Online or High street estate agents?

[MercedesDriver]

Mrs and I are thinking of selling the current home and buying another, new for us, house.
Differences in online (Purple Bricks, and such) and high street estate agents fees (Foxtons, etc.) are considerable (nice 3+2 leather suite can be bought for the price difference) so would like to know if you have ever dealt with online ones and what are your experiences.
I would prefer having an agent to be present during the viewings by potential buyers and as I understand it can be sorted even with the online ones for an additional fee, but I don't know how experienced and/or good those online agents are?
Your experiences please.
Thanks

 

[Deleted member 6183]

As I understand it the online agents make their profit by insisting that you use their preferred solicitors, mortgage advisers and surveyors
This is fine in itself as long as the service providers fees are competitive.

 

[renault12ts]

I'm selling. The fees are 0.75 of what we get plus £350 for board etc.

 

[MercedesDriver]

I'm selling. The fees are 0.75 of what we get plus £350 for board etc.

I suppose this is from high street agency. Is it 0.75% + VAT or inclusive of VAT?

 

[renault12ts]

Plus VAT.

I don't think PB are as cheap as they make out. The small print is important.

 

[MercedesDriver]

Plus VAT.

I don't think PB are as cheap as they make out. The small print is important.

Thanks. I was quoted 1% with VAT. What I don't like about PB is that they ask for money in advance + £300 for viewings which means that I loose all leverage in dealing with them and I haven't read the small prints yet.

 

[Smart320]

Generally I have used a good independent local agent and kept the cost down by agreeing ' sole ' agency ( with a get out if no buyer found after a couple of months. More importantly they will be likely to get the property valuation right and may well have a buyer or two looking in your area on their books and will be able to actively market the property rather than just putting it on a website.

 

[ioweddie]

They are all worse than car dealers! Sharks the lot of them, Raffle it at £50 a ticket!
Seriously though read the small print and don't tie yourself down too long.
I think the cheapest internet agent is best, so long as it goes on Rightmove, most people search online these days, not many people look in the agents window, make sure you have a sign up, even if you buy your own.
Good Luck its going to be stressful.

 

[MercedesDriver]

Generally I have used a good independent local agent and kept the cost down by agreeing ' sole ' agency ( with a get out if no buyer found after a couple of months. More importantly they will be likely to get the property valuation right and may well have a buyer or two looking in your area on their books and will be able to actively market the property rather than just putting it on a website.

Good advice. Thank you.

 

[MercedesDriver]

They are all worse than car dealers! Sharks the lot of them, Raffle it at £50 a ticket!
Seriously though read the small print and don't tie yourself down too long.
I think the cheapest internet agent is best, so long as it goes on Rightmove, most people search online these days, not many people look in the agents window, make sure you have a sign up, even if you buy your own.
Good Luck its going to be stressful.

I believe it is a very stressful process, we are still not on the market and I already have a migraine just because of thinking of it.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I'm probably alone in enjoying the process.

The search, negotiating the sale and the thrill of planning all the changes to be made to the new place.

I've even wangled a new car out of the proceeds, however, that was in the mid 2000s when the market was nuts.

 

[190]

My son recently sold a house with Purple Bricks. I don't know the exact costs but it sold quickly for a good price and he was very happy with the amount of money saved compared to the local agent. I don't see a problem with lack of local knowledge as most people would have a house valued by more than one agent.

 

[flowrider]

What are the fees for an online agent? I thought they were less than £1k which compared to a high street agent is very cheap.

 

[Nicebutdim]

Sold my last house three years ago using Hatched online estate agents. We already had a good idea of local house prices and we dictated the selling price. They organised plenty of viewings which we hosted ourselves. We sold very quickly. The biggest single asset was having the house on Rightmove as part of the package.

Not saying it was perfect but overall a very positive experience that saved us thousands. I would use an online agent again.

Chris

 

[Nicebutdim]

Oh, and we were able to use our own solicitors. Surveyors were appointed by the buyers mortgage companies. We were not obliged to use any services offered by the agents.
From memory total cost around £600

Chris

 

[ioweddie]

Its probably less stressful if you use an online agent, as you are in control of the viewings, you get to talk to the buyers and can get a feel of how its going, local boys tell you want you want to hear, not what actually is the truth!
In the end I only allowed viewings from people who were under offer, as I got fed up with day trippers and people just wanting to see what other people live like, We also found quite a few viewers it was their hobby to just go viewing at the weekend.

 

[Nicebutdim]

In the end I only allowed viewings from people who were under offer, as I got fed up with day trippers and people just wanting to see what other people live like, We also found quite a few viewers it was their hobby to just go viewing at the weekend.

We had a few of these. Sad nosey buggers.
The agents viewing appointment system worked well. They used to text, email, and phone us to make sure we got the appointment.

Biggest stressor was solicitors. I'd like to see them all leaving for another planet.

Chris

 

[neilrr]

The flaw with Purplebrick's business model (from the seller's POV) is they get paid upfront, regardless of whether they sell your house or not. With no incentive for them to actually sell the house it can & does go badly wrong & you could end up paying PB and a B&M agent. Many of PB's Local Property Experts aren't local or experts, more the type who bounce from job to job between established agents or were selling double glazing or lower end used cars a few months back. Purplebricks - Reviews of Estate Agents & Letting Agents | allAgents

I suspect they use employees & shills to boost their much vaunted Trustpilot ratings, which IMO are worse than worthless.

An established local agent will negotiate on the commission rate & provide a much better service IMO.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Best mate bought and sold via Purple bricks, was great and cost peanuts compared to a normal agent.

 

[Merkaholic]

Having worked in the industry i would be reluctant to pay anyone upfront as the motivation to sell soon goes. The percentage of commission varies from agent to agent and area to area as asking price dictates agent fees. Get 3 local reputable agents round, go sole agency for maximum 6 weeks as this keeps the pressure on the agent. For eg if agent values it at £350k dont be scared to say you want to try it at £365. This Will add that extra bit of room for to negotiate. Good luck.

Ps. Never be pushed to make a decision which you are not 100% pleased with.