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Original poster

Best online estate agents

26 replies

Jabbitt · 09/07/2023 08:18

Hi everyone. I’m selling my house and have had a quote from 3 estate agents. They have all quoted around 1.3% for marketing and selling the property. DH said he would rather see if we can use an online agent to reduce fees.

My neighbour sold with purple bricks twice but both times it fell through. They paid £2000 upfront for both listings (second listing was a couple years after the first so they had to pay the full amount again?). They didn’t overly rate them though.

I have heard of Strike (which are apparently free) but there is a house near me that hasn’t had any interest after many months (it is near a main road and a crematorium so they could also be factors!).

Has anyone used an online agency and it been a positive / cost reduced service and would recommend? We live in the South West.

Thanks!

OP posts:
Original poster
Jabbitt · 09/07/2023 08:20

*just to clarify - it’s the family home DH and I are selling (to buy bigger property) and not a home I own by myself - I think I worded it badly at the start!

OP posts:
MajorDanger · 09/07/2023 08:20

The two examples you’ve given are showing why estate agents are worth their fee.
Would you rather cut costs and sit for months waiting for a sale, or pay and sell within weeks?

Original poster
Jabbitt · 09/07/2023 08:24

I would rather use an estate agent (especially for viewings etc) but, after chatting with friends, they said that an online only EA was better in terms of money saving. Some of my friends have sold properties recently and have had dreadful issues where the EA lost house keys, little to no communication following House viewings / updates regarding online viewing figures etc, and many other issues.

Their advice (and mine and DH’s thinking) is a lot of people see properties online via Rightmove / zoopla etc so would it be beneficial to cut out the middle man and save ££?

OP posts:
OhhhhhhhhBiscuits · 09/07/2023 08:24

No, they are all crap. Purple bricks, strike, yopa all shit. Why would they have any incentive to sell your house when it's free or you pay up front? Also when trying to book viewings etc....they can be a pain and when you get to negotiating it can be awful.

Don't try and cheap out on selling your biggest asset. An amazing estate agent should more than earn there money by getting you the best price and selling quickly, although todays market makes that tricky.

nutbrownhare15 · 09/07/2023 08:26

My SIL listed with purple bricks and had to go with a mainstream estate agent in the end. Online make their money upfront so there isn't much incentive to sell. The ideal scenario is that your estate agent creates a bidding war which maximises the price of your house and more than covers the fee they charge. I'd suggest seeing if a good one will lower their fee.

Original poster
Jabbitt · 09/07/2023 08:26

@OhhhhhhhhBiscuits ok, thank you. Yes, I agee we need to tread carefully with this.

OP posts:
Original poster
Jabbitt · 09/07/2023 08:28

@nutbrownhare15 thank you - yes, we’ve had 3 quotes so far so may just need to get a few more and see who would be better to go with.

OP posts:
Twiglets1 · 09/07/2023 08:29

I have experience of online estate agents from a Buyer's point of view which has shown me that I should never use one if I want to get the best price for my property. Traditional estate agents are better, and they often do good work after the property is sold subject to contract to ensure that it gets to Completion. They have a vested interest in keeping the deal going as don't get paid their commission until it succeeds.

Selling property at the moment is particularly difficult. I wouldn't do anything to make it even harder for myself, such as trying to save a few ££ on EA fees at the potential exense of not reaching Completion at all.

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 09/07/2023 08:31

‘Strike’ ( bizarre name for an agent) bought Purple Bricks for £1 recently. No one could understand why they bothered, or how they are going to improve the offering. Some suspicion amongst the business community that they may not be especially interested in the process of selling houses: they claim they are going to make their money by mortgage and insurance referral fees. Hmmm possibly - and do buyers want to by tied into someone else’s mortgage broker?

There are some bad agents, there are also some good ones, we have had both. Ask around locally and see who has a good reputation. Online agents to me shout ‘I’m too mean to pay for a proper service’ , and I wonder ‘ what else have you cut corners on?’

24Dogcuddler · 09/07/2023 08:35

Use an online comparison site which will compare estate agents in your area re performance, speed of sale etc.
DD and SIL currently trying to sell with Strike. Tied in with them for now. I know the market is slow but not going well, poor communication etc.

They advertise as “ free” but charge for photos and plans, advertising on RightMove and then try to push services for commission.
DD thinking of going with local agent they bought from.

XVGN · 09/07/2023 08:36

Use a traditional EA but not one that wants to lock you in for more than 4 weeks. If they can't sell your home at an agreed sensible and realistic price within 4 weeks then they aren't worth working with.

globalwondering · 09/07/2023 08:37

I'm an estate agent- please do not use any of these online agents if you're serious about selling your house. I'm dealing with a chain at the moment involving PB and can get no correspondence from them whatsoever and as a result the whole chain is about to collapse. You'd be affecting other people's sales as well as your own! There's a reason they're cheap and/or free! I know estate agents get a lot of stick but there is so much work that goes on behind the scenes that a lot of people don't appreciate. You get what you pay for!

Twiglets1 · 09/07/2023 08:38

24Dogcuddler · 09/07/2023 08:35

Use an online comparison site which will compare estate agents in your area re performance, speed of sale etc.
DD and SIL currently trying to sell with Strike. Tied in with them for now. I know the market is slow but not going well, poor communication etc.

They advertise as “ free” but charge for photos and plans, advertising on RightMove and then try to push services for commission.
DD thinking of going with local agent they bought from.

That's a good idea about using an online comparison site. When we sold recently we were torn between 2 local agents. Used one of these sites and the statistics showed that one of the agencies sold the most properties in and around our postcode. We went with them purely from this point of view and they were excellent.

CattingAbout · 09/07/2023 08:38

We once had a vendor say they wouldn't accept an offer on their property if we were selling our own house using an online agent, as online agents had a reputation for holdings things up and/or sales falling through.

Meredusoleil · 09/07/2023 08:40

Can't recommended YOPA and surprised they are still going tbh!

PermanentTemporary · 09/07/2023 08:46

Only the most distant connection with Purple Bricks as this time round I wouldn't look at any house listed under them.

I was looking for a house for my mum 2 years ago and booked a viewing for a house with them, nobody turned up. I was pissed off beyond belief as my life was phenomenally stressful at that time.

PB itself has pretty much gone bust.

I'd consider a private sale if you can find one, but mainly if you have jobs and lives, just pay the agent fee.

Loobydoobies · 09/07/2023 08:47

The value of a traditional agent is the work they do keeping the chain together- especially important right now with all the volatility. They also take the emotion out of it.

One thing i would say is that you can probably get the agents down on their rates just by asking. We ended up with 1% that way.

Roselilly36 · 09/07/2023 08:47

If you seriously want to sell, use a High Street EA. See if you can negotiate commission to 1% +vat. Yes it’s a lot of money, but you only pay should you get a completed sale.

PB you have to pay upfront or within a year whether they sell your house or not. Yopa, bad experience, when we were looking to buy a property, booked the viewing online a few days before. Cancelled once we had travelled to view about 10mins before appt, no explanation, no offer to rebook, the property was still on the market many months later, no surprise there!

I have two friends that tried to sell with PB, neither of them sold via them.

dreamersdown · 09/07/2023 08:48

The figure that the agent is quoting (1.3%) doesn’t mean it’s final. There is such a lack of properties coming onto the market right now that there are conversations to be had with agents about the fees they charge. It’s worth asking!

Paulrn · 09/07/2023 08:52

On line is awful, it works a bit in a sellers market but not now. However do not pay 1.3% we negotiated our agent down to .75%. They are desperate at the moment.

Twiglets1 · 09/07/2023 08:53

PermanentTemporary · 09/07/2023 08:46

Only the most distant connection with Purple Bricks as this time round I wouldn't look at any house listed under them.

I was looking for a house for my mum 2 years ago and booked a viewing for a house with them, nobody turned up. I was pissed off beyond belief as my life was phenomenally stressful at that time.

PB itself has pretty much gone bust.

I'd consider a private sale if you can find one, but mainly if you have jobs and lives, just pay the agent fee.

Same thing happened to me when I was flat viewing with my daughter last year. I was really pissed off as had made a special journey into London just to be at the viewing with her and the EA didn't turn up.

There was another flat she really wanted to view but could never get a response from the online agent, no reply to emails etc. I wasn't at all surprised to find out the flat was still on the market even after she moved into the flat she eventually bought!

Noimaginationforaun · 09/07/2023 08:59

Our buyer used an online estate agent and it was a nightmare. Thankfully, they were completing and moving into a hotel before ours was exchanged so we didn’t have to rely on them throughout the process. It took two weeks for the online estate agents to confirm with our estate agents that our buyers house was being completed on the date our buyers said. Dread to think the chaos if were relying on them when the chain completed on the same day. As it stood, we went with an independent estate agents, paid £1200, and it was definitely worth the cost. On the morning of completion, we had sold and moved in to our current property by 12 o’clock. They were fantastic throughout the whole
process.

KievLoverTwo · 09/07/2023 09:41

I won't even view houses listed with Strike or Purple Bricks or any of the others I recognise as doing a small fee for everything upfront. I tried to buy a house through PB last year and dealing with the vendor was an absolute nightmare and I walked away. Not all vendors are nightmares but I won't risk it again.

You should be able to play one against the other to get the fees down, especially in this market. I thought 1% was standard?

Be careful of false economies.

Proudboomer · 09/07/2023 09:42

I have just sold (well offer accepted with a high street agent) fees 0.8%plus vat. I choose my agent as they are a local small independent who know the area well. I am viewing properties now and won’t even view stuff with online agents as I just don’t need the extra hassle.

Dontrecogniseme · 09/07/2023 09:45

We dropped our buyers when we found out they were selling through an online agent and using their recommended solicitors. I would never buy from an online agent or get myself in a chain with online agents as they were terrible - they toldy estate agent they didn't even have my buyers house listed (they did)!

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