Selling a house, which online estate agent ?

MassiveJim · 1 Oct 2020 at 23:20

Potentially looking at selling our house in the very near future.

Which estates agents are any good ?
Purple bricks advertise £999inc VAT
doorsteps.co.uk, for example, quote £99.

We had a free valuation from John German today I asked what they charge and they said 1% + VAT.
How can they vary so massively for what is essentially the same thing ?

fastwunz · 2 Oct 2020 at 07:30

Do purple bricks do the viewings?

bayo000 · 2 Oct 2020 at 07:57

We used Yopa and did viewings overselves. The online portal is pretty good and lets you reply with alternative times if you can't make the proposed time. The best thing was the messaging system so you can speak to your buyers directly.

Mysterae_ · 2 Oct 2020 at 10:45

We used Purple Bricks and were very happy with the service. A few things to note - we used their conveyancing for the viewings which increased the number of viewings and took a bit of stress off. Print out a list of any specific features you want your viewers to know and get the rep to give it to them as the rep doesn't know your house like you do. The online portal and messaging can be good but becomes a hassle if your buyers are pain in the arse like ours was, constantly texting the most inane things.

Not sure if it's same now but you could defer payment to the end but you were tied to using their solicitors. DO NOT DO THIS! By the sounds of it their solicitors are a sweatshop in Slough and you'll never speak to the same person twice. Pay up front and use a local solicitor, one that you can visit and knock on the door when you get a problem.

happy_2008 · 2 Oct 2020 at 10:59

Mysterae_ said:
Not sure if it's same now but you could defer payment to the end but you were tied to using their solicitors. DO NOT DO THIS! By the sounds of it their solicitors are a sweatshop in Slough and you'll never speak to the same person twice. Pay up front and use a local solicitor, one that you can visit and knock on the door when you get a problem.

This is definately a must, my solicitors is in town and i can drop documents off with no problem. My buyers for some strange reason has chosen a solicitors in Derby........

2004typer · 3 Oct 2020 at 09:20

A vendor we were buying off recently (until he pulled it off the market.....after we had arranged a mortgage and started searches, frustratingly), was using Strike (formerly House Simple) seemed easy to deal with.

Was managed via an online portal so had an easy line to communicate with the agent or vendor, even outside of normal office hours.

Was pretty convenient.