The House Network?
Discussion
Anyone ever used them? Are they any good compared normal high street estate agents?
http://www.housenetwork.co.uk
Obviously the major advantage is the price, but are there any major pitfalls anyone has run in to?
Cheers, Russ
http://www.housenetwork.co.uk
Obviously the major advantage is the price, but are there any major pitfalls anyone has run in to?
Cheers, Russ
Road Pest said:
To be fair as long as you get it on Rightmove with good pics, there isn't much more you need to do to get people to your front door IMO.
Possibly...Much as it is very easy to knock the High Street model of Estate Agency, and very popular it is too, the reality within the group of companies that I work for (120ish agencies across the SE) is that only a fifth of viewings can be traced back to an original introduction to a property via the internet. The internet is very very important to the industry, and will (probably) become more and more important to the sale of an individual property in the future. But right now, and for as long as I have heard discussions within the general public that High Street Estate Agencies are dead in the water because of the internet (call it 15 years? Well, at least 10) the internet isn't as significant as some would have you believe to the sale of a particular property.
Back to the original question. I don't really have a great deal of faith in this particular company, or similar companies either. Regularly these organisations don't seem to get the results the owners intended and the properties are lated listed by the more traditional agencies a month or two down the line. This is not to say these models always fail, far from it, and you will find many in support of them, and certainly not to defend many tradition High Street Agencies (who also regularly fail for a variety of reasons) just my observation.
I would suggest that if you really rate the potential saving (a reduced fee) above any additional services or reach you believe you may receive from the more traditional agents then give it a go for a while. Remember you may be liable for costs should you choose to discontinue using their services.
A search on the wider internet will no doubt find many supporters of these types of company. In my experience, however, the sort of person that uses these organisations is predisposed to dislike/mistrust/misunderstand the operations of the more traditional local agency method. A bit like if you were to search for supporters of the Toyota Prius on the internet you will find thousands who believe them to be the best thing since sliced bread. And, indeed for many people the Prius may well serve their needs very well indeed.
Best of luck with your move whichever way you go. (There's a lot of luck in it I'm afraid).
Road Pest said:
scenario8 said:
Road Pest said:
To be fair as long as you get it on Rightmove with good pics, there isn't much more you need to do to get people to your front door IMO.
Possibly...
I have seen so many online webbys fail offering cheap fees, because cheap means, no after sale service coupled with the fact that the fees do not provide enough revenue to cover the running costs of the business.
Unfortunately Rightmove, do have a stranglehold on the web market, much to the dismay of all independent agents, hence why they put their prices up year on year, now currently at £600 per month (it used to be £50 6 years ago!)
Unfortunately it is owned by Countrywide (Mann & Co.) & Connels, Who get it for free being part of the Corporate group. Having worked for both they are shocking in their customer service and would rather sell you a mortgage than care about your sale/purchase, so i, as would many others would welcome a viable alternative.
My advice, avoid the corporate chains at all cost.
Unfortunately Rightmove, do have a stranglehold on the web market, much to the dismay of all independent agents, hence why they put their prices up year on year, now currently at £600 per month (it used to be £50 6 years ago!)
Unfortunately it is owned by Countrywide (Mann & Co.) & Connels, Who get it for free being part of the Corporate group. Having worked for both they are shocking in their customer service and would rather sell you a mortgage than care about your sale/purchase, so i, as would many others would welcome a viable alternative.
My advice, avoid the corporate chains at all cost.
Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 30th December 17:35
digimeistter said:
My advice, avoid the corporate chains at all cost.
Totally agree. Edited by digimeistter on Wednesday 30th December 17:35
With regards the OP - don't be too shortsighted thinking a cheap agent will save you money. Paying a higher fee to a better agent would usually be financially better for you, ie, better to have two potential buyers bidding up to the asking price than one lonesome viewer in 8 weeks who ends up securing your property at a lower price. Saving money on the fee (even say £4000) is not much compared to the potential difference in your sale price. Your house is a big investment, you don't want a monkey managing the sale of it
Bill Carr said:
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Isn't it funny that when a property is valued over a certain level the living room metamorphoses into a "drawing room"?By the way, when we put the web system into Rightmove last year, it was specced for an average of 240 queries per second, and a peak on a Friday Lunchtime of 400QPS. It is in the top 10 online sites in the UK, so I guess that you would get more coverage with them than with housenetwork, or folks walking past a high street store.
I used them when looking a houses and I found the service shocking. They couldn't get me a viewing in the window I wanted as the vendors 'were on holiday'. We ended up seeing another house two doors away and told that "the other house doesn't seem to get any viewings".
I used another online agency for a viewing and this time got to see the house. The agent didn't ring us after the viewing, as I really liked the house but needed more time to think about it. When I did ring a few days later I'm was told it's under offer and that she tried to ring me after the viewing and confirmed my mobile number to confirm the point. Either way, she clearly lost out on a possible offer-well the vendor certaintly did.
I learnt about both properties via Rightmove so you're covered if that's all you want. However, you can't beat a local agent having a big client list which they can start ringing up to drum up interest asap.
I used another online agency for a viewing and this time got to see the house. The agent didn't ring us after the viewing, as I really liked the house but needed more time to think about it. When I did ring a few days later I'm was told it's under offer and that she tried to ring me after the viewing and confirmed my mobile number to confirm the point. Either way, she clearly lost out on a possible offer-well the vendor certaintly did.
I learnt about both properties via Rightmove so you're covered if that's all you want. However, you can't beat a local agent having a big client list which they can start ringing up to drum up interest asap.
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