How useful are traditional estate agents? Thinking of going online

[QueenFool]

We're thinking of selling, had a few valuers round. One online and the rest traditional local EA.

We have a pretty standard house which would appeal to first time buyers mainly

I'm swaying towards online. Cost is one factor, but probably the main factor is cutting out the crap and middle man.
I would conduct viewings myself anyway. The photo/floorplan/online listing is all included.

I'm a bit torn. Anyone got experience with online agents?

I bought my house via Purple Bricks and I cannot emphasise enough how FUCKING TERRIBLE they are. I would honestly tell anybody to pull out and run as fast as possible if PB are involved in any aspect of the chain - let alone the property you are buying.

I had to submit four written complaints to them, they were that bad.

We bought a house through PB a few years ago and when we recently viewed using them I was amazed that their very basic app is still exactly the same as it was a few years ago. It is so basic it comes across as offensive. Anyway I wasn't impressed either time and I have to say with pp that it isn't the actual marketing and selling that is the problem usually, it's the progressing the sale. PB are not in the least bit interested in that so the EAs either side in the chain will be doing their work for them with all the phone calls and connections they have if they are any good. So the rest of us end up paying for PB to do a few photos and walk away from it. If you are using PB yourself you might well not be aware of that.

The house we bought was with Purple Bricks and it would have to be a VERY special house to make me considering buying another house through them again. Absolute nightmare.

Like others, our traditional estate agents have worked their socks off over the past month or so. We've literally just exchanged (2 hours ago, whoop whoop!) and our buyers have been utter cockwombles with forcing price decreases and also being inconceivably terrible over completion dates. The estate agents both for our vendors and for us have kept it together by the skin of their teeth and more than earned their commission - without them I really think it would have fallen through.

I would not even view a house that was for sale with an on line agency, let alone try and sell through a portal.

Traditional EA sees everything through and does lots of the leg work that on line simply will not do. They will hold the whole chain together when the going gets tough. Yes we all have stories of estate agents but they do far more than just show potential buyers round a property in all honesty.

The value of a traditional EA is not publicising the house and attracting buyers, it is all the work involved in progressing the sale towards completion.

In our chain 2 lots of experienced EAs sorted out no end of issues and difficult periods. Calmed folk down about surveys, smoothed huffs, talked reason to jumpy first timers, gave advice about keeping the chain together, kept communication flowing.

I wouldn’t buy a property through a Purple Bricks type set up if I could avoid it.

It definitely seems like a good traditional EA is worth their weight in gold! It's just finding one. I don't think we've spoken to the right agent yet then.

I've already had a few hard sell half truths trying to get us to market with them.
Eg one local agent today disputed that the other local agent had no knowledge of our area, when the other agent was actually based in our town.

We also won't have a chain if we sell to a FTB (which our house is well suited for) as we're moving into rented. So not feeling the after sales is so important, we're not in a rush to complete.

Thanks for all the advice though, definitely food for thought.

In person agent all the way.
We tried to buy two different houses with PB about 5 years ago. It was so disheartening to not have your offers presented to the seller that we went to our local and best EA deliberately

So not feeling the after sales is so important, we're not in a rush to complete.

Don’t underestimate the hassle of a first time buyer. We sold to a FTB and went into rented, so you’d think it was simple. However our traditional estate agent was worth their weight in gold progressing the sale. The buyer’s solicitor was pretty useless, our FTB was a typical FTB asking fairly stupid questions, and so the sales progressor kept it hanging together in an extremely flat market.

A traditional independent estate agent.

Yes, FTB can be incredibly naive about a lot of things, I think many need an EA to handhold them through it. Ours asked for money off the agreed price several months later so they cod redecorate

If you might sell to a FTB you definitely want a proper estate agent who can talk them down when they get jumpy about the survey, hold their hands through the process, reassure them when required, and so on. Our EAs were essential when our FTB went berserk over not understanding electric guidance changes over time; reassuring them that no, this wasnt a reason to pull out and yes, it is totally normal that a survey will flag electrics as an issue.

Like others have said, if you'd prefer the control, then go online. We managed the sales progression ourselves via fortnightly texts with our buyers and via solicitors. I wouldn't rely on an online EA to do this though, so if you go online, you'll have to do the progression piece.

By managing viewings and contact, we were able to explore how serious people were etc. When I last sold through a traditional agent, it drove me crazy not knowing anything about who was viewing the house or whether they were serious. I think online weeds out more time wasters - partly for reasons given by other posters but partly because people know they'll likely be meeting the owner.

I've found traditional agents can be very reactive. Yes, they might sort problems, but these problems could potentially have been avoided altogether with direct contact and/or better upfront information. Example - question about white goods or curtains or the types of locks or who fitted the new windows or when the boiler was last serviced. 1 call and we could answer directly. The same question via an EA would involve several calls and conversations!

I'd also say a good and highly recommended solicitor is worth their weight in gold and I'd avoid cheap conveyancers at all costs. Many online EAs push their own conveyancers, but you can use your own solicitor.

When searching for my house it became apparent I had to sell my house before buying one. I chose the only EA who allowed me to view before selling - I didnt get that house but a few months later another came up I liked.

Rung him Wednesday evening, he was round Thursday morning, Photographers Friday morning, listed that afternoon and by Friday evening he did viewings and offers. I could have sold my house that day in less than 48 hrs but he continued showing ppl round for the next week - over 50 viewings and got me a great price.

I didnt have to do anything, gave him the keys and it was bliss.

He also worked as a buying agent for us and came to view the house we wanted out of the kindness of his heart. He helped us pick the magic bidding number and we got it.

He was worth every single penny, and if I ever move house I will use him again.

So yes I would say use a traditional agent - but choose them based on the person not the firm.

I wouldn't consider selling through an online EA, as an ex EA I left when they were just becoming a thing about 6 years ago, purplebricks and the like were quite tricky to get updates from/keep the chain going etc, though this may well have changed by now. Please remember though, if using a local EA to haggle on your commission, you'd be amazed at the reduction if you simply ask nicely 😄

If you decide use an online agent then I'd say check the conditions very very carefully. Some insist on you using their conveyancer, who are generally awful. They are basically call centres and you will never speak to them. Hours and hours I've wasted trying to speak to Premier Property Lawyers (act for PB clients) and make the sale process very slow. YOPA are the same, I think.

Interesting thread. We've just had some valuations, both types of agent.
I was quite impressed with the guy from Yopa- he said we could use our own solicitor if we paid an extra fee, £250 or similar.

Sounds like strike, doorsteps are good and purple bricks are bad.

With an online agency, after offer accepted can you just get the buyers phone number and sort out queries yourself directly?

As a buyer I had awful experience with PB. They overprice properties but their agents have zero interest in selling.

Seeing a property is listed with an online agent would pretty much knock it off my list. I find them useless.
An agent that you actually meet should know the property and the local market inside and out. I wouldn't want to meet you - I've had owners show me around and I dislike it. You may know your property, but I want the comps, the knowledge beyond your front door. I want to know what's selling, how much for, where can I make improvements, what's not allowed, how is the area changing and growing. A good agent should know all this.
Plus an agent can smooth things, act as a go between, move things along. An online agent, in my experience, basically just hosts the listing, and that's it.

We used PB to sell and it was fine. However we did expect to do all the chasing ourselves, which we did, and felt the money saved was worth it. If you're not prepared to be fully involved, speaking to buyer, chasing solicitor, chasing buyer's solicitor and so on then PB is not right for you. We knew our house would sell quickly and to a FTB so felt there was no need for a traditional EA. In hindsight as others have pointed out the FTB actually needed a lot of hand holding and explanations and whilst it would have been nice to have an EA to assist, I'd rather have had the few thousand difference!

Used PB in London and it worked very well so to save money tried them again in depths of country. Didn't work at all, no viewings...didn't realise before that for various reasons people won't view if PB. Would now go with an independent local rather than a big chain.

@ThreeFeetTall

Interesting thread. We've just had some valuations, both types of agent. I was quite impressed with the guy from Yopa- he said we could use our own solicitor if we paid an extra fee, £250 or similar.

Sounds like strike, doorsteps are good and purple bricks are bad.

With an online agency, after offer accepted can you just get the buyers phone number and sort out queries yourself directly?

You get the buyer's number at the first point of contact, so when they request a viewing. We made sure we called them to confirm the viewing, but also were able to answer any questions and check their position before the viewing.

We'd have paid a traditional agent £5k +VAT to sell MIL's house. It cost us just £99. We got 10% over asking (and £50k more than the max that the traditional agents said we'd get)

I agree with @Findingthelight1 . Our vendors used a traditional EA but paid for their "online only" service. Meaning the EA marketed the property, vetted/booked viewings and fielded offers. Then, as soon as our offer was accepted, the EA gave us each others email addresses and stepped back with no further input.

This has worked ok up to a point. I email the vendors every few weeks to ask for an update. This has stalled somewhat recently. I would like to badger them to chase their (rather slow) solicitors but I don't want to push too hard and come across as impolite etc. If there was another layer of separation between us, I would be pushing much harder. (Its been 15 weeks today since our offer was accepted and there is no chain - it feels extremely slow to me)

On balance, I think good High Street estate agents are worth their weight in gold tbh. Emphasis on the good though

We looked around two houses where the seller did the viewing. It was awful. One was a flat out no for us anyway but the other house could have been good, it would need a little work or rearranging of rooms but it was so awkward having her showing us around. We couldn't discuss how we would change it. She was really pushy and over excited about her (in our opinion awfully designed) renovations. We just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible!