area but that person had had a previous bad experience with them. It's cutting off your nose to spite your face and although there are exceptions to every rule I just don't believe it happens in the real world.

I think you've missed the point. The risk is that sales are more likely to fall through with an 'online agent' - or no agent at all. ...  if there are enough 'pros', I expect they'd offer anyway.

Not at all, the very point I made was that people allegedly dismissing online EA properties can only be doing so based on what might happen (i.e. perceived risk) rather than any actual issues with the property.

Every aspect of a house transaction carries a risk, where I think you, I and @julicorn differ is in the level of that risk. I haven't seen or heard any evidence that "sales are more likely to fall through with an online-EA".

Historically my understanding is that around 1-in-3 house purchase don't get to completion; I've not seen anything to suggest this has increased since online EAs became more prevalent (if anything I read one article claiming it's now only 1-in-4 fail which all other things being equal would suggest online-EAs are less likely to fail!)

By far the most common reasons for sales to fall through are "bad" surveys and declined mortgages, neither of which EAs have any control over whether they are online or not.

Again though, as with julicorn, your final comment I agree with and is my main point... if your house ticks all the boxes then a buyer will buy regardless of which EA you have gone with. In which case in most cases why pay a High Street EA £3,000 when an online EA can sell your house for £1,000?

julicorn

@MobileSaver with all your comments, you might want to go back to my original response to you and use that to answer your questions in your latest post: 

"Sure, but that only really holds up when there is not much choice."

Also, if you'd like me to state that I'd also eat a dog if it was the only food available to me on a desert island while we're at it: Yeah, sure, I'd do that too. 

I can also assure you that it is perfectly possible to decide between 30 choices, otherwise deciding what pasta to buy could be tricky as well. 

MobileSaver

julicorn said:

I can also assure you that it is perfectly possible to decide between 30 choices, otherwise deciding what pasta to buy could be tricky as well. 

@julicorn how is your house purchase progressing, six weeks on?

julicorn

MobileSaver said:

julicorn said:

I can also assure you that it is perfectly possible to decide between 30 choices, otherwise deciding what pasta to buy could be tricky as well. 

@julicorn how is your house purchase progressing, six weeks on?

We listed our flat, accepted an offer last Monday, viewed 8 properties this weekend just gone and just put in an offer on one of them. They all seem to be going on the open day atm, so we currently have 5 viewings booked in for this coming weekend in case this one falls through.