Good morning.
I’m now looking to sell my rental property Has anyone used an online estate agent to sell and is it better than high street estate agents.
Would anybody recommend online or high street estate agents.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
I have bought from a vendor using an online agent & I would not touch any of them with a barge pole! A good local high street agent will be worth their fee. Get a few to come & value your property & go with the one you like - not just the cheapest or the one recommending the highest price. You want someone who is committed to selling your property & who prices it correctly for the local market.
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I considered it with recent sales and read quite a bit about the various players. Some are almost as expensive as high street agents, so no point. Others seem to get very bad reviews. I also noticed on Rightmove that most of the properties in my area that had been on the market for several months have online agents. In the end I managed to get a 1% deal with a local agent so stuck with them.
My experience with strike as a buyer was diabolical, so much so I avoid properties marketing by them.
Local agents are not interested in best price, they want the property gone, so negotiate a fixed price deal over a percentage.
Strike advertised “sales with no selling fee” I cannot get my head around that. They advertised a house near me at well Over 400k . Compared to my plot it was a quarter of the size. , so I knew their price was stupid Now another agent has it up for 100k less. !! When I sold up 3 years ago I got a 1% fee also. But 2 different agents had an 80k difference in valuation for that one, and then I sold for 10k over the top price . It truly is a lottery as to valuation and who wants it at that time
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Are you selling with the tenant in place ?
Strike make money by high pressure selling of services to buyers. That put me off.
One flat is empty .the top one is occupied. When convenient to tenant ,the agent will tell me best option and price
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that is what they said to me. Not a chance with me .
The problems I found with an online agent was that there was never a person to talk to, no way to chase anything up, no communication at all. I ended up dealing with the vendor directly! And finally no-one to hold keys when the sale completed!
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No at the moment the house is empty.
High street agents employ people as sales staff. They quite often don’t know anything, they are targeted to get viewings and therefore book anyone to view the property. Taking up your time and effort. I’ve used online agents now for over 10yrs. If you have pictures taken professionally use them and do your own write ups. Your aim should be to get it listed on Rightmove as that’s where all the enquiries come from. You get the notification of the viewing requests you can then call the people qualify them and attend the viewing. You will be a far better sales person to sell your property as you know all the features and benefits that could get the sale. Strike who owns purple bricks are selling for free, they just try to up sell all the extras. I can recommend Griffin residential for online selling used them twice call them and speak to the son. He deals with the online selling. Still get the personal touch. Hope this helps
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Strike bought Purple bricks when it went bust - I think they paid £1! Suggests their model doesn’t work!
I think Paul37, you are a bit hard on agency sales staff! Many have years of experience in their area & they don’t want to waste their time or yours.
Bottom line is it’s your money so you choose!
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My experience with an online agent was both poor and expensive ultimately and achieved nothing. I would never repeat the experience and counsel others to use a high st company
I’ve bought through Purple Bricks and through High St agents and found Purple Bricks to be a LOT better, more professional and more informed and realistic.
We have recently sold through a high street agency and they were dreadful, I don’t think an online agency could be any worse. We ended up doing all the work and viewings ourselves. They did find the original buyer very quickly though at our lowest price we would accept and we thought as the property was in perfect condition and he was supposed to be a potential landlord with a mortgage already arranged it would be a rapid sale. He and the agent then jerked us around for 5 months with the EA insisting that he really wanted to buy. The final straw was when he asked for a reduction in the agreed price! We were about to change agent when I showed a potential buyer around and the sale went through in 7 weeks. I really resented the £2000+ we paid the estate agent.
There is a certain group of people who want a reduced price right at the end of a deal. IF a product for example if a product costs £100 they offer £80. I try not to rent to them , or sell to them as 9 times out of ten they let you down. It is their nature…
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Use online take full control yourself. Carry out your own viewings. You can then share information with your buyer making it a much smoother process than waiting for agents to go back n forth and only progress chase once a week (which is snail pace). Start looking for a pro active solicitor now. Trust me I’ve done it myself many times and got it through from start to finish’s in as little as 8 weeks. Sorry to the agents out there but they are frugal with the truth and don’t always act in the vendors interest. They will recommend their own solicitors ( who are not always good) and when you complain they don’t listen.
YOU CAN DO IT!
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Absolutely agree 100%. I’ve had enough of dealing with poor (at best) lying and cheating agents over the years. Have taken a number to the ombudsman and won!
I put mine on market, Yeovil, tenanted with a 6.5% yield based on asking price. Local Agent claimed a queue of investors. 2 months, not a single viewing. A. They just want it on their books to mark up their bonus.
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