Internet estate agents - any thoughts?

[Doseone]

Online agents get paid upfront - even if you take a credit agreement out with them the credit company pays them upfront. Once they have your £800 up front they couldn't care less whether your house sells or not as they don't get paid anymore whether it sells or sits on the market for years.
A bricks and mortar estate agent only gets paid if your house sells - so they have every incentive to sell it for you.

 

[PK99]

Online agents get paid upfront - even if you take a credit agreement out with them the credit company pays them upfront. Once they have your £800 up front they couldn't care less whether your house sells or not as they don't get paid anymore whether it sells or sits on the market for years.
A bricks and mortar estate agent only gets paid if your house sells - so they have every incentive to sell it for you.

Surely then, the incentive for them is to under value to promote quick sales and gain market share and reputation for quick sales?

 

[vickster]

Surely then, the incentive for them is to under value to promote quick sales and gain market share and reputation for quick sales?

Maybe that's the case for some especially when the market is a bit leaner (as it appears to be a bit now post Brexit according to my agent) and with interest rates on the rise albeit slowly. I was looking at a 5 year fixed. Last week 1.59%, this week 1.78 for the same lender

 

[Spoked Wheels]

..... but was in a rush and is too nice.

I believe if the agent detects you are in a hurry to sell there is more chance for them to try something.

The last time I moved house, quite a while back, we found ourselves buying another house first, after 6 months where pretty much nothing happened, we began to get calls from the agent to reduce the asking price and my wife just said "NO".... then the agent rang me at work to say that it must be very hard to have two mortgages on the go and that it would be wise to drop the price by £5000 for a quick sale. I said I wasn't prepared to do that.... he then said "are you prepared to sweat it out then?" I said "I was" and moved agency right away.
The next agency, after a month rang me to offer me a very strange deal.... some guy didn't have enough deposit and wanted a letter from me to say it was OK with me. I said I wasn't sure what he was trying to do and moved agency again. The final agency sold the house for the original asking price within a month.... no trouble no hazle.

I don't trust state agents very much

 

[screenman]

If you an agent then dummy shop them from time to time and see how quick they respond, using an address outside of the area works well.

 

[PK99]

I don't trust state agents very much

Understandable.

Best advice from a agent I do trust, when asked how to go about buying in a different area:

There are dodgy agents out there!

Go to the office in person and sit down with the head guy.
Get a "feel" for their approach.
Make a call on how much you trust them.
Create a personal relationship.

I did that. Chose to work with some and not others and got excellent service from those I did work with. Got a call from the head honcho at KFH "I've got the perfect flat for your daughter"

Emailed details. Indeed it did sound perfect. Safe are. Spot on price. Good location for tube and getting home to see us. Perfect decor to move into with zero essential work.

Within 30, no 10 seconds if walking into the flat I saw that it was indeed perfect.

There are good agents out there.

 

[Doseone]

Surely then, the incentive for them is to under value to promote quick sales and gain market share and reputation for quick sales?

If you mean the online agent, then no, the incentive is to over value to win instructions to get as many £800's as possible.