Help with EA - Has anyone heard of Housenetwork.co.uk

panichousebuyer

We have some quotes for EA fees :eek:

We are putting on at 200k and we have been given a quote of 1.45%, includes all advertising, discounted hip and solicitors (selling), this brings the price to approx £4,200.

I have asked a couple of other EAs and they are roughly the same. But now my OH has sent me this link https://www.housenetwork.co.uk (can't post links so you might have to type it in)!! Has anybody heard of them, used them and are they any good, or is it better to have an EA who is just up the road?

Please help!!!

Edit: Hooray, link did work

kunekune

Well, diving in first ...

They are a fairly big organisation, I think. At least around here, they have a reasonable proportion of the market. The houses they are selling go on Rightmove, and from the purchaser's point of view, they are certainly visible. However, there are a couple of issues to keep in mind.

1. For some reason, people who list with Housenetwork have too many photos. I think every single one goes on the rightmove page. That can be fixed if you only send them a few, but bear in mind they will not be doing any editing/choosing. What you send is what you get.
2. Some buyers might be put off by dealing directly with the seller. It's one thing to be 'firm' in negotiations if you've never met the person you're negotiating with, it's another thing if they are flesh and blood and you can see the consequences for them as well as yourself. Working through an intermediary has advantages.
3. In my experience, the prices tend to be high and they don't tend to come down. Perhaps because there is no EA on your back, reminding you (because their income depends on it) that if you don't drop there'll be no sale.

But, if you go into it with a 'will sell' state of mind, and are prepared to monitor stuff yourself, even work out for yourself that the price is too high, then I reckon it's a good deal.

Fran

panichousebuyer

kunekune wrote: »

Well, diving in first ...

2. Some buyers might be put off by dealing directly with the seller. It's one thing to be 'firm' in negotiations if you've never met the person you're negotiating with, it's another thing if they are flesh and blood and you can see the consequences for them as well as yourself. Working through an intermediary has advantages.

Fran

Does this mean that the buyers give the offer to us personally, not through housenetwork, I don't know if I can do that!!!

fc123

I can't advise from experiencve but researched how they do it recently and have concluded that IF we ever sold, we would go through them first.
Only aside is, we are in retail so used to dealing with general public and selling things.
I hate to put my head above the parapet (on such a judgemental forum...welll sometimes)- but I feel that these sites could replace a lot of trad EA sales.
It's already happened in my own industry and just, kind of, sneaked up behind us, without us really noticing (not that we are dimwits or anything) but busy people miss stuff as they are so busy being busy....would apply to a lot of EA's over the past decade.

Canucklehead

Good evening: In addition to my responses to your 2 PMs...we did not negotiate directly with the buyers and made this clear to the parties in question. If you don't feel confident about dealing with prospective buyers (as you will be showing the property/selling its attributes ) perhaps you should go down the traditional route.

Our viewers said it was refreshing to have questions about the properties answered by someone who knew the answers eg. works completed/certificated, Council tax banding etc. rather than getting a lot of waffle from an agent. who knew diddly squat;)

HTH

Canucklehead

panichousebuyer

Canucklehead wrote: »

we did not negotiate directly with the buyers and made this clear to the parties in question. If you don't feel confident about dealing with prospective buyers (as you will be showing the property/selling its attributes ) perhaps you should go down the traditional route.

I am ok with showing the buyers around, answering questions etc. It is just the negotiating with an offer I am uncomfortable with.

When we sold our last house, after we had accepted the buyers offer, they came around to 'measure up' and said (in a round about way) they wanted more money off the house. We stuck firm and wouldn't let the house go for any less but it made me very uncomfortable!

As long as somebody else does that part of it, it would be ok.

Many thanks again BTW!

fc123

panichousebuyer wrote: »

I am ok with showing the buyers around, answering questions etc. It is just the negotiating with an offer I am uncomfortable with.

When we sold our last house, after we had accepted the buyers offer, they came around to 'measure up' and said (in a round about way) they wanted more money off the house. We stuck firm and wouldn't let the house go for any less but it made me very uncomfortable!

As long as somebody else does that part of it, it would be ok.

Many thanks again BTW!

I believe you can dump that all on Houseprice network, though you may have to refuse to speak to the buyers. put ansaphone on??
Could all be done by e-mail though.........I didn't research that far enough...check the small print on the sight re; negotiations

Doozergirl

Housenetwork deal with the negotiations. They are an online estate agent, not a DIY website. Yes you carry out the viewings yourself but the viewings are organised, feedback obtained and the sale negotiated by housenetwork staff. The only person you answer your phone to is them.

No, they aren't going to tell you if your price is too high, but I really believe that people are capable of working that out - if only they would. If you can take responsibility for your own asking price and not lay blame (and an extra £1500) at the foot of an EA then House Nework are superb.

The lots of photos thing is that HN take a LOT of photos and then it's up to you to decide what to show. It's not that simple as it is a case of picking photos you don't want rather than ones you do, but you cannot believe the number of people that don't even check or don't seem to care what is shown. The number of photos shown and even the main picture on rightmove is completely up to you.

House Network, for a savvy vendor = fabulous.