Mounting numbers of House Network vendors have been contacting EYE after the online agent went into administration and the apparent buyers bought it out, only to decide against trading just days later.
Consumers who would not normally be among our EYE readers have found their way here after no other media outlet appears to have covered the story.
EYE has given all the enquirers contact details for the administrator, Hudson Weir.
This is despite Hudson Weir so far being unable to respond to us as to how we should help former House Network sellers who paid upfront.
Our estate agency readers, on a day to day basis, relate to the stresses and circumstances of home movers and have special insight into people’s lives.
However, this particular story – given below with permission – may emphasise that point:
“My name is Jacky and I was so shocked yesterday as I found out that Housenetwork has gone into administration.
The only reason I knew this was because I was trying to call my so called personal negotiator to ask her what was happening as regards to the sale of my cottage.
There was a message on the phone to say her phone line was temporarily out of order. I then tried another number and got the same message.
I then looked up House Network on my computer and couldn’t believe they had gone into administration.
There was no advice, nobody to go to for answers and I paid up front last July to the tune of £1,170.
I felt quite smart about what I had done and was very confident about selling the cottage with House Network.
I felt sure they were going to sell, because I was led to believe the cottage would sell within 28 days as advised over the phone, however as time went on there was no personal contact over the phone from the personal negotiator, only emails about market and explanations which went over my head.
After paying top whack I might have thought that it would have been nice if I could have had a phone call explaining personally to me what was happening.
Quite frankly I found the emails were depressing and I began to feel not a valued customer whatsoever.
To find out the way I did yesterday about House Network gone into administration and nobody contacting me is disgraceful particularly taking into the account the money I have paid.
I have proof of this and my case number. I am at a loss as to what to do next.
Every door to House Network has been closed in my face.
Please can you help me. I just don’t know what else to do and I am at my wits end.
I saw your website and it was so helpful I thought I would tell you my story and perhaps you may be able to give me a contact which might help my situation.”
Where does Jacky live? I am fairly confident that within the Eye audience there will be a #local estate agent who can help, they will probably charge her more than she thinks she should be paying but she’ll only pay them once her cottage is sold, chances are they’ll likely cover their fee and recoup the money she’s wasted so far.
I can’t say in this uncertain market she’ll get what she thinks her cottage is worth but I can say someone #local won’t be far away to call in on or available to call.
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She didnt mind taking money from local staff and her local economy… no sympathy.
At which point do Rightmove. trading standards and govt. start taking note that PAYANYWAY should be illegal.
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The best solution for Jacky would be to register with Doorsteps or 99homes then they can re-list her property on Rightmove, Zoopla and OTM for a fraction of the cost of employing an agent to pass on messages in return for a percentage of their property.
Simples……
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A bit of research wouldn’t have been a bad idea before posting this ********.
Would have made you look less of an uninformed fool.
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Thank you PeeBee for your educated response and may say you are a fantastic ambassador for your competitors, please keep up the good work representing the high street agent. Will you explain what research would be required as both Doorsteps and 99Homes offer great value for money and list on the major portals. They do everything a high street agent offers other than attempting the leach a percentage from the sale value of the vendors property for taking a few photos and passing on messages. [Sentence removed as it breached posting rules]
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Can I suggest that Jacky and others take this to the main stream press in order to warn others about the perils of the pay up front model.
Perhaps eye can get consent and pass details on if you haven’t already?
These concerns need to be out there for all to see and hopefully by coming together there could be a better outcome for those that have lost monies.
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The MSM arent interested as they are invested in companies like YOPA, so suppressing stories like this means it isnt happening
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Jacky quotes she paid ‘Top Whack’………
’Errrrrr’ you didn’t, you went cheap and got what you paid for? Though there would appear to be some mis-selling going on after her initial contact (Allegedly)……
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Thanks for your contribution.
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It’s very unfortunate but yet just another case of buy cheap – get cheap. She thought she was getting a good deal but it hasn’t worked. Sometimes it will and sometimes it won’t, customers need to be very careful what they are gambling on.
The reality is that we ( and most good agents) charge higher fees for a reason – we are respectable and responsible business owners who deliver a good service with a lot of experience behind us. We have higher overheads due to the experienced staff we have along with meeting all our compliance requirements. We work very hard for our money to ensure the clients get the best service possible and the best deal negotiated for them – and their sale progressed until settlement
People need to start realising what they are actaully paying fees for and appreciate good service and good industry names on the high street. – or prepare to be disappointed and potentially lose money
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Why can’t Marc Shoffman get the Mail online to run with it?
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Ha ha ha
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Imagine the fallout if PB goes the same way. We can but dream. Commissary will pale into insignificance compared to #upfrontary. Some people need to learn that you get what you pay for and most of the time what you deserve.
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#Upfrontary – absolutely brilliant!
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Whoever the agent is that takes on Jaky’s home, must charge her but perhaps reducing the fee somewhat to cancel out some of her advance payment otherwise every client of housenetwork will expect cheap fees from us and with what we are, we do and in most cases, the peace of mind we give, we cannot afford to do this. I agree that this needs to be brought to the publics attention but let’s show why we are what we are and why paying a proper fee (eventually) is what’s in every bodies best interests and let’s not turn this into a public relation news fest by offering free services, please.
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As charitable as that sounds, why should we do that. Jackie has made choice and i understand that, but why should we effectively cover her losses when she chose to believe the balony?
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Indeed. If you pay a builder who does a bad job, the builder who puts it right doesn’t charge any less do they?
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I’m sure an agent will do her a deal.
“I felt quite smart about what I had done and was very confident about selling the cottage with House Network.
I felt sure they were going to sell, because I was led to believe the cottage would sell within 28 days as advised over the phone …”
sounds like a classic mid selling exercise, I’m afraid Jacky, you have fallen for it. It’s a scam.
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Whether it sells or not, it’s irrelevant really. Jacky simply paid to have her property advertised, which it was, and for almost a year which is far longer than most sellers get.
As I’ve said before, the real crime being committed by the onliners is that they purposefully con the public into thinking that selling property is easy, and just requires advertising on the Internet.
As Jacky can testify, this really isn’t the case but she can’t be blamed for falling for it.
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Paid north of £1100 over 9 months ago and not sold! Doesn’t sound like the most motivated seller or the price is way off? Common sense should have kicked in after a couple of months and action taken then, not now as the market starts to fade.
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What you say is probably true jeremy1960 but, in terms, you over-credit the general public’s understanding of the market and home selling process.
Most have not got a clue about either and that is why the siren song of ‘cheap fees’ resonates with so many people – who can then be misled into believing they’ve bagged a bargain.
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Why should any agent negotiate their fees because jacky went cheap on something as important as a house sale, half of these sellers will probably jump ship to another online agent, all of which are going to follow suit and lose more money, beggars belief
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Unfortunately, in hindsight she should have gone for the ‘We guarantee you a sale or we we don’t charge you a penny’ strategy.
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The lack of clarity and one sided slant of PB ads in particular but others as well has persuaded significant numbers of consumers that ‘High Street’ agents are the rogues not onliners.
Sadly there’s only one way the public will get the message and that’s when a House Netwrok, Emoov and possibly in the future PB, go under.
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Anybody any idea how much investors money and clients money who fail to sell has gone into supporting the payanway model ? And now the taxpayer will be picking up bills for redundancy payments, guessing the ones who are “self employed” wont get a bean however.
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Yes AgentA73.
I feel for Jacky and the others stuck in the cul-de-sac they now find themselves in. On a personal level, a significant chunk of the country do not have £1,000 to lose.
Yet it still pales into comparison with the vast amounts of investor money that has been raised privately and in crowd-funding. Money that has now been squandered in these busted flushes. When the dust finally settles on these clay-footed businesses I hope that there is an investigation by serious authorities into whether investor money was sourced via fraudulent data pitches.
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Its getting employees and friends and family to chip into crowdfunding campaigns for a business that is destined to fail that sticks in my throat and i find morally dubious to say the least.
Professional investors should rely on their own research before committing funds and if they lose money its on them.
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If Jacky is reading this then here are some things to watch out for if she decides to use a traditional agent. I made a copy of this and it’s a traditional agent discussing problems in the industery:
“there are plenty of High Street agents actively over valuing to win instructions, duping clients into 5 month sole agency contracts. There are more who are clearly conditionally selling to purchasers who will agree to use their in house mortgage consultants. Others who will put their own avarice first by sidelining cash purchasers in favour of those who will be using in house services.”
Agents may also tell you that they have a list of people looking for property like yours. I would negotiate as short a contract as possible and switch to another Agent if this list doesn’t produce results. Make sure you give notice that you wish to terminate the contract because you could end up paying the first agent too if you don’t.
See https://www.propertyindustryeye.com/elderly-woman-charged-agents-commission-after-property-failed-to-sell-allegation/
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cyberduck46 – you really are the pits.
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cyberduck may rattle a few cages but he’s dead right on what he says today. There are loads of double dealing, smarmy, over charging, incompetent mainstream agents out there who should be avoided like the plague.
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He could have given positive advice about how to find a good agent – and there are plenty of those around. But, as usual, he takes the opportunity to knock the industry and to simply add to the potential anxieties of people caught in the payanywayandgonedownthetubes trap.
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Ducky you really have now hit rock bottom, just like PB shares will soon, enjoy your day
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Just wait and see the mess that will be left behind when Purple Bricks run out of cash.
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Very true.
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I think the ducks mother ran off with the local estate agent.
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Cyberduck are you seriously asking us to believe that overvaluing hasn’t ben rife amongst onliners where getting the instruction (ie the money upfront) is all that matters?
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Cyberduck – After that advice “over the phone” and 9 months of property advertising without success, it might not be unfair to say that Jacky had as good as lost the £1170 on the pay upfront / pay anyway model BEFORE House Network went bust.
Being paid upfront to advertise a property OR pro-actively selling a property for a fee are two different things.
The question to you Cyerbduck is this;
If Jacky was your close relative what would you advise Jacky to do?
Would you advise Jacky to take another risk and potentially lose another wedge of money upfront if a sale is not agreed using another pay upfront model – or – would you advise Jacky to hold on to her money and only pay for a successful completion, paying with the proceeds from the sale of the property with a no sale: no fee agent?
We all know Jacky now understands what she should have done first time around and what she should do next, but I am intrigued to see if you (Cyberduck) are finally grasping the concept of how the property industry actually works; because between PIE and LSE, you clearly don’t have a clue.
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Cyberduck is right, there are some agents who will push their own mortgage advisors. And some shiester high street agents. These days it’s a much smaller minority.
But oh how he won’t point his high and mighty finger at online agents, where the vast majority, if not all are purely interested in squeezing the maximum amount of £ out of a client for little or no work. Lying, cheating, misleading inexperienced chancers.
In an industry that has been fighting hard to change it’s image for sometime, the online agents have brought the image down again.
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Just remember Cyber listed with an online agent and had to drop his price by over 100k
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Wasn’t over valued by the onliner then!!
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Jacky
Find yourself a well established estate agent and have a look at their portfolio of properties they have on offer to ascertain whether they have been selling others in a range similar to your own.
Check on Zoopla to see how long the properties have been on the market and if there have been any price reductions Too many price reductions on too many will perhaps mean a red flag !
Mystery shop them as a potential buyer If you are satisfied with the service and response you receive as a buyer they will probably be the same for you as a seller Explain your predicament .You will normally find they are decent and will rise above “I told you so” and will genuinely try to help and be moderate on their fee .
.Appreciating the opportunity to give good service which if they do you will be grateful . You will be then pleased to tell everyone they did you a good job which reaps its own rewards
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And that, Hillofwad71, is the sort of good sense positive advice that could be of great benefit to people like Jacky. Unlike the twaddle spouted by the odious cyberduck above.
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Jacky this is the best piece of advice you will get all week.
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Take this advice if no other.
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Why would Jacky check Zoopla?
A lot of agents don’t use it.
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There are plenty of unscrupulous people working for online agents who overvalue to get an instruction and then get money upfront. Equally there are plenty of ‘high street’ agents who do the same. The difference is that poor Jacky has lost her money by going with an on-liner and she would not have paid a bean if she went with the traditional model.
You can bleat as much as you want Cyberduck but the truth is she is worse off by going with the web based model. QED.
As for Jacky she listened to a promise of a 28 day sale and 9 months later the property is still not sold. Methinks that House Network may have over valued her property and she (wanting to supposedly save money) was happy to leave matters as they were until the company went into receivership. I am sorry she has lost her money – but so have many others who have been duped into believing that online selling is a cheap option. And guess what – when they don’t sell through PB, Yopa or the like – they go back to their local trusted agents and sell without paying anything in advance.
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This is classic ‘buy cheap, pay twice’. That’s exactly what Jacky is going to have to do. The sooner these ‘payanyway’ clowns go the better!
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Anyway…..how is the Purple Brick burn rate getting along.
Dont forget to show the love by clicking their paid for adverts.
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We find out next week – probably down to their last £50 million by now.
The well runs dry sometime in December.
Meanwhile, House Simple & Yopa must be rattling the begging bowl and asking for more !
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I think this lady explains why people pay for a low cost service over a full agency service quite succinctly “explanations which went over my head.” she says!
“Hello I will sell your house in 28 days”
“I will charge you less than the stupid old estate agents with their stupid shop windows and local marketing, local knowledge, no sale no fee business model”
Simple enough for you Jacky?
Proper estate agents will charge well over 1% for their services because they have to in order to provide the service people like Jacky require. People like Jacky don’t appreciate this and don’t want to pay because they understand is “I will charge you less”
Propertypaddy
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