Recent experiences/recommendations with online only agents?

dan2k

So we last sold our house through Strike back in 2023, but unfortunately our vendor caused the chain to collapse and we're now back at square one as our buyer has moved on.

We've now found the "house of dreams" and want to move quickly. Last time, we had 3 over-asking offers within a week, all with proofs, so I'm confident we can do it again.

But, Strike is now part of PurpleBricks and is much more expensive. I've seen there are a couple of other online-only agents, such as OffAgent, etc, but there's not a lot of detail about them online.

We've got pictures, EPC, description and will do our own viewings and negotiation, so I'm looking for the basics like Rightmove listing etc. 

So who's used one of these and who did you use?

Especially interested in ones that don't need to send someone around to get cracking.

Albermarle

But, Strike is now part of PurpleBricks and is much more expensive.

Just for the record, Purple Bricks were in financial trouble , and Strike bought them for One Pound.
Then merged the two companies together trading as Purple Bricks.

dinosaur66

personally i have done the viewings on property flips and always set my own price  /i do open weekends / got all epc paperwork /gas saftey cert / property always fully turn key and then gone to all my local agents and asked anyone willing to do it for a set fee of £2k all fees included including vat

all my local estate agents are independents of 1 to 4 branches

this is on 260k to 300k propertys 

one estate agent always agreed

at the time i looked at purplebricks i think from memory where advertising £1.2 k but there were add ons and caveats and i preferred local estate agent and solicitors albeit every property i have ever bought in england has taken over 4 months despite no chain my end 

under 4 weeks when i have bought in scotland  

huge difference last time i bought and sold was 2014/ 2016 / 2022 in sellers markets and that is not the case right now and its always quite hard to get a lot of viewings in january.

twopenny

From a buyers point of view I wouldn't buy from one or buy from someone who used one again for several reasons.

My buyers used Purple bricks and it was really hard to get anything done. Ditto the others aren't getting buyers where as soon as a local agent takes over it's gone in weeks.
I'm looking at properties again now and I see Nest has photoshopped or AI to put countryside around a house which is boxed in with buildings. If they mislead this way what else would they do is my thought.

I negotiated with the local agents, asked each their rates etc and asked if there was discount if I purchased a property from them as well as sold. Different ways you can go but be polite about it. You can always ask.
You presumably have a house that will sell quickly. If you also have all the paperwork to hand as Dinosaur said and you probably have that's a big plus to get things moving.

And ask if the buyer has everything ready to move. 
I had a number of asking price offers in the first fortnight but one offered over by a lot if I could wait for his to sell. What the agent hadn't said was he hadn't yet got it ready to market! 

Herzlos

If you're wanting to move quickly and have a good job done, I'd get onto a local estate agent and get everything rolling right away. They likely already have leads so can be a lot more proactive.