Press Article
METRO - 14 April, 2011
Online vs high street estate agencies
By Jo Eccles
In recent years, a new breed of online property selling websites, such as Sarah Beeny’s Tepilo, has been launched to compete with traditional High Street estate agencies. When marketing a property for sale, there are a number of factors which vendors should consider before choosing an online selling website or taking the more traditional, High Street agency route.
Whilst online services charge a much lower fee than a High Street agent, a good estate agent offering professional advice can definitely be worth their fee (which is usually between 1% and 2.5%). Online agencies don’t always give the seller advice about the value of their property, or oversee the negotiations. This means that if the seller hasn’t obtained a formal and professional valuation of the property, they may be slightly disillusioned about its value. If priced too high, it can be difficult for a buyer to negotiate a fair price without offending the seller with a low offer, and the purchase consequently falling apart.
Properties that are for sale tend to get more exposure, and subsequently more interest from potential buyers, with High Street agents because it is currently the more common approach by most people when buying a new home. The majority of High Street estate agencies also have a big online presence, not only through their own websites but on portals such as Rightmove. Online agencies are still in their infancy and therefore some buyers shy away from them.
Safety concerns sometimes come up with online selling websites as they usually put buyer and seller directly in touch. Neither party is ‘vetted’ before they meet, so buyers may be nervous about visiting the property, and sellers are nervous about letting someone into their home without a professional accompanying them.
That said, it can sometimes be much easier and more straightforward to put a potential buyer and a seller in touch directly. We recently dealt with an estate agent who had given us conflicting stories about the property and its vendor, creating a lot of distrust. Throughout the purchase, our buyer was suspicious and questioned everything, making progress very difficult. In the end, we arranged a meeting directly between our buyer and the seller and got everything out in the open; this built trust between the two parties and enabled the purchase to move forward.