Online Estate Agents

[d000hg]

We haven't sold through one but we have bought through one - didn't seem any worse than the normal experience little as that is saying.

We DID talk to PB when selling a place but since we weren't living there it didn't seem to fit that scenario. From talking to them and reading up on the system, it would work fine if you wanted to do viewings yourself especially if your target buyers were internet-savvy.

We all know the high street agent is a money-making dinosaur - RightMove et al destabilised advertising houses so it stands to reason the way they are sold is ripe for a kick too.

[northernladuk]

depends where the flat / house is? central london and online is good because theres lots of demand

outside better with traditional

sad to tell you the market is very soft at the moment

Could I interest you in a Shift key at all? Reasonable price.

[LondonPM1]

Does anyone have any personal experience of selling their property through one of these agents ?

I'm selling due to impending divorce and want to avoid paying a much higher commission to a high street agent..

depends where the flat / house is? central london and online is good because theres lots of demand

outside better with traditional

sad to tell you the market is very soft at the moment

[fullyautomatix]

Neighbour recently sold his house. He was a bit of a tight git and listed it with purple bricks. They charge a fixed fee of 800 at time of listing and non refundable. Terrible pictures and property did not sell for a few months.
He then listed with high street agent and it sold within a week. Much better pictures and listing though.
In the end he lost out on that purple bricks fee and paid the 1% fee to high street agent. Double whammy!

[Antman]

Hmm, that is quite a difference! Ours was like £6-700.

Maybe just online with a realistic price in that case? Depends on how desirable is the property, if it'll shift easy and there's no problems with surveys (disputes etc.) or structure then get it on-line.

Doing a bit of legwork could save yourself a fair amount.

[kaiser78]

Thanks for responses.

My comparison fees are online agent £895-£1200 vs high street agent £5000 fixed.
This is on an £800-850k property, selling through divorce. Leaning towards high street and taking the hit on the higher fee for a less hassle sale.

[FrontEnder]

haven't used them to buy/sell a house, but have used both online and high street for renting out my house and have to say the online letting agent was miles better value for money. A trivial fee to advertise on the main property sites (zoopla etc.) vs 1 month rent to do the same.

[Eirikur]

real estate agents are the same sort of scum as recruitment agents, unfortunately it's almost impossible not to use them

[Antman]

Happy path scenario, the online estate agent model works.

In our experience, the agent does earn their wedge because of the questions being asked and the implications of them. They can smooth over a stressful time for both parties by understanding what is important to the buyer/seller. Ours weren't the buyers from hell either just people who get stressed out because moving house is a big change, but I dread to think of what would have happened if it had been online only.

The difference between the end cost of online and a bricks and mortar was a few multiples of hundred pounds (we live in the impoverished North).

[Bacchus]

I was looking for a house last year.

When I saw one advertised with the likes of the purple pricks, I couldn't help thinking that they weren't serious about selling. They go in and suggest a top of the market value with "no commission" to appeal to the greed of the seller.

To be fair, viewings were conducted by a human as they say on their ads, but not somebody with a street by street knowledge of the local market, and the ones I saw were always late because they had come a long way.

Real real estate agents will usually negotiate on price, and as a businessman you should be able to agree a mutually acceptable deal.

I agreed a sliding scale with the agent who was selling mine with something along the lines of a basic 1% up to a certain amount then 10% over that; the agent loved it because it would properly motivate the negotiators; an extra £100 per £10k is neither here nor there, but they'll go the extra mile for a grand and I would get nine! In the end we achieved forty thousand pounds more than what was believed to be the best price which is hugely significant and mocks any saving by "not paying commission"

Divorce is a pain in the tits, and can make it difficult to be level headed, but in the end, you get what you pay for.

[SueEllen]

The properties I see with online estate agents stick around for ever e.g. there is something wrong with the property or where it is located.

[kaiser78]

Does anyone have any personal experience of selling their property through one of these agents ?

I'm selling due to impending divorce and want to avoid paying a much higher commission to a high street agent..