OT - Current House Purchase Behaviour

[thescullster]

Hi all

I would appreciate comments from people who have recently gone through the house buying process.

Having a house for sale, I am undecided as to whether it is better to go for a local agent with a "shop" in the village where the house is located, or an agent 10 miles away that is recommended and more pro-active. The local agent seems to attract more properties in the village, but the other seems more in tune with web site selling etc.

I guess the question is: Do people visit estate agents and look in windows these days, or is all property hunting done on-line?

Thanks

Phil

[Adrian]

We're in exactly that boat at the moment.

We've just put our place on the market - with an agent in the next town. We've used them before, they have an excellent reputation, and they did us proud on selling the in-laws place 10yrs ago.

Having just been through the searching/finding process, too, we did our first research mainly on Rightmove. Zoopla's got strengths, not least that you can see changes in asking price for places that are sticking, but seems to only be used by a subset of agents.

Others may vary, of course.

[Bob Minchin]

I'm not directly involved at the moment but close to someone who is both buying and selling. Nearly everything is online. Searches within a mapped area, many pictures of the property, energy performances certs etc can all be viewed from your armchair enabling a short list to view to be drawn up easily. It seems the agents still do escorted show rounds. I'd go with the internet linked savvy agents and maybe pick up the odd few window shoppers and web phobics with an advert in the village newsagent and maybe your own ad in a very local paper if you have one.

[Andy Champ]

On-line.

But be aware that you are asking a bunch of people who go online for fun whether they use the net. You may get a skewed response.

Andy

[Tim+]

Our ex-neighbours chose to advertise their house with an agent without a local presence. In our town the estate agents are all concentrated in a a small area and I think many people do still cruise the local agents as well as go on line. If your town has relatively few agents then I guess most people would shop on line.

Anyhow, they failed to sell with that agent before they emigrated and the house has been let ever since. Make of that what you will.

Tim

[Bernard Peek]

We were in London and buying a property in Manchester. We did a lot of on-line searches and then contacted the relevant estate agents handling those properties. When new properties became available the estate agents sent us links to the property details on RightMove.

[greyridersalso]

We went with an agent five miles away and who was very much active online w ith Rightmove etc. The only issue we had was that our property wasn't showi ng up unless you searched on our area, specifically, rather than just enter ing the postal town and it took several visits and phone calls before they managed to sort it with their technician. In the end (six months)we took to getting friends to put leaflets up in the local hospital notice boards, th e nearest shop and local paper ourselves - the agent didn't "feel the need" to be that proactive. We did manage to negotiate the fee down by a grand, so that's worth a try, but also fell for the unique contract so couldn't go to another agency when things got a little fraught. Your best off asking t he agencies all the relevant questions, but we still feel being in the wind ow of a premise located in the main shopping, walk past area, the better ch oice (nobody shops locally other than for milk and papers so the chances of somebody spotting a property were much reduced compared to the bigger comp any. Or so we thought). Accompanied viewings always and by appointment only and a BIG "For Sale" sign were must haves as well. We didn't fall for payi ng extra for a panoramic, photographic tour nor for the "enhanced listing"

- a red splat on Rightmove, big deal. A good declutter and clean up before they visit to take details will help too as they're bound to want to take t he photographs there and then. We've been here four months and are still recovering from the stress. Good luck with it all.

[Man at B&Q]

+1

+1

Certainly the better ones do, and don't #phone at the last minute saying something has cropped up and you can go on your own.

Not always the agents though. My FiL had a cushy little job being the escort for a well respected agency.

Just avoid the ones who initially overvalue your house, as an inducement to sign with them on the grounds they can get you a better price.

MBQ

[fred]

Ive always believed the sign in the garden was the best way. Whether an agents sign or your own. People generally cruise the area in which they are interested in buying a house.

[F]

Recent advice from a couple of trusted estate agents, and my daughter who has a planning consultancy, is that it's pretty much online based now and a shop window isn't necessary. It's more important that you get a decent agent than a local one.

[John Rumm]

Go for the proactive one...

Mostly the latter.

[Adrian]

Very much depends on the area. The place we're buying doesn't have a sign. Even if it did, it would have attracted somewhere around zero interest, since there's absolutely zero passing traffic.

OTOH, with the one we're selling, it's a must - and it wouldn't surprise me at all if it turned out to be the thing that first drew the eventual buyer.

[Owain]

Pro-active.

No point in having the local shop as in a village everyone will know you're selling anyway.

Owain

[Andrew Gabriel]

sign or your own. People generally cruise the area in which they are interested in buying a house.

That's certainly how I bought my first house. On clearing up all the estate agent literature I had been sent, I found I had been sent that one and didn't take any notice, but I actually went after it having seen the board whilst driving around the area I was interested in.

[Colin Stamp]

When we sold about a year ago, I took the view that very few people would buy a house these days without checking the likes of Rightmove, so really all that was needed was an agent that would give us a decent Rightmove listing. Other than that, only the fee mattered.

Since we were serious about selling, were asking a realistic price and SWMBO was available to handle viewings, we went with one of the minimalist places that charge up-front. It worked a treat. I think it cost us 300 quid. They tried quite hard to push a 700 quid "sales chasing" package too, but we resisted.

Cheers,

Colin.

[Mark]

I'm not sure about the sign. Estate agents want them because it is free advertising. Whether it helps I don't know. Whenever I've gone "cruising" for houses I find that they were all out of my price range!

To the OP: I'd pick the agent with the lowest commission.

[Mark]

I wouldn't use an agent with an up-front charge again. I did and the house failed to sell in the time (1 year). Money down the drain and, IIRC, it was more like £500.

[thescullster]

Many thanks to all for comments/time.

I like the sound of the £300 selling fee! Unfortunately, we need the services of an agent for attended viewings etc. Around here, the rate seems set at 1% + VAT + advertising (east yorkshire). I've tried twisting the arm of my preferred agent without success.

Oh yes and there's an energy performance certificate to be paid for (£60) - a hang over from the home information pack apparently.

Phil

[stuart noble]

+1 with the option for the agent to up the rate if they achieve a higher price. Last time I sold a house most agents would work for 1% if the price was reasonable

[RJH]

FWIW I put my house on the market through an internet agent = they list it on Rightmove, and do the plans/photos/Energy cert for £300. Very pleased with what they did. Got me a buyer, but he dicked around for a while in a round of wheeler-dealer 'negotiations' so I left it. I'll leave it with them as STC until I'm ready to market it again.

I did it to see if anybody would bite at a price I thought it was worth. This may be very different to the price an agent can get - that's the risk but not a big issue in my mind. I'm much of the 'get my money back' mentality - especially as virtually all my 'worth' is unearned from house price increases.

I'd just add that the market is weird right now. People seem very unsure about the price they should pay or get, which has left a lot of overpriced homes sitting there, and potential sellers holding on.

Rob