Anyone used strike online estate agents?

[Blackforesthotchoc]

Just that really - anyone used strike estate agents? We're in Manchester. Looking at both local and online estate agents and Strikes operating seems a bit different?

[AriettyHomily]

Never heard of them and for that reason would swerve.

[Mildura]

The online agent formely known as Housesimple.

Strike earns referral fees from additional services it offers, such as conveyancing and insurance advice, which allows it to sell homes without charging customers any estate agent fees

[PeachandBee]

Formally House Simple, they changed branding last month.

Currently dealing with them as they are the agents and conveyancing (premier property lawyers) for the vendors on our new house. Absolute nightmare, no one ever answers the phones, information is sporadic and vague and they seem to take forever to do anything. It took 3 days just to make an offer through them, one the vendors had already agreed to! Then when we finally got through, Strike said the owners rejected the offer for being too low! Vendors spent a day trying to get them back on the phone to tell them to accept it.

We initially made our offer back at the start of June and I am still waiting to exchange with no hint of a completion date. The rest of the chain was ready weeks ago but they are dragging thier heels with absolutely no communication or explanation.

Avoid like the plague.

[Blackforesthotchoc]

Ahh, will avoid like the plague then - we bought our house from them originally and we referred to them as housesimpleton as they seemed so unable to do anyhting properly! Any recommendations for online estate agents in the Manchester area?

[WinterAndRoughWeather]

Why does it have to be an online agent? Most of the dealings with EAs are via phone and email anyway.

We used Carr & Hume in Swinton - absolutely brilliant and inexpensive.

[Sitdowncupoftea]

Avoid them. I emailed numerous times to put an offer on a house never responded. I emailed as they didn't answer the phone.

[FManc]

@Blackforesthotchoc

Ahh, will avoid like the plague then - we bought our house from them originally and we referred to them as housesimpleton as they seemed so unable to do anyhting properly! Any recommendations for online estate agents in the Manchester area?

I’m not sure what part of Manchester you’re in, but towards S. Manchester the online agents I tend to see are mainly Strike, Purplebricks and Yopa

[Mildura]

Any recommendations for online estate agents

Why not use a proper estate agent?

[Blackforesthotchoc]

Because weve already got three coming around from local agents - our preference is to go with a local one but it makes sense to look at whats available online as well.

[YellowNotRed]

Just to mention, I won't view any houses listed with online agents as i found them so awful to deal with for my last purchase (the vendor used them) Unanswered enquiries, wrong info sent, etc etc.

Awful.

[Mochachoco]

Currently dealing with them at the moment. They are awful they have clearly taken on too many houses and not enough agents. Waiting three weeks and five messages left for them to ring us back to let our buyers know an update.

[Blackforesthotchoc]

Fairly consistent awfulness then!

[Enwi]

Would not recommend!

We wanted to view two properties with them 4 weeks ago. We are in a pretty good position- house sold, our buyers not in a chain, we have a large deposit and very small mortgage. We could not for the life of us get a viewing. When we did get through to someone they never knew any of the details of the properties, always said they’d get back in contact and never did. We ended up not being able to view either of the properties as we eventually gave up chasing an appointment, and both properties are still on the market (surprise, surprise!).

[mumsy27]

went for online agent, saved lot's money.
my property was saleable(2bedroom flat,zone2 London), I led the viewing with open day(20+ buyers, 10 offers within three days.
strangely i went as well with premier property, it was my choice after a bit of online search and comparison,the conveyancer was a bit ok!...saved money too.

[juleswatford]

Can I just say never go with an online conveyancing company who will treat you as a unit even if you are pushed by the estate agent to do so: the estate agent will normal be getting a commission, the law states that the estate agent should be also telling you how much commission they will get. My investigation is that they are getting between £250 to £500 for referral fees.

I work for a very successful independent conveyancing company, not going to tell you who, we do not paid referral fees, never had to and never will, but the whole team cares about clients. We have had to deal with what we call S* online conveyancers (conveyancing factories) who when there are issues are uncontactable. Honesty when we have been instructed by a client and find that the other side is a online conveyancing company on on the other side I want to weep. The client on the other side thinks that they have saved £200 or maybe £400, but they may have lost more...the property of their dreams.

Please look at the reviews, look at the 1 stars and their experiences, ask other people in your circle if they can recommend, be careful this is your biggest investment and you need to find the people who care, who are looking after your interests and help you get there.

I know buying and selling is stressful, there are hiccups: the stress level it just below death and divorce. So pick your conveyancer very carefully

Just don't write off your local conveyancer for an online slick one. Research and find one who is going to be on the journey with you.

Take care....do your homework

[DailyFailstinks]

Yes, they are a nightmare! I’ve viewed a couple of properties being sold by them and they bombarded me with texts and emails. Really irritating as a buyer and makes the seller look desperate.

[Frankie197779]

Avoid avoid Avoid! I'm buying a house at the moment and they are the seller's Estate agent. If I'd known how difficult they are I'd never have put an offer in (yes, they're that bad).

I'm getting numerous calls a day for documents they 1) don't need and 2) have already been sent. They're also pestering my mortgage advisor and estate agent daily for paperwork, yet haven't responded to any requests sent to them.

The biggest issue is that I'm already on my 4th "account handler" and we only had our offer accepted last week

[PomegranateQueen]

Another vote for avoid. I am buying a house and the photos/particulars for houses through online agents have been rubbish. I rang them about one house and it was such a pain in the arse to book a viewing appointment so I gave up. Honestly I would be a little put off a house sold by an online agent.

[lactofree]

Our friend's have just sold a house and a flat, both with Strike. The only negative they've mentioned was the recommended solicitor was very slow for the first sale

They are using a different solicitor for the second sale. Other than that no negatives

[VexedofVirginiaWater]

Currently selling a house in Greater Manchester. We used a local estate agent and we were going to accept an offer from someone using Strike - after our EA spending colossal amounts of time waiting for the phone to be answered and basically getting nowhere, another offer popped up so we went with them. If I were selling again I wouldn't use them, and if I were buying I would try to avoid accepting offers from people who do use them.

[Livingintheclouds]

I'm not in your area but I buy and sell quite a bit. I have dealt with Purple Bricks however, and that was bad enough that I would avoid viewing a house listed with any online agent.
I have used an online conveyancer as I was selling in a particular complex and needed someone familiar with it. They were OK, but it cost me about £800 more than my usual person (who I have never met, but at least I can talk to on the phone and is the only person involved).

[optimisticpessimist01]

We were buying a house from then (seller ended up pulling out) and they were painfully slow. We had 3 different "handlers" and took 3 weeks to get the house under offer on the website. It was only when we bought through a "proper" estate agents that we realised how slow they were! Every day we were chasing up, I would never, ever sell through them.

[Tenyam]

Omg I only rang to ask a question and now the local rep is pestering me by text message and email to come round and value the house. ….. have been asking around and couldn’t organise a pi.. up in a brewery.
Not answering potential buyers emails and even send out emails relating to a previous weekend visit advising it’s cancelled when it actually took place.(well done Terence)

[areyouhavingagiraffe]

Going against the grain here. I used Strike to sell my flat. I had to put in a lot of the legwork yes (doing viewings, editing my advert etc), but other than that I was very pleased. I saved £5k in Estate Agents fees.

[Tenyam]

Have also just been advised they tried to make an appointment in the past .......when tried to ring and let them know .......MrT denied it and hung up.
Had a viewing last week and the people who viewed asked if any parking at the address they could use and they never even rang or emailed them back......we certainly weren't asked either.