Has anyone used a basic 'internet' estate agent instead of a conventional one?

[PixelHerder]

I mean one like eg housenetwork.co.uk where they come and take pics for around £200, then put you on their site (in housenetwork's case you also get advertised on Rightmove), then you pay around £200 commission if it sells. Total costs with a couple of extras is around £500.

You do all the work yourself after the initial advertising (viewings, negotiation, chasing the deal through etc).

Am sorely tempted as the fees we've been quoted by local agents come to around £6000, even after fee bargaining, which is a bit wince-inducing.

I'm not working at the mo so would have time to put into it and would actually rather do viewings myself anyway.

Just wondered if anyone has any experience of 'doing it yourself' and how did it go?

Just realised my last post looks a bit like an ad for that site, I promise it's not - they could be complete shite for all I know. There seem to be quite a few sites that do a similar service, has anyone used one?

my gut instinct is that if your house is likely to sell quickly, due to location, price etc then it is worth trying? IME our flat was easy to sell and we ended up sorting it out privately with the buyer then formally did the exact same offers etc via the estate agent (only as it was Christmas and they shut for the week!)without letting on that we'd been talking to each other. It was us pushing the solicitors, doing the viewings etc and the estate agent did little else then send 3 people around to view.

We are currently using House Network. The price of high street agents shocked me and as far as we were concerned as long as its on Right Move, there's no need for local newspaper advertising.

They took loads of good photos and you get input into the published details.

They do arrange all the viewings and do all the usual liasing for offers chasing up after etc.

You also get to see how many hits your house has had.

I'd recommend them - although obviously there are others out there who are just as good - I'm just speaking from my experience!

Cargirl - thanks, yes I think we're in a fairly popular area and there's not much else on at the mo, so hopefully that will help.

Jennie - ah thanks, that's interesting. I agree the Rightmove advertising is fairly crucial. Good luck with your sale!

I think we may give it a try for a month to see how it goes.

Jennie - how's it going?

We've just taken House Network on, they are coming round to do pics and energy thing for the HIP next week.

For renting - definately. For selling, you may want someone that you can push for a good service. However, we found our house on a totally non-commercial website. Although it was listed through a lawyers also, who we dealt with for the sales & viewings etc. So it might be worth trying both options, especially if not in a rush.

I sold my house through thelittlehousecompany - not only was saving the estate agents fees great, but I found dealing direct with my buyer really helped.

However I do think I was very lucky - and had it on with an estate agent as well.

PH - thanks for asking. We actually had 2 viewings last weekend, but neither had actually sold their properties and we haven't had any offers yet.

As for Housenetwork, things are still going ok. Our page hits are going up by about 10 every week - 1075 since June '07. We have also had written feedback on one of last weeks viewings.