Do you think high street estate agents will die?

[sandrabedminster]

I don't see how they can carry on competing with online.

They do ask a lot of their services compared with online. 6 times in my case!

My ea is pretty shit. They messed up the right move listing, I took most of the photos myself as theirs were shit. I've ended up showing people around myself as they seem to be too lazy to work Saturdays. They've scratched the floor and trampled mud everywhere.

The only thing they do and online doesn't is local paper adverts. But I doubt many even reed papers anymore.

I wouldn't even bother booking to view a house listed with an online agent, and I know many people who feel the same way. I don't want to deal with the vendor over everything, I don't want to be trying to contact someone at a time convenient for them which is bloody inconvenient for me, I want someone to be a go-between - an agent, in fact. I also deeply distrust the motives of vendors who list with online agents. It suggests to me that they spend the minimum possible and cut corners. Everything that has come up in our budget with an online agency is massively overpriced, too. We're buying from a divorcing couple. No bloody way would I want to deal with them directly. The agent can make duplicate phone calls and go backwards and forwards between them, then just get back to me with the answer.

I'd consider selling through an online agent, as the advantages would be all mine, except that I know it would put so many potential buyers off! And TBH our EA has been excellent at going up and down the chain. I couldn't do that and wouldn't want to.

We so!d through an excellent agent - they had to do a lot of work because there was a serious nightmare in the chain ( not our buyers , their buyers )

Buying elsewhere we were surprised to find that all but one of the local agents don't do viewings. But they were reasonably helpful.

I also deeply distrust the motives of vendors who list with online agents. It suggests to me that they spend the minimum possible and cut corners.

Jeffrey, good point. I am also pissed off that our vendor saves a shit load of cash but it means we have to do a load more work as a result. As I have said, we would have pulled out of the sale had there been any alternative properties in the area where we are looking.

I'm surprised people are put off. With the main site you still have an agent, just not the high street shop. No offense but are you pensionable age? My kate grandmother would never shop or pay a billonline.

Your paying less, as there is no expensive high street location, doing the viewing yourself and not paying for the cockmobile.

If I saw a property I liked the agent wouldn't put me off as its hard enough to find a property.

I hope estate agents go the way of uber quite Franky. I'm rather enjoying all the black cabs industry going down after all the times they failed me with refusing to go to new cross.

sandra you sound like an absolute peach.
In answer to your question. No. The shit ones will go down the pan and the good ones won't.

I am in my thirties and as I said, my EA got us an extra £30k so that is more than worth the £2k fees we will pay them. No offence, but do you understand the maths? That is a £28k profit we have made from going with that agent who knows our market absolutely inside out.

I am in my thirties and as I said, my EA got us an extra £30k so that is more than worth the £2k fees we will pay them. No offence, but do you understand the maths? That is a £28k profit we have made from going with that agent who knows our market absolutely inside out.

Your not comparing like for like though. Your comparing putting it on at your value vs what a agebt said. The online guy valued mine pretty much the same as high street.

No I'm not. I comparing putting it on with our chosen agent - who was very much worth the fees - and the other EAs we saw, what we thought it was worth and what an online agent told us it was worth.

Also, I bet many people use traditional EAs for house price estimates before they settle on a price with their online agent which isn't particularly fair, but obviously is unavoidable as the agents aren't about to start charging for estimates as they will lose business to those that don't.

Well there weren't many online estate agents when I bought my house but a recent experience of a colleague has made me see that they are not such a good idea.

She saw a house online that she wanted to view. It was in a popular area and she knew she had to be quick. She tried to email the estate agents through the website but the confirmation email that she needed to click though to confirm the viewing didn't come through until the next morning. She then tried to book to be told that it had to be 24 hours notice. By the time she got it all sorted the house was already under offer.
If it had been a high street agents then she could have called the agents and the agents could have called the vendor. I guess though that because this house was in a popular area it will pretty much sell itself.

When we bought this house we weren't even planning on seeing it. We had just seen another house nearby that we didn't like and were sat in the car looking on Rightmove. Saw this house, called the agents who called the vendor, who said could we get there in ten minutes. Loved it and offered straight away.

We will all die eventually 😉

Online agents really aren't doing much work in my region. I can see the attraction if you want a cheap sale but having an intermediary in the offer to completion phase of the process can be vital, you're being naïve if you think selling a house is just about photos and viewings.

Ps I'm not that old and whilst happy enough to buy many things online I prefer a bit of human interaction and when spending £000,000s.

There are 15 estate agents in my high street. Just sold my house and we went with the oldest established one who did a great job. Mind you fees were £17,000.😵
I used others for new property and they were shocking. Twenty somethings in shiny suits and pointy shoes with absolutely no idea.

I don't think so. I am a Scottish EA. Rural farming town. Online just doesn't work here. As I say to anyone considering it, what does someone sitting in a call centre 300 miles away know about our town?

In some areas, it's not just about sticking it on rightmove and it selling.

As recently as last week I had a purplebricks customer in signing up to change over.

Change your agent - we have lots to choose from in our village, and a new one is opening with no fees!

Not for a very long time. Hardly anyone around here (south London Surrey borders) uses online agents.
We have used a big high street EA and they have been great on the whole

Argy - no fees? How will they make money?

Another point about online agents, I think some of them charge even if the house doesn't sell whereas you don't pay a traditional EA until the house sale has gone through.

No fees around here means that they charge the buyer instead! (And usually more than the seller would have paid...). Put us off viewing some houses.

Yes but only very slowly.

Most people buy or sell property very infrequently, so they will not be familiar with "what needs doing", and find it harder to assess whether they can do it themselves.

It's not unlike the death of high street travel agents. If you book a holiday every year you become familiar with what needs doing and can more quickly feel confident that you can do it yourself.

I think a few will go and I think those left will really have to pull their socks up and offer a proper service.

There are still travel agents where I live. Not as many as there once were, but they're still here.

Estate agents will be the same. The ones that are barely making any money now will go to the wall, but the strong ones will survive, especially if they are part of a big chain or cater for a specific part of the market.

We can live in hope.

OP, I am a long way off pensionable age and do most things online, but I really think you get what you pay for with EAs: if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. We decided that none of the online agents looked to be up to much and if you are paying someone you darn well want them to work for their fee. We picked the three local agents who were getting sales agreed and completed and got them to come round. In our area, they all had the same fee levels and no tie in so we picked the best sales person who we believed would work in our best interests.

If anyone truly believes the maxin that 'you get what you pay for' then they must be nuts - never mind the monkeys on peanuts.

Oh that the world were so fair that we get what we pay for!

Come on guys this is estate agents we're talking about!
Estate agents - the one business sector, (along with double glazing and second hand car sales too, no doubt) where you get what you pay for!

For the love of God - what planet are we on?

Who else on this thread said they wouldn't buy a house, no matter how much they loved it, if it was listed with an online agent ha ha - Christ on a bike!

It's funny on threads like these how you can spot the 'real' people.

The ones giving negative opinions of estate agents are obviously defintely not estate agents.

And how many of the ones giving positive opinions are not estate agents?

I wouldn't buy off an online agent - for the love of God!!!
I also look gift horses in the mouth and turn my nose up at free lunches (because you get what you pay for?) ...jeez - and you expect to be taken seriously?

Your thread makes no sense at all.

I have met plenty of people who won't view a house because it is with an online agent. Lots of people don't want to log in or register to view. They want to speak to someone and make an appointment. Talk about area etc.

Yes, you do get what you pay for. A pair of cheap shoes won't last as long as leather.

I can give plenty of negatives about agents but hey ho being one I am often called a cunt on here so I tend to keep fairly quiet.

I've never met anyone who wouldn't view a house based on the type of agent.

It's nonsensical.

Of all the things that govern whether we buy houses: proximity to schools, price, commutabilty, family connections etc etc etc

To put type of estate agency at the top of that list as the key deciding factor is quite frankly risible.

What a load of codswallop - you'd turn down the only house for sale, in your perfect location at the right price because it was up with Purplebricks etc etc - and yo know loads of people who would also do that too!!!

Come off it!

I've bought and sold through online agents and high st agents

I've used an agency with a call centre.
You ring them up and make an appointment to view just like you do with a high st agency.
The only difference is generally the homeowner does the viewing which also happens with high st agents.
There is no fundamental difference from a buyer's perspective.
After the sale is agreed as handled by the online agency call centre - very similar to phoning your local high st agent by telephone to make an offer, the agent phones the vendor, the vendor phones the agent etc (oddly enough most house sales are followed through on the phone - who'd've thought? I also prefer it when old Carruthers comes round in the Austin and tips me the nod in his trilby and plus fours) then afterwards your solicitor deals with the complexities.

Comparing buying a product like shoes to a service like estate agency doesn't really stand up, as what you've purchased with a service is gone as soon as you complete.
It's a bit like saying the purchasing of an estate agency service is comparable to purchasing the house itself - it isn't.
Fundamentally, it comes down to the individual you are dealing with rather than all high st EAs are good or bad or all online agents are good or bad.

High St agents have been around a lot longer than online agents - and they have awful reputations for a reason.
If they were as perfect as the agents posting on here claim - then the online agents wouldn't be able to crack the market.

Still, I always reckon black and white telly was better meself.

In fact, what was wrong with the radiogram?

As for betamax, don't get me started on that.

I used to love the insurance man and the tally man coming around too - it was such a personal service and they all had my interests at heart too.