The most important part of selling or letting your property is making sure potential buyers and tenants actually know that it is on the market. This is equally true for those searching for their dream home; they need to know what is actually out there in the first place.
With over 90% of us heading straight to our phones and PCs to locate properties these days, what are our options for taking our house sale online?
The idea of online estate agents isn’t new, although many ‘hybrid’ estate agents are at pains to point out that the service they offer is not online only, and combines the cost savings and 24/7 technology of an online agent with the personal touch and local knowledge of a high street agent. For instance, an online-only agent will often just use online data to provide you with a property valuation, whereas a hybrid agent will send one of their ‘local experts’ to do a physical valuation in person.
However, there can be significant cost savings when you choose an online only agent if you are happy to undertake a lot of the legwork yourself. But for reviews, click on Ask Susan.
We consider the big hitters in the world of hybrid and online estate agents below.
Emoov
Emoov offer two options to vendors. A one-off fee of £949 which they say covers the sale of your house from valuation to completion. This includes:
- A dedicated agent
- Professional photos
- Floorplan
- For Sale board
- 24/7 customer support
- Online dashboard
Alternatively, they offer a split fee, which sees you pay an initial set up fee of £249 to get your property on the market and then 0.5% of the total sale price once the sale of your house is completed. You can also pay for optional extras such as a premium online listing, Energy Performance Certificate, conveyancing or mortgage advice.
In their words:
“Sell your home with us for a fraction of the price charged by high street estate agents without compromising on the service you get. Everything you need to sell your property with ease is included. We offer a fair, easy-to-use service that provides total transparency and includes first-hand help from your dedicated property agent.”
Emoov also offer a “refer and friend” incentive which offers £100 of Amazon vouchers when you share the love and refer a friend to Emoov. You receive your vouchers once they have been a customer for 14 days.
Yopa
Yopa is a hybrid estate agency which, as the name suggests, means that they offer a combination of on the ground experience via ‘Local Property Managers’ and online technology from £999, saving vendors around £2,500 in the process of selling their homes.
In their words:
“Everything traditional estate agents do, we do too. We’re also here on evenings and at weekends when you need us most. You’ll only pay one fee, and it’s fixed from the beginning. There are no surprises, and we never add commission..”
Yopa boast of their near 24/7 availability for vendors and provide online access to viewing requests, offers, and feedback using their online tool, YopaHub. Unlike many other online and hybrid agents, Yopa also offer a ‘no sale, no fee’ package for £1,999 for added security.
Yopa’s Agent Guide also provides impartial data on estate agents that isn’t available anywhere else – such as how long on average a property will stay on the market with a particular agent. This can be massively helpful in deciding which agent to list your home with or assist with your property search. For the stat lovers, the website also provides key information about average house prices by property type e.g. the average property price of a 4-bedroom property in a specific area. This is particularly useful when it comes time to decide on an accurate asking price for your property and goes beyond the usual online valuation tools.
Purple Bricks
Arguably the most well know hybrid estate agent, Purple Bricks offers a similar service to Yopa, with the same fixed fee from £999 (£1,499 in London) and ‘Local Property Experts’ available to provide face to face valuations and expertise. Both companies also charge the same price (£300) for unlimited hosted viewings by a local agent if you prefer not to handle the viewings yourself.
Purple Bricks will also help you handle price negotiations and once you have accepted an offer for a buyer, they have a Post-Sales support team to guide you through the conveyancing process.
In their words:
“We’re very proud to be the highest rated estate agent in the UK. [We offer] Round the clock support from your dedicated Local Expert. Our Local Property Experts all know their patch inside out. They aren’t based in branches, which mean they can be on hand 7 days a week; to help at every step. Track your home’s sales performance. See viewings, feedback and offers instantly on our app.”
Whilst Purple Bricks offers a similar ‘buy now, pay later’ (10 months in this case) option to Yopa, it is important to note that with Purple Bricks you are required to use their conveyancing partners or pay an additional fee if you go with this option.
Doorsteps.co.uk
With one-off fees starting as low as £99.00, online agent Doorsteps have been growing rapidly in popularity since they were established in 2016.
In their words:
“Doorsteps, efficiently, serve the country from just one main office which deals with all enquiries. We avoid the hefty leases and ‘shop front’ costs. So – no commission; low overheads and high quality of service.”
Whilst they do not offer the face to face service and local expertise of a high street or hybrid agent, Doorsteps boast 24/7 communication channels and massive cost savings which they pass on to the customer.
However, it is important to note, that for the basic £99.00 package you will be doing most of the legwork yourself in terms of photographing the property and providing all of the details for the listing such as floorplans and EPC, alongside hosting all of the property viewings yourself (unless you choose their premium £999.00 package). The listing is also valid for a set period of 12 months.
Doorsteps also offer a multi-agency service agreement, which means they are happy for you to market your property via other agents (online or high street), plus mortgage advice via their financial arm Doorstep Financial.
Strike
Formerly known as ‘House Simple’, Strike take a slightly different approach, whereby they offer a full service estate agency service for free, including a valuation by a local expert, photographs, floorplan, Zoopla and Righmove ads, For Sale board and support with sales negotiation and completion. They make their money by offering optional extras such as a hosted viewing service and premium listings on Rightmove plus promoting partner services for mortgage advice and removals services.
In their words:
“At Strike, we put you in control. We’re here to sell your home on your terms. For free. That’s what sets us apart.
But the Strike model is different from other estate agents in that we only make money through our partners or our optional extras. If you choose to use one of them for mortgage advice or moving services, we get a fee — and we’ll always be upfront about that. If you don’t want to use them, that’s OK. We’re still happy to sell your home for free. We just want you to be happy with how you’re selling your home, whatever that looks like for you.”
