Hi All,

Anyone used them?

About to sell my house – I think nowadays 95% of people just use Rightmove, zoopla etc., rather than visiting high street agents.

Should I pay a fixed upfront £550 for an online agent to get on rightmove, zoopla etc., and do my own viewings or is it worth shelling out £4-5K in commission for a high street agent?

Anyone have any good or bad experience of the online agents. Thinking Housenetwork.co.uk that claims to be the biggest

What are they going yo go for the money out of interest? Never sold a house but for the amount of cash they are asking I want something really good. Pin guessing going your own viewings is easier in parts less convenient in others. If your anywhere close to yorkshire I could shoot your pictures as it might help with something I’m trying.

I went with house network – I am very demanding and critical of bad service as I worked in retail a long time but they were so good I couldn’t fault them at all. Wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to anyone, brilliant service all round. I went for the premier service.

I paid £700 up front and nothing more to pay. The premier package was £599+VAT and I paid £99 for the EPC as its done at the same time. I had a voucher code for 5% off (EKMJJZUBHM if anyone else uses them, should still work) which I used to make it £700.

A friend who is selling their house is using them too. My house sold in 2 weeks!!!

Mikey- not near Yorks, I think the problem with estate agents is they have to pay a lot for their premises and in today’s online world I’m not convinced it is worth an extra 4K just to get your house in the window.

Robdob, sounds good. I guess my only concern with online is are they going to be that bothered about getting you a sale once you have paid the fee. Paying 4K extra for a HS agent is annoying but if they get you an extra £5K for your house you are ahead. Did you get any feedback from your viewers? I’d worry about their motivation to pass on enquiries etc.

Used them a few years ago, if you can do your own viewings then it’s half the battle, you also have to be your own sales person in the house which is good and bad depending on who you are.

The key things still apply, houses priced right sell if there is a buyer who wants it.

I guess my only concern with online is are they going to be that bothered about getting you a sale once you have paid the fee.
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I’d worry about their motivation to pass on enquiries etc.

I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t bother passing on an enquiry. The passed on everything but the market was very depressed at the time and that was the main reason for no sale. How it goes at the sharp end of things and managing multiple buyers/bids etc I wouldn’t know.

Mudmuncher – see if there is a Century 21 near you. They have the same offer as above on at the minute so £700ish incl VAT. Thats what we went with and I can’t fault their service.

I actually spoke to the 3 sets of people who viewed our house and they said House Network were great. They operate a booking system for viewings all online which is really easy to use. They chase up for feedback from the viewers very well too.

They negotiated a great sale price for me, got £7k more than I was expecting – we asked £112500 which was really cheeky but got £110k, I was reckoning on £105k absolute max so was very chuffed.

They don’t force you to make any decisions about how much to sell for but are happy to go through the options you have and help you decide which way to go.

I had an update conversation with my personal negotiator a week after my house went up for sale and was expecting to have to go through everything on the phone but they had already done loads of homework and investigation on the market local to me and gave me some great advice on what to do and what to expect.

Photos they took were very good too, bloke who came round to take them had 2 hi end SLR’s and knew how to use them too, got a great floor plan and virtual tour in with the price too.

From what I hear of high street agents they are just rubbish compared to the service I received, at least in my area.

Thanks for the tips everyone.

Robdob – The online viewing booking sounds a bit of a faff from a buyers perspective. If I see a house on Rightmove I just want to phone the agent and set a time to view rather than having to setup an account, username, password etc. with an online agency.

Anyone prospective purchasers have a view on whether they would rather be shown around by an agent or the homeowner? Personally I’d prefer the homeowner but my misses would prefer an agent.

I deal with high street estate agent/solicitors on a daily basis. As big a bunch of cowboys you’ll ever meet.

I wouldn’t go near then if I was selling a house! 😆

MM – the buyer doesn’t have to do that, they just ring up HN and ask for a viewing. HN then contact you and ask if it’s ok, everything is also logged online too in your account area so you can see your viewings that you have and keep track of them. The buyer doesnt need to set up an account or anything. You can change or cancel viewings or arrange times via the net as well as phone but HN always ring the prospective buyer and confirm via email afterwards.

What was quite refreshing is that they did operate out of normal 9-5 hours too which a lot of EA’s don’t.

I ALWAYS prefer to be shown round by the owner as you can get a feel as to why they are moving which might help you in the offer stages. Nice to chat to them to – you can sell yourself as a buyer – I’ve found that some people are really cold and distant when viewing houses which surely doesn’t help at all – if you get on with a seller you are more likely for them to prefer you to buy it!

When it came to people buying our house I wanted to show people round as I wanted it to go to a first time buyer rather than a buy to let investor.

My experience of estate agents is pretty poor for what they charge.

The ones I have dealt with have literally shown people the house, and not tried to sell it. I even viewed a house once where the chap showing us round was a retired man who did viewings for pin money for the estate agent, and he sat at the kitchen table and told us to have a look round.

As far as I can tell, all they do is put your house in their window, put it on right move, open the door for people when you’re at work, and phone you up when you get an offer. That’s about it.

The ones I have dealt with have literally shown people the house, and not tried to sell it.

That’s my experience as well after seeing 20+ houses in our area with a variety of agents.

I viewed a load of houses with agents – blimey that was eye opening. When i decided to buy one they made the process brilliantly difficult and ended up advising their client in a way that cost him money. I was delighted – it also meant I knew who I would never use to sell a house!

My sister was an estate agent, she’s bright, dynamic, polite and presentable, and has a genuine interest in houses, decor and home improvements. It’s no wonder she was top earner and shone among all the knuckle draggers, wide boys and chavs she was forced to work with.

I personally would never use an agent. Far easier to use one of the online companies who advertise on Zoopla, Right Move et al.

I managed to reduce my fee with my agent after general poor performance. I had to undertake some viewings and managed to get a larger percentage of offers when I carried out the viewings. Technically I could have moved agents after their contract duration expired, however the reduced rate was not dissimilar so decided to stick with them to reduce hassle and time.

I’ve always had good service when buying and selling with a high street EA but the cost is high enough that might not go that way if I move again. My last house sold the 1st weekend it was on the market due to the list of suitable buyers the agent already had so that can be worth paying for – depends on the local market. Rightmove and Primelocation must be the key places for finding buyer but suppose there are still people who just use high street EAs.

About to sell my house – I think nowadays 95% of people just use Rightmove, zoopla etc., rather than visiting high street agents.

Depends on who you are.

As a buyer IDGAS who’s selling it.

As a seller IDGAS who’s buying it as long as someone does.

So we looked on rightmove etc, but, as a buyer we wouldn’t have bought the house we did without an agent. It was in the wrong area, wrong price and too big but the agent phoned us up as we’d just looked at a few other houses with them and offered to show us this one before the seller had even signed the paperwork with them. We’d had an offer accepted by dinner time!

So agents are better, £4k better I don’t know, but they obviously have access to more buyers, can filter time wasters etc.

As someone who works in an estate agents (I’m not an agent myself) I see first hand the work that a good agent puts in and how they can smooth over issues to the point that a vendor doesn’t even know they are issues!

There are a lot of awful agents out that do nothing for their money but a good agent will normally get you more for your property and take away a lot of the hassle of selling.

A lot of agent will work for 0.5% or £2500 plus vat depending on which is the lower. Given the difference of this compared to an on-line agent fees I’d pay the extra. It seems people agree with that statement by and large otherwise the on-line agents would be a lot more prolific by now.

Just my 2p’s worth from someone on the inside!

I sold my house with housenetwork, I would recommend them. I’m not sure it’s worth a personal agent as mine changed during my time with them. I would definitely not recommend their solicitors/conveyancers though, they farm it out to crappy uk wide companies and you have no choice over who you get.

I would recommend going with an online estate agent though because estate agents do FA for what they charge. Housenetwork was pretty much hassle free.

I prefer to be shown around by the seller. I’m currently in the market for a house and generally you can’t get much real information about the house from the estate agents as they seem to know as much as me when I’m looking around houses….
“What council tax band is it?” / “When was X last serviced?” / “Who owns the boundaries” / “is there a water meter?” / etc are usually always met with “I don’t know but I can find out and get back to you.”

If you’re in Yorkshire and need a housenetwok sign I’m flogging mine on t’ebay (They charge £50 without post or met post!)

Good luck!

I would definitely not recommend their solicitors/conveyancers though, they farm it out to crappy uk wide companies and you have no choice over who you get.

That was the only negative I heard about too BUT they were honest with me and said they have had problems with the and are starting now with a new company for conveyancing so they obviously respond to feedback.

I went with a local solicitor anyway which was much cheaper than the quote I got from the new company they have started using.

Just gone with HN – will let you know how I get on!

I’ve had decent experiences with estate agents recently (buying and selling) but have also just sold a house without one. That was hard work with all the viewings etc and might have been worth the money to get out of that. At least it was over quickly though and some work would have been unavoidable anyway.

mudmuncher – Member
Just gone with HN – will let you know how I get on!

Use EKMJJZUBHM as a discount code for 5% off.

I got quite a lot more than 5% off! 😀

Sweet!