[Closed] How did you find your house?

A friend who worked at an estate agent at the time told me about it, that as just over 20 years ago.

Rightmove. Actually before we came back to the UK. Didn't really think it was going to become our house at that point...

Walking past the estate agents with the then girlfriend Kilo, on a Saturday morning, saw it in the window and decided to go and have a look not having even chatted about moving in together. Been in it sixteen years this Wednesday.

Rightmove.

When did you buy your home and how did you find it?

7 years ago. Rightmove.

Did you view a similar property and the agent put you on to it?

No.

Did the agent have you on their books and call you about a new one?

No.

Walk past the shop?

No.

Walk past the house?

No.

RightMove?

Yes. Didn't even speak to an agent. Dealt with the vendor direct.

Google satellite maps to find a street in town with large gardens, then right move search in that area.

7yrs ago.

Wandered around window shopping in the various estate agents, found four candidates then drove round doing a quick check of the immediate area of each: the bedroom of one was level with the beer garden of the pub next door and there was a main road on the other side so that one got crossed off the list. Made appointment to see two: one had been "modernised" by creating an internal double garage out of what was the main living room. Ended up buying the last one. Been here just over 16 years.

We've been searching for a year now and have got an offer in, waiting for an answer. Found on Rightmove as we're checking regularly.

Have been on the EA books for all the local ones and only had a couple sent through that we thought might be suitable, most of the ones they send through are out of budget or in the completely wrong area.

When did you buy your home and how did you find it?

16 months ago. Rightmove.

Did you view a similar property and the agent put you on to it?

No.

Did the agent have you on their books and call you about a new one?

Yes had us on their books.  Didn't contact us about it.

Walk past the shop?

No.

Walk past the house?

Only once we saw it on RightMove

RightMove?

Yes. After 6 months of selling and buying in 2016, this was very much the best site, and importantly, app.  If picking an agent, make sure that they take decent photos.  It makes such a big difference.  Ask for examples.

Also it does depend on the area.  We sold in a slow NE market where agent relationships with buyers was important.  We bought in a manic N Leeds market, where houses sell themselves, often with mark-up.  Agents dont have to work so hard.

Step son's girlfriends parent were looking to sell their property around the time we started looking. Good price, in good condition, the size we wanted in an area we liked.

No estate agents were involved in the purchase.

First time buyers and the whole process was pretty stress free.

WIN WIN!

I am currently buying a house and found that unless I was one of the first to view, offers had been made before I could even get a viewing. To this end I scoured both Rightmove and Zoopla several times a day and made viewings for the same day where I could.

I tried and failed to find a better way to keep abreast of new houses on the market. Rightmove and Zoopla certainly seem to be the way forward. Purple bricks seem to be saving some people a fortune but apprently you have to pay up front and if for some reason you have to take it off the market you will have paid nigh on a grand for nothing.

Good luck!

Ours was through the agent contacting us. Looked at a few similar ones and they contacted us as they knew we were looking. This just came back on after falling through and the seller needed to get things moving fast. It never appeared on Rightmove or in the agents window. We offered, and were accepted, that day as we knew it was a good deal.

When did you buy your home and how did you find it? - 8 years ago, Righmove or perhaps Zoopla

Did you view a similar property and the agent put you on to it? - No

Did the agent have you on their books and call you about a new one? - Yes, but everyone they called us about was terrible.

Walk past the shop? - Nope

Walk past the house? - Nope

RightMove? - Yep.

Every house we viewed we had found ourselves on Zoopla or Rightmove and then contacted the relevant agent to arrange a viewing. Everyone we had calls about from the agencies were not good for us at all.

Aberdeen solicitors property guide.

Found right move useless up here.

Ours had shit photos that made rooms look small but I can read numbers so recognised the size to be good.

Viewed the same day it was on market and offer d the next.

I used Zoopla and Rightmove but ultimately we also went with an estate agent that listened to what we wanted and didn't just arrange viewings to make up numbers.

I got pretty tired,pretty quickly of having viewings arranged for properties that missed out must have's.

Yeah RightMove.

I think they are quickly becoming the standard place to look. It was ten years ago, so we did browse the odd window display as well, but it seemed pointless as they were all online with far more detail.

Incidentally, my house went on the market yesterday via a local estate agent (Yellow ), but it actually appeared on RightMove before the agent's own website and that is the link we send to everyone.

Also worth using your social circles. Mention it on Facebook or whatever. Bit cheesey, but has already got us an interested viewer.

Estate agents are a relic of the past and I can't believe they still exist.  The last time I went into one in our home town to say we were looking they refused to even take my details, they just said to keep an eye on the website!

As far as I am concerned Rightmove, Zoopla or, if you have a very small search area, drop letters through doors to say you are looking to buy a house in that area.

I couldn't remember, so found the original emails -

members@zoopla.co.uk
<b>Sent:</b> 20 May 2013 18:15
<b>To:</b> Property Eagle
<b>Subject:</b> Buyer lead from Zoopla.co.uk

So it was a Zoopla search and then through an online agency called Property Eagle.

20 years ago and traditional estate agent, I don't think Rightmove existed then. I was in a hurry so it ticked the basic boxes and I went to view and it was good so I went ahead with the purchase.

I've looked at moving a few times since but not gotten any further than checking Rightmove (always end up convincing myself I don't want a bigger mortgage rather than anything being wrong with Rightmove).

Friends lived in it as a shared house. Landlady wanted to sell but they didn't want to buy, so I offered to buy it and keep them on. One by one they all moved elsewhere, so I slowly reclaimed it all. That was 20 years ago.

It was a private sale with just a valuation by an estate agent, so no sale fees etc.

Did you view a similar property and the agent put you on to it?

Yep. Wife had arranged a whole day of viewings for houses found on rightmove. Saw two with one agent but they mentioned another nearby that hadn't been listed yet. Squeezed it in, liked it, when we stopped for lunch we decided to put in an offer and sack off the other viewings. Offered asking price (which seemed fair), was accepted later that afternoon.

I googled "properties in need of renovation"

What a ****ing mistake that was. 😀

When did you buy your home and how did you find it?

2013 - Rightmove

Did you view a similar property and the agent put you on to it?

No we searched and asked to see it

Did the agent have you on their books and call you about a new one?

No they were useless

Walk past the shop?

Walked past several shops looking, asked in a couple, Rightmove always came up trumps.

Walk past the house?

Once we'd spotted it we pretty much staked the place out, largely due to being opposite a park and near social housing, keen not to end up in a moped wonderland.

RightMove?

always

Rightmove.

Agents were useless.

15 years ago, give or take. Driving back from ANOTHER (of about 1000, or so it felt) pointless viewing of a PoS house that the agent had insisted we look at, we passed one a couple of roads away where the man was just putting a board up.

I couldn't view immediately - had to go back to work so the wife phoned up, went and saw it, 'saw potential' and I was so ****ed off with the whole process that I made and had an offer accepted on it before I'd actually been to see it.

Which given although we were married 4 years by then, but for tactical reasons we kept our finances entirely separate and hence the house and mortgage etc., were all in my name and continue to all be in my name to this day......... that means that the most expensive thing I ever bought, I only did because she told me to. Broadly speaking that's a reasonable assessment of the trouser wearing situation still. And I'm fine with that, BTW.

if you have a solicitor in the area that you are using and trust, ask them ! They are the only people who deal with estate agents but not as a vendor purchaser

When we were getting married and looking to buy a house someone said to my soon-to-be mother in law.... " I see your old house is up for sale"

We viewed it and bought it and moved into the same house when we got married in 1998 that my wifes parents moved into when they got married in 1967 and lived in until the mid 80's

It was an upper flat conversion in a detached victorian villa which was split in 1963 and the same old guy  had lived alone in the downstairs half since 1967

He was still there until 2005 when he died and we bought the downstairs half from his estate as per his wishes.

It's now restored back to it's original configuration and I will be there until they carry me out in a box.

It was 70m from our old one 🙂  Admittedly we did see it was for sale on Rightmove, then just walked round and knocked... said "Hi, we'd like to buy your hourse"

Came back from a couple of years bumming around the Caribbean, went to check my ex was doing OK in her new location at the coast, met a bloke in a pub who was struggling to raise a deposit to by a house to convert to two flats. I had money from my old house sale. Ended up getting the deal done within a couple of days.

It was 70m from our old one 🙂 Admittedly we did see it was for sale on Rightmove, then just walked round and knocked… said “Hi, we’d like to buy your hourse”

Sounds like it was right up your street?

Thanks for the info and anecdotes all.

(based on this sample of STW'ers) basically, the 'network' of clients in the Agents' book is much less important than they would make out.

I still have to decide whether a good agent will net us more £££ than another. I think we need an agent to do viewings as we both work.

Basically I’m choosing between a couple of agents and I’m trying to evaluate how important these things are!

All I'll offer is my experience as a seller, which is that I found a competitively-priced high street agent with a personable attitude who gave me a good deal in return for sole agency for a fixed period. I don't think they even got me a viewing. When the sole agency period ended I visited a more expensive agent on the other side of the street. Later that day some slimy git in a shiny BMW convertible and fancy sunglasses turned up and went through the motions; within 24 hours I had three viewings booked and within 48 I was sold STC.

Moral of the story, as far as I saw it (albeit 15 years ago now): always choose the wideboy who knows he can get himself a flash car if he sells houses quickly.

Most important thing is good photos, good online profile, and ability of an agent to close the deal - do not underestimate this bit.  By all accounts, though a lot of online agents get a lot of offers, quickly, their completion figures are often poor.  The Your Move franchise we used in the NE for the post-offer-to-completion phase were brilliant. I think that really makes decent agents stand out - and that might easier to find out by local word of mouth.

I still have to decide whether a good agent will net us more £££ than another.

You also have to look at costs and contract terms (e.g. how long are you locked into them for).

Some agents charge a % of final sale value. The one we are using charges a flat fee, and only when the sale completes.

When we were selling I was blown away how crap our agents were.

I re-wrote the particulars including correcting basic typos

I gave them better photos taken on a sunny day rather than their crappy grey ones.

I hosted the viewings

I suggested they contact people they sold smaller houses in the past 5 years to see if they were ready to upgrade (they wouldn't or couldn't do this)

I asked how many people they had on their books, they wouldn't answer.

They basically put it up on Rightmove and waited for people to get in touch with them. A very lazy service that added no value whatsoever.

Next time I sell I will attempt to do so myself using any platform that allows me to get on Rightmove

Rightmove seems to be the most common portal for promoting houses for sale and I've used it to both buy and sell a house in the last 5 years. However, it is only a portal and you (to my knowledge) need to be with an estate agent to get it listed on there.

However, as listed above, a good agent should add value in at least the following ways:

- A decent network of potential buyers. For instance has one recently sold a house similar to yours that had a lot of demand? If so, there's probably people who missed out

- Decent photos. Makes a huge difference.

- Knowing the buyers. This is important. Agent should understand their circumstances and help to drive the sale through. When we sold my missus' old flat recently, the buyers' solicitors were being idiots. The estate agent rang him up and put him straight and suddenly they were ready to exchange  within days.

- Sorting viewings and creating demand. A good agent will build demand. Lots round where I live now arrange a one day 'open House' with viewings all day. Sharpens the buyer's mind when they know there's 10 or 15 other viewings..

Another thing, make sure your property details are up-to-date and as complimentary as possible on Zoopla.

Claim your home, fill in all the details you can, add a photo.

Loads of people will look there to check how much it has sold for in the past and how much other properties in your street sell for, so you might as well consider that an extension of your RightMove listing.

Pretty encouraged by this, we've just instructed Emoov on the basis that bricks and mortar estate agents don't seem to try very hard to sell your house (despite huge promises about their existing client base etc), and as buyers we seem only to get notified of properties that are of no interest to us anyway!

£695 versus £5k+... tough choice that.

To answer the OP's question... Rightmove.

2010 Rightmove then through the agency. Sellers pulled out on day of exchange, so bought the next house that came up in the same road that met our criteria through a different agency. Then the day we moved in, the first sellers put it back on the market and eventually sold it for £50K less than we had agreed. Their loss.

Nice photos and posh hand-outs from two top tier agencies. One viewing.

When did you buy your home and how did you find it?

2016, Rightmove

Did you view a similar property and the agent put you on to it?

Nope

Did the agent have you on their books and call you about a new one?

Nope

Walk past the shop?

Nope

Walk past the house?

Yes

RightMove?

Yes

We actually found the property on Rightmove but wasn't sure about it, then drove past and really liked it. The estate agent had put really bad photos and rubbish description. I think that helped us get it at a decent price. Some of the other houses we looked at had amazing photos and great descriptions, they kind of built the houses up to be something they wasn't.

As I’ve lived in it for the best part of forty years, I find it very easily these days.

I moved to it when my mum remarried, and then bought it.

It was where I left it.

Ahem

Srzly tho missus tapped up local estate agents so we got sight of it 24 hrs before it went on right move so we got an early viewing......then our eldest swallowed a 10p piece on the way to the viewing.......and now we own a big tumbledown hovel in the country....bugger.

We saw a house on rightmove and booked an appointment to view.  But we accidentally gave the wrong house number.  When we arrived the house we wanted to view had just been sold but the agent talked us in to viewing next door.  We'd dismissed it for being to expensive but hey-ho, it's our house now!

We used rightmove initially, but you could say the agent did his job by talking us in to viewing a house we weren't planning on looking at.

pspc.co.uk

We were half heartedly looking for 6 months (Mrs OTS was actively looking, I was procrastinating and pissing about with the numbers). We viewed 2 houses on the same day. The first was a far nicer, build, location, accommodation but 2 was OK.

As a bit of a back story, I'd bought a roof box out of the green paper (remember that?) about 10 years previously and remember thinking that I'd like to live in one of those houses in that location.

Anyway, we viewed in the morning, and put in an offer and had it accepted the same day - despite not having started to get ours ready for selling - and being in Scotland. Ours sold within 5 days of being with the EA and we moved into the current place 3 months later. Been here since last summer.

Better size, better location, nicer people, better riding from the doorstep, better schools - should have done it years ago.

Cycled past it frequently.

Coming up 3 years ago. Rightmove after viewing many, many, many houses!

We use to drive past it and the missus would say that she wanted it to come on the market. It did!

First time buyer, 24ish years ago. Me and the 'missus' were getting married (we were 24/25 at the time). Looked at a few houses and it ranged from knackered to not a lot better. Almost bought a house near a high school as it was in reasonable repair, had a good 80 ft garden, but needed wall ties and the chimney wasn't supported properly (open fire).

Spotted some new builds going up from my fiancé's bedroom (at her parents) so went for a look.  Put a deposit down quickly as we got an end plot with a detached garage (for my bikes) - only two houses had a garage out of 12.  We've been here since, and not moved.  Not a big house by any standards, but it works with us with two kids. Stuff is starting to get less, and we have more space.  The garage is now the bike workshop/man cave.

Were about 5 minutes drive from both parents - given my in-laws were not well for over 10 years, it was a good decision, as at least we weren't spending time driving, and managed to walk round in the snow recently - it has down sides, but if you are sat for 30 minutes i traffic for 3-4 miles, it's crazy.

Last 4, rightmove

My wife always wanted to move further into Cheshire  -'better for your 'road' cycling, and nearer other job links. Well crap happens and parents start to fall ill, and I get run over and break my spine, so I don't ride road now. Bloody good job we didn't move as I can get out into the peaks without touching hardly any roads, or do 2 hour XC blasts.

Glad we didn't move. The plus point is I know the house and it's electrics/plumbing and I'm not dealing with some other idiot's bodge.

Nearly four years ago, Rightmove. Didn't bother actively registering with any agents, although every house we viewed they took our details and promptly did nothing with them like recommend other properties.

We viewed pretty much every house in our price range in the area we were interested in, regardless of how it looked on Rightmove. The house we ended up with was the kind of thing we said we wouldn't want (newish, on an estate) but turned out to be exactly right.

Saw it Tuesday, offered asking price with no chain on the Wednesday, they still wanted to have their open house that weekend 'to make sure they had the right buyer'. I think they realised they'd priced it a bit cheap. Anyway, all sorted the week after.

Estate agents really need to adapt or die; they were always pretty useless, now they're pretty useless and easily avoided.

First house I bought I was renting in the area I wanted to live in - a small group of streets about 1/2 mile by 1/4 mile.  I saw the estate agents board up and decided to buy it

the flat I have now I was looking to rent in Edinburgh.  I sussed out areas I could afford a flat, cycled around them, eliminated most areas then via agents found a flat I wanted.  After renting for a couple of years I asked the landlord to sell it to me.  He did.

Both times I knew where I wanted to live down to a very small area and found a place in that area

When did you buy your home and how did you find it?

Summer 2016. Rightmove. After looking at 45 houses before we bought one (we had a large search area and were open to anything!) I came to the conclusion that the high street EA's are actively trying to stop people buying houses from them, as was there complete ineptitude.

Did you view a similar property and the agent put you on to it?

Quite a few, no because EAs were useless in my area in almost all regards.

Did the agent have you on their books and call you about a new one?

I was on books of several and all the calls I got was to ask if I wanted to stay on their books. In 1 year I think I got 1 or 2 calls about houses, never got to see them early, got thousands of emails telling me about houses which didn't fit the needs I told them about.

Walk past the shop?

No. Who does that? The only time I went into EA's was to sign up, many said "don't bother picking up a details sheet, there's more on RightMove"

Walk past the house?

We leafleted 200 houses we likes and got more of a result from that than from the EA's.

RightMove?

Every time, apart from the places who contacted us when we leafleted them.

I can't wait for the day what high street EA's die, they don't deserve to stay in business, if the standard of service they provide was present in any other sort of retail they would have all shut down 30 years ago.

We leafleted 200 houses we likes and got more of a result from that than from the EA’s

That's really interesting. Did you get many offers/invitations from your ~200 letters? There's one estate we're interested in, the location and lots of other features are ideal for us. Some friends suggested dropping leaflets through letterboxes, maybe I'll go and buy a ream of paper...

Did you get many offers/invitations from your ~200 letters?

We ended up seeing 5 houses before they were put on the market that way. As we couldn't see inside them we arranged a viewing with them and went round for a cuppa and a chat. None of them worked out in the end but I reckon it was worth it.

The leaflet I made was quite personal, I didn't just say "thinking of selling your house, call us" etc, instead I said we had always wanted to live in the area but were struggling to find somewhere to buy, said that I wasn't a developer or a builder and we just wanted a family home to live in for a long time - which was all true. I thought that would mean more people might read it and see that we were genuine and not out to make a quick buck.

I can’t wait for the day what high street EA’s die, they don’t deserve to stay in business, if the standard of service they provide was present in any other sort of retail they would have all shut down 30 years ago.

9/10 seem like that but we had one who actually did find the "right house" and one you couldn't tell from the outside.  The others were terrible and kept coming up with places totally unsuitable just to do a viewing.

Given we were somewhat constrained by school years, time off work to view and such the one EA actually provided a useful service in this instance.

When did you buy your home and how did you find it?

2016, through Rightmove. Estate Agents and Solicitor property centres proved rubbish for several reasons. Trying to shift terrible properties for starters.

Did you view a similar property and the agent put you on to it?

Actually quite unique in our search. No, agents didn’t help at all other than arranging a viewing.

Did the agent have you on their books and call you about a new one?

On the books for quite a few, none provided a property we wanted.

Walk past the shop?

No

Walk past the house?

No

RightMove?

Yes

On a related note, ESPC have an advert at Dalgety Bay train halt stating you sell for more on their site. Which also tells buyers not to buy from ESPC.

I found my house quite easily this afternoon.

When I left the house in the morning I tied a piece of string to the door handle and just let the ball of string unravel as I went about my daily chores.

Locating the house was then just a simple task of following the string back home.

Fun times.

Sounds like a good system Glenn.

I used to do a similar thing with breadcrumbs, but I lost a couple of houses due to birds eating my trail before I could follow it home.

@Grahams 🙂

Pesky birds!

Rightmove.

We were 'seeing what we could get' before committing to sell.  Viewed a few, one stood out.  Put house on market (with the same agent as the house we wanted so there is extra incentive to get the sale through and the agent can be a bit more 'honest' about what the seller will accept as an offer), negotiated a 1% fee and then only allowed them to put a For Sale board up in return for a Rightmove featured advert 🙂

However, I reckon they already had the buyer (they had a second viewing on another house in the same street)  Sold before to them before it got on rightmove...then the stressful battle of dealing with solicitors started...

I used to ride out with a fella in our old village who worked for an EA that specialised in country houses. I told him what we were looking for and our budget, and he kept his ear to the ground. He let us know about the possible sale about six months before the house went on the market - we did a secret recce one day and decided (without even going inside) to have it. This allowed us to sell our house and effectively become cash buyers.