They apparently make their money by pushing their legal services & mortgages on the buyers and sellers.

I don’t like the fella I’m dealing with, but I do like the house I’m looking at.

Any experiences to share?

The choice of selling agent would have no impact on whether I bought a place; once the offer is agreed, and they’re legally obliged to put all offers to the vendor, it’s all down to solicitors, so the fact that you don’t like the selling agent means very little.

And they can push their services as much as they like, if you don’t want them then politely decline.

The choice of selling agent would have no impact on whether I bought a place; once the offer is agreed, and they’re legally obliged to put all offers to the vendor, it’s all down to solicitors, so the fact that you don’t like the selling agent means very little.

And they can push their services as much as they like, if you don’t want them then politely decline.

Unfortunately the world of estate agents doesn’t quite work like this if the estate agent is based on commission and gets both money from the sale and the mortgages etc. If they have a client who is willing to use said facilities they will push that buyer towards the seller a lot more than you or so I’ve experienced

We’ve had exactly this happen, we lost the house based on me saying no to their mortgage advice. How do I know? I spoke to the vendor, she told me all the lies the estate agent told and what he’d said about us and how much he was pushing one particular buyer who was using all their services, we were only able to proceed with the house when the vendor told him she was pulling the sale (him losing both commissions) and getting her solicitors involved for dodgy practice, as soon as this happened he backed off and suddenly let us sort things out.

I know its only one case but it happens.

Daughter bought a Strike house and used their legal services. It transpired that the seller had done the same and it was the same practice. It wasn’t exactly a nightmare but it did take a lot longer than predicted.

They also tried get the seller to reject my daughters offer but thankfully the seller had some scruples.

They have a tiered pricing system and the free (draw ya own floorpan etc) one will mean they’ll push ancillary services – harder than traditionals I’d expect.

Strike, what was Housesimple, has grown fast and nicked market share from usual suspects.

Otherwise, a good agent is a good agent regardless of the business they represent.

If you like the house, sod the agent.

Thanks for the feedback stu, and for others’ comments.

I was proceeding anyway (using the local solicitor who is handling my sale) – but from what I’ve seen so far, I don’t think their business model is conducive to good service for buyers.

jolmes – your experience is exactly the kind of thing I was concerned about.

I sold with them, they offered various extras at costs but no major pressure to take them. I don’t think using them had any impact on the sale/price etc and they were pretty good at comms through the sale process.

Were you happy with how they facilitated comms between yourself and your buyer Steve?

So far I’ve dealt with one lovely lady, one passive aggressive lady and one pushy bellend bloke as a buyer.