Selling through Tepilo (or other online places)

[sacbina]

Any experience? Anything to be aware of with online places? Tepilo advertise property on Right move etc but how else could I promote it locally if not through an estate agent? ? Many thanks

Nooooooooooo. Please don't - we bought a house through Tepilo and I am not exaggerating when I say if there had been any other viable property for us we would have broken the chain and bought it because Tepilo was so useless.

I still resent our vendor for saving themselves £££ when it meant we had to fork out more for our solicitor to chase stuff or we had to do the legwork that EA should do. I would have a look at TrustPilot for reviews, although I read that they are quite aggressive about getting negative ones removed.

The house we bought was in a v popular area which is the only reason the sale held together, I'm convinced that it wouldn't have done if it had been somewhere else.

Also, as a seller we went with a traditional high street agent who got us £20k more than we expected so even though they have their frustrations too, they more than paid for themselves in the end.

Trust pilot reviews: uk.trustpilot.com/review/tepilo.com

We used House Network twice to sell and they were brilliant for both us and our buyers. I've not heard of Tepilo.

Same as pippa but with Hatched and we pulled out as I got so fed up with dealing with them.
The vendor was saving money but everyone else was having to deal with the issues it created.

I literally don't want to think about all the issues it created - everything from unrealistic expectations about how long a chain takes - to our vendor using their conveyancer who was incompetent and would send 2/6 requested documents and then threaten to remarket the property if we didn't exchange in two days.

I didn't like dealing with the vendor directly either.

We also did not even get told where to collect the house keys upon completion despite numerous phone calls/emails. Awful.

We used Housenetwork to sell; nothing but praise for them. Our buyers were happy with the process too, and have gone on to sell a house through them.

Regarding local presence, you need to be confident that your potential buyers will be on Rightmove, monitoring houses that come on the market (most serious buyers will have an alert set up). The only scenario where I can envisage you will be disadvantaged by going with an online estate agent is if you are selling a retirement bungalow to traditional (non-web-savvy) buyers, whose first port of call will be the high street estate agent/the local newspaper.

However, you do need to be confident in your ability to present your house (both on paper - while the online agents will draft you something, it needs careful review and editing for accuracy and quality - and when showing your house to potential buyers). If you do a half-arsed job at either, you will come across as being unprofessional and 'cheap' and offers might reflect that.

I would also recommend using a local solicitor rather than the ones suggested by the online agent (to avoid the issues mentioned above). Online solicitors are notoriously crap (whether you use them with a online agent sale or with a traditional estate agent sale) and it will give your buyers reassurance if you tell them at viewing time you will be using a local solicitor.

You can also have a 'For Sale' board up outside your house if you are concerned about promoting it locally (it was an optional extra with Housenetwork).

I've sold 7 houses in the past 15 years and we've never bothered with a board, whether selling via traditional estate agent or online agent. Trust me, every serious buyer in your area will be on Rightmove daily!

House Network does seem to have better reviews:

uk.trustpilot.com/review/housenetwork.co.uk

And the first poor review I read - from a potential buyer who messed around wasting time and then got pissed off with HouseNetwork for finding the vendor a buyer - can obviously be discounted!

I absolutely 100% recommend house network - we called them on the Thursday, they took photos on the Friday and sent us the draft ad that evening, it was live on right move on the Saturday and we had sold for more than we had expected, to a cash buyer by the Tuesday.

We have been kept informed at every step and there is an easy to use online dashboard - and people to contact by phone or online at much extended hours to a traditional agent.

Not one single problem so far touch wood, and we are hoping to exchange next week, within 6 weeks of our initial phone call. And all for only £699. I honestly cannot think of one benefit for us that we would have gained by paying through the nose for a high street agent!

Many thanks for all your replies. Actually enquiring on behalf of a relative who has already put it on the market with Tepilo. They are in no rush as next property is all ready to move into when she is.

Had sign up within a few days of initial enquiry, excellent pictures taken, one viewing already, family house with no onward chain, no problems with communication and perfectly competent at presenting their own house. So no worries there.

I just wondered if there were any other avenues I could explore for advertising it and suggest to her.