Whos used online estate agents? Good/bad news?

[fastwunz]

Used a local agent and they have been superb - remember, finding a buyer is the easy part, getting the sale over the line is the hard part. Believe it or not, a decent estate agent can be the saviour of a transaction. A solicitor will treat the whole process with a distanced apathy which to be fair is entirely reasonable given they aren’t commission based. An agent who understands the process and is proactive in sorting issues is well worth having on board. There are plenty of highly skilled and experienced ones out there.

There are also many many MANY who are not. It’s pot luck with local office based agents unless you know them individually from experience.

Although I’ll bet very few online agents know the difference between leasehold and share of freehold or escalating ground rents, build over agreements, covenants, CML disclosure, Licences to alter, marriage value etc etc etc.

 

[Buffman]

Although I’ll bet very few online agents know the difference between leasehold and share of freehold or escalating ground rents, build over agreements, covenants, CML disclosure, Licences to alter, marriage value etc etc etc.

Why do they need to? Thats what you pay a solicitor for.

To be fair I think most would have a laymans understanding of most of those.

 

[ChrisD.]

I’m going to go with Yopa. The local agent came around yesterday and I was very impressed. £1395 vs £2500 plus VAT for a local agent.

 

[ChrisD.]

So far so good with Yopa, the local agent seems very decent indeed, he's taken far better pictures than what the local one did. Just have to see what happens when the advert goes live I guess.

 

[ChrisD.]

Sorry to bang on about Yopa, but I thought I would document my experience with them as the process moves on given that's the idea behind this thread.
Friday 21st Aug - local agent valued the house and talked me through the Yopa process.
Tuesday 26th Aug - agent comes to the house and takes the photos and measurements
Wednesday 27th Aug (evening) - advert ready for review in my Yopa profile. I make some comments, agent rings me back within 15 minutes to talk trough them. Shortly after the advert is live on Yopa, Rightmove and Zoopla.

The advert is chalk and cheese different to the one the local and highly recommended estate agent put online. There's more pictures, each with a description of which room it is. They are also clearer, as is the floor plan and overall wording in the advert is better. I'm impressed so far, especially as it's cost me £1395 versus the £2500 + VAT another local agent quoted or the original 1% plus VAT the original wanted (£3600 potentially as the house is up for £300k).

Based on my experience so far I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. I know it's early days and the real experience starts once potential buyers start making enquiries, want viewings and so on.

 

[Jez]

Please do keep documenting your experience with this ChrisD, it makes for interesting reading. I will be looking to sell a place in the coming months (perhaps into next year now) at around £700-750k. The local agents are all around 0.8-1%+V which is as much as £9k.

I'd pay it to secure the highest price, perhaps, but it does seem like an awful lot for virtually nothing these days. Rightmove does all of the work for you and therefore i would just like to ensure that i get the best possible advert on there. I dont even mind doing my own viewings really (although i fear that i would not be as professional as a reasonable agent).

 

[ChrisD.]

It's money for old rope isn't it, it's not difficult to value a property, take some pictures and measurements, put it on RightMove and deal with phone calls, emails and viewings. 9 thousand pounds! I know there's more to it than that but it's clear to see why there's so many online agents now with reasonable prices.

Part of the package I have with Yopa (which is the most popular) is included viewings. And it's only ever the same guy that will do them, not the usual Saturday staff local agents use at weekends who have never been most of the houses (had it so many times when viewing others).

 

[UTT]

Currently live in 4 bed detached 12 Yr old on an estate of around 300 properties. Closest shop is about a mile up a steep hill. Local pub 10 min walk away, was sold to some **** that's converting it to a private property. We've realised we want to be able to walk to the shop and pubs when its a nice evening so we've decided to move to small village location.

Manning Station valued at £310k and offered to market it for £2250 plus VAT. Overall about £2.7k to £2.9k

Got strike coming round next week who everyone round here seems to go with due to cost so will see how much they'd want.

My neighbours and other houses around us go on the market are are usually sold in a couple of weeks

 

[Buffman]

Part of the package I have with Yopa (which is the most popular) is included viewings. And it's only ever the same guy that will do them, not the usual Saturday staff local agents use at weekends who have never been most of the houses (had it so many times when viewing others).

I did my own viewings via purplebricks and went fine (well it sold for an incredible price at least within 5 days!).

I dont know if sometimes having the seller doing the viewings puts others off but i wouldnt care. I was able to answer questions like "where does the sun rise/set" "When was the boiler done" /similar which other EA's have been unable to do when I've aske and im voewing 500k houses, so they must be making a lot of money off the sale

 

[ChrisD.]

I also don't mind doing my own viewings, but it's nice to have the option if the house is empty and someone wants to view it. But yeah, estate agents that have shown me and my mrs round have even said at times to us 'this is my first time here, I know nothing about the house'.

 

[ChrisD.]

Another Yopa update. My assigned agent rang me after the house had been on the market for a week without a single viewing request, he was concerned and mentioned about lowering the price a little. I said I wanted to keep it where it was and I wouldn't mind thing moving a bit slower as my housemate is moving out over the course of the month and arranging viewings was a pain. He agreed and I wasn't expecting to hear anything but we have our first viewing on Saturday and luckily our housemate is away this weekend which makes things a little simpler.

 

[00bob00]

I listed with settled two years ago for a fixed fee of £1000 up front and performed the viewings myself - it was exhausting and had the added pressure of needing to sell by a fixed date (don't do this). Everybody asked the same questions. Eventually got a buyer and it proceeded to the day before exchange where the buyer pulled out - by that point, we were about 3 months away from baby arriving so just left it. Settled said we could pause and come back when we did eventually want to start viewings again but they've recently rebranded so they no longer sell properties so that money is gone.

We're trying to sell at the moment and have gone for a local agent who charges 1% which has been great, everything has been handled more or less by the agent. If we sell that's £4K gone but I'll take it.

I think my main gripe with all these online agents is actually as an interested party - when you're looking for a property, they make you sign up to their portal and use their application process which can be very offputting.

 

[DampCat]

I think it's down to the agent, regardless of who s/he works for. We've just gone on the market with a local agent, having been valued by both PB and a local outfit. The PB chap seemed good, and he said all the right things but the local guy just knew so much more about other properties on the area. They're vetting people beforehand to reduce time wasters, they try to stack the viewings into one day (although won't turn people away if they can't do it) and make sure everyone is masked up and sanitised. For me it just felt more comfortable, but obviously I don't know how it would have gone with the PB guy, he did seem nice.

 

[Buffman]

I think it's down to the agent, regardless of who s/he works for. We've just gone on the market with a local agent, having been valued by both PB and a local outfit. The PB chap seemed good, and he said all the right things but the local guy just knew so much more about other properties on the area. They're vetting people beforehand to reduce time wasters, they try to stack the viewings into one day (although won't turn people away if they can't do it) and make sure everyone is masked up and sanitised. For me it just felt more comfortable, but obviously I don't know how it would have gone with the PB guy, he did seem nice.

To be fair purplebricks you can set your own availability (e.g. Only Tuesday evening and Saturday morning thus having the "block booking" effect. Can make it to suit you

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Generally speaking if you actually want to sell your house you need to be available for viewings pretty much every day in the evening and on both Saturday and Sunday.

It’s very frustrating when you see something you like and the seller is like ‘ummm I can do a week on Wednesdays at 3’ and yes that has actually happened to us and we bought something else before we got to view it.

I’ve also had an agent tell me the vendor is going on holiday for 2 weeks and doesn’t want the agent to do the viewing while they are away. Really?

Both of these were at a time when the market was really flat and buyers could pick and choose to what they bought with offers going in below asking.

 

[HungryHippos]

When I was selling my old house I had the EA call me up saying they had someone who wanted to view my property that afternoon, but had no one free to take the viewing on.

I had to tell them I didn't want to do it partly because it was such short notice, and partly because I Was paying the EA to sell the house and handle the viewings so I didn't need to.

My agreement with the EA was basically to say that anything was good as long as it was next day (gives me the chance to make sure the house is tidy).

 

[Amplus]

Wish I went with an online EA now. I wanted too but my wife is adamant we went with a local EA.
Went with Dixons who are one of the biggest EA in the area. £2000 plus VAT for a £200k house and we paid an extra £100 for professional photos and for the house to be featured on Rightmove.

8 weeks in and we still haven't sold. Had around 8 viewings but no offers. House was valued at £200k-£215k so we went for the lowest valuation as we thought it would attract more buyers.

The house is a terrace, everyone who views it loves it as it's is decorated beautifully (if I do say so myself), problem is the bathroom is downstairs but most houses on this road are 2 bed whilst mine is a 3 bed.EA said they can't understand why we haven't had more interest and don't believe it's overpriced.

The thing that is really annoying myself and my partner is they NEVER answer the phone. If I ring 10 times in a day be lucky if they answered once. I have complained and said if I can't get through how can buyers.

I really want to sack them off and I have spoken to other EA but none of them strike me as all that great. Went with a big EA as thought they would have potential buyers on there books (how wrong was we). Now we are going to drop the price to offers over £190k. Won't accept less then £193k tbh....if this doesn't work will try an online one. The minimum you should expect from your EA is that they always answer the phone.

 

[Amplus]

One thing with a local EA is they vet the buyers so there are no time wasters and have the mortgage in principle. How does that work with online EA? How do they vet viewings so they are not time wasters?

 

[ChrisD.]

One thing with a local EA is they vet the buyers so there are no time wasters and have the mortgage in principle. How does that work with online EA? How do they vet viewings so they are not time wasters?

Yopa vet buyers and make sure they have an AIP before why viewings.

 

[UTT]

Wish I went with an online EA now. I wanted too but my wife is adamant we went with a local EA.
Went with Dixons who are one of the biggest EA in the area. £2000 plus VAT for a £200k house and we paid an extra £100 for professional photos and for the house to be featured on Rightmove.

8 weeks in and we still haven't sold. Had around 8 viewings but no offers. House was valued at £200k-£215k so we went for the lowest valuation as we thought it would attract more buyers.

The house is a terrace, everyone who views it loves it as it's is decorated beautifully (if I do say so myself), problem is the bathroom is downstairs but most houses on this road are 2 bed whilst mine is a 3 bed.EA said they can't understand why we haven't had more interest and don't believe it's overpriced.

The thing that is really annoying myself and my partner is they NEVER answer the phone. If I ring 10 times in a day be lucky if they answered once. I have complained and said if I can't get through how can buyers.

I really want to sack them off and I have spoken to other EA but none of them strike me as all that great. Went with a big EA as thought they would have potential buyers on there books (how wrong was we). Now we are going to drop the price to offers over £190k. Won't accept less then £193k tbh....if this doesn't work will try an online one. The minimum you should expect from your EA is that they always answer the phone.

Gone with Strike, formerly known as Home sense. £400 up front is the only fee and photos included in that.

Been mainly internet based but had a teams chat with the Strike lady and then completed all forms online. They have a dashboard and you've got to complete each section before moving on to the next.

Anyway, photographer came round last wednesday, confirmed the advert was ok on friday morning and an hour later we're on rightmove, zoopla etc.

Hope to get some viewing requests over next couple of weeks and Strike claim they vet them to ensure only potential buyers turn up.

Other traditional estate agents wanted 1% plus VAT. House in on the market at £350k. As much as i liked the guy from the traditional EA i could'nt justify roughly £4k fee compared to £400. Will see how it goes over coming weeks.

Just out of interest, do you have a property you are moving to lined up? Put an offer on? Got a plan for next home?