Should I use an estate agent who is not on Rightmove?

[Moreveganice]

Just about to list my house and I am thinking about using a local, independent estate agent who is not on Rightmove?

The house is (hopefully) easy to sell. It’s on a good road and is a sought after type. We are planning to market as an open day as likely a fair bit of interest(????)

We bought the house from this agent ( 10 years ago so online was not such a big thing) and they are acknowledged as knowing our local area best. - they argue that they simply don’t need to advertise on Rightmove as they have plenty of sales without. - they are on zoopla and n the market… their photos/ floor plans etc look good and they are offering a good rate.

we are just about to sign the paper work and I am having a wobble about not being on Rightmove? Aarrghhh. What would you do?

Totally agree with the idea of a local, independent agent. They know the area and will give you a FAR better service. But in a market such as this, not listing on the leading house sales platform is madness.

I'm nosey and look at houses near ours when I see boards up. A few I've seen come up under independents, aren't on Rightmove and I get bored trying to find them via the independent sellers. I didn't realise Zoopla was like Rightmove, I thought it just tracked historic prices.

I think if 95% of all the cars for sale were only listed in one place I probably would just go there.

I only look at RM. I don’t know anyone that bothers with zoopla so a waste of time.

Speaking from personal experience- definitely not!
If you're unsure ask anyone you know who's moved recently or looking to move how they search for homes. I'll be shocked if anyone doesn't use Rightmove.

They are incredibly expensive for estate agents to use though so I can see why some try to avoid it.

Not in this day and age. Rightmove is the first place people go when looking to buy a flat or house. The local agent may know the area, but if buyers are looking to move into the area from outside, they may not know the agent even exists (and therefore your property if they have it exclusive.)

@Twiglets1
🤷🏽‍♀️
People with cash who wanted to buy within a single post code area and therefore had told the one local agent rather than the London-wide agents.
I'm sure they also looked on Rightmove.
Anyway, OP, I wouldn't let a lack of Rightmove put you off.

Depending on the area you live in, yes, I absolutely would. Reasons:

I've studied a good half a dozen, very in demand areas*. The number of houses sold with no photographs later uploaded to Rightmove's 'sold' houses has between 25 and a massive 48% of sales. That means they don't even hit any portals whatsoever.

Rightmove charge agents circa £1400-1500 a month. They don't care if you're a one man band or if you have 800 million in the bank. Don't want to pay? Sucks to be you. They have a horrific monopoly and their portal is absolutely shit; as is their customer service to both agents and buyers. Agents HATE having to use RM.

Onthemarket recently got a huge cash investment to re-invigorate the portal and agents are testing the market of leaving Rightmove to go back to ONM (who used to be the market leader); the last I can recall re: agent monthly fees, Zoopla was something like £400, OTM £200, and RM £1400.

I genuinely believe a good agent can sell a good house in a good, in demand area without having to use use Rightmove.

But, in this market, I would caveat it with 'fine, but the maximum contract I am prepared to sign with you is 4 weeks / fine: I hope you can sell my house, but because you are on not on Rightmove, I'm not prepared to sign a contract of any length with you, but I will agree fees in the event of a completion.' - So the contract is re: fees, not length of time.

If the agent balks at the 4 week contract stipulation, you know they are bluffing.
Have some faith, go for it, let us know if it works out for you.

*Mostly North Yorkshire, the 48% was a very popular village in Scotland - local knowledge, word of mouth and waiting lists of customers with specific requirements counts, it seems

No. We did this and then had to change to one who was and we got a sale quickly after that.

Pah - Buyers & Sellers don’t care how expensive Rightmove is to the EA.

As a Seller, Rightmove is the best marketing tool out there & as a Buyer, it’s the first place you look. The site is easy to use from a Buyer’s perspective.

I think yes, I would if I was really confident in the agent and it sounds like you are. But I wouldn't give it to them for more than 4 weeks. It's worth trying for a short contract period and may actually give your property an air of persieved exclusivity to potential buyers.

I would encourage the OP to search and read through comments on Property Industry Eye on Rightmove and Onthemarket to gauge just how seriously estate agents take enquiries from people contacting them via Rightmove.

I stopped contacting via RM years ago when it became apparent that barely a single call was returned. They seem to use it as a way to filter out non serious buyers.

I didn't know anyone would try to contact via Rightmove. As far as I'm aware, people use Rightmove to find properties that interest them, and then they phone the individual EAs to ask questions/make an appointment to view.

Because it is easy? There is literally a ‘contact this agent’ link that will dial them straight from your phone. Which they see incoming as ‘call via Rightmove.’

If I already know what kind of car I want, then yes.

If I know I want a 3 bedroom house in a specific area, within a known price range, and there are plenty of properties fitting that description on RM, why would I also look on Zoopla, which generally has fewer houses on it anyway?

You're not a serious buyer though, are you? Someone who is seriously looking to buy a home, who is planning to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds and wants to choose well, isn't going to "get bored" as a result of having to look at an agent's website. They have too much at stake for that.

OP - your target market isn't casual browsers or nosey people who have no intention of buying. Your target market is serious buyers who are in a position to proceed with buying a house, and they will usually be prepared to register with local agents etc.

When I was seriously house hunting I used every avenue available - Rightmove, Zoopla, joined the local FB group (as sometimes private sales get advertised there before people go to an EA), and got myself added to the books of every local agent. Nowadays I have no intention of moving but still casually browse, so I just use Rightmove.

For agents in our area, that button takes you to a contact form which nobody ever responds to. It doesn’t ring the agent for you.

Because you're spending hundreds of thousands of pounds and want to make sure you have seen every available option.

A house is the biggest purchase most people will ever make, and the choice they make has a huge impact on their future life. Why would you not spend an extra 10minutes setting up a Zoopla alert for the location you're looking at?

Spending 10minutes could mean you see a better/cheaper/better located house that will improve your life in future. It's mad not to bother.

@KievLoverTwo literally explained why this is in their post: "They seem to use it as a way to filter out non serious buyers."

In March last year we tried to book a viewing five days in advance. The other half called and left messages four days running. Nada.

Then he called the agency’s head office who routed his call to the branch and got booked in immediately.

Do not expect responses if you use RM to contact an agent.

Which is pretty absurd when you consider what they charge agents.

This is really interesting. I'm North Yorkshire, and houses here can definitely sell without hitting rightmove.

I just have always contacted the EA office directly to arrange viewings and from your previous post saying "barely a single call was returned" it seems better to do it that way.

Rightmove is still am extremely useful website for seeing all the potential properties for sale though.

Totally depends on the area, I think. Thirsk - as long as not overpriced - can easily sell to a bloke in the pub.

Leeming Bar with an RAF base and much noise, you are gonna need Rightmove.

Sell me your house? Lol

As an estate agent myself my partner runs his own business he’s been open 3 years he tried not to use right move for 1st few months due to cost. It’s extremely expensive roughly tens of thousands over a year minimum for a basic starting package. He soon realised we needed it and he wouldn’t sell anything without it. We actually got rid of many of the other sites as rightmove is the only one people use. We where able to compare how many people where viewing the property’s on the sites and right move is a clear winner.

In this Dales village, it's not uncommon for people to put feelers out via local groups before bothering to even contact an estate agent.