beware of selling privately online

[brian]

I disagree - an estate agency should be expected to have established channels for marketing, which a seller can enjoy to their advantage.

There are a ton of online house sales sites, but most of them have little if any visibility, so many people trying them out are simply wasting their time.

There's a nasty consumer mentality that can arise here - looking for the cheapest deal - but you are only saving money if you are paying less for an equivalent service, which is exactly what many online services are not offering.

That's a big reason why HomeMove doesn't offer property for sale, even though it would be easy to set up - at present, I would not be convinced that we have the reputation power to draw in buyers, so offering a selling service at present could be damaging to the site and seller interests - which is not what we're about. So heaven knows what newer websites that have barely any presence think they can offer.

[googler]

Originally Posted by Ownerhome

Online is the future of property sales, which is why so many Estate Agents are falling by the way.

Selling a property is all about exposure and making the most of every avenue available.

EAs are falling by the way because of a lack of sellers, rather than any inroads by the pure online sites, I would have thought....

I had a look at your site. I looked for property in Scotland, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Yorkshire, Lancashire and London, and every search came up with zero properties.

Your site may well be the 'future', but it certainly doesn't seem to have got there yet......

If the seller should use 'every avenue available', why are you so keen on online promotion only?

[Simplyclearances]

I sold my house on houseladder. We put it on there before Early December 3 years ago, as we knew that we wanted to sell, but didn't want to put it on with the estate agents until the fresh bit after christmas.

I had a large number of enquiries, 2 very strong buyers, and a sale agreed on the 27th December.

But I am in Scotland, and selling privately is very very common, so although sites like houseladder are a bit different, solicitors are well used to the principles.

However, we both did use local firms of solicitors, rather than online conveyancing etc. And from my epxerience of conveyancing and conveyancing solicitors I would never have one that I couldn't sit down and see to sort things out.

[Slow Rambler]

Buyers in general (as opposed to those routinely doing it) I think are definitely more comfortable approaching an estate agent, than in contacting a private seller.

That hasn't deterred me from advertising privately with my own signboard and website, and linking into networks such as pickupaproperty.com - but with an agent lined up for auctioning at the end of the summer as the fallback option.

[afternoon]

Brian: Don't most of the private sale sites simply feed their listings into Rightmove and the other big property sites? Isn't that where most buyers come from these days?

[drhouse]

Originally Posted by afternoon

Brian: Don't most of the private sale sites simply feed their listings into Rightmove and the other big property sites? Isn't that where most buyers come from these days?

The big sites don't take anything from private sellers. The only way round it is for a private sale site to offer some form of EA service such as have a valuer come round to value and perhaps do a schedule. There are some sites like this.

EAs kick up an unholy fuss if there is even a sniff of a private seller on any of the big sites and these sites are not going to bite the hand that feeds them.

[Chris Gough]

I think selling online is fine as long as you do your due diligence and aware of what you are paying for and what you get. In comparison with a traditional estate agent as long as you get a for sale sign the only major difference there is no solution to is a presence in the high street. Even in that regard some estate agents here have closed their office because of costs but continued to trade.

[BenHasham]

No problem advertising your property online provided that you are aware of your agent/s game plan always be on top.

[JamesM]

After reading some of the posts in this forum from members struggling to get viewing sI think I'd be happy to find a buyer no matter whtehrt hey came from an agent or directly to me - whether from an online advert or a poster in the supermarket.

[amh]

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