Point and click for real estate

HoppyUK said:
That's an old business model. The way houses are bought and sold these days is through Zoopla and RightMove that list full details of every property from every estate agent. You can search the entire country with a mouse click. Local Estate Agents are all the same, and their local services don't actually add any value but increase costs substantially. So sellers go for the much cheaper deals on-line, potentially saving a few grand. And agents don't receive a penny until the property is sold and the move has taken place. Everything is done on the phone and via email.

I have never visited any estate agent's actual office for either buying or selling. I don't care where it is, or who they are, but all the local ones shower us with endless emails of completely unsuitable properties we've already seen on-line, and often don't follow up questions or return calls. Purple Bricks (on-line) stand out as better to deal with and much cheaper.
Click to expand...


Bit off topic but no, that's not the case.....

We currently live near Heathrow, but have been looking to move to the West Country. We found a lovely bungalow but for what it was, in the town it was in, it seemed expensive, so I asked the agent (an online guy) why - he couldn't explain - went on about plot size and sq footage.

My argument was that the sq footage was quite small for the money and I wanted to know why it was the price it was. The following day we met with another agent, this time a local one, to view a few other properties. I asked him about the previous property and he stated "It's expensive up there, it's a bit exclusive, only one road in & out, not many houses, and you tend to pay a premium." Now that was exactly what I needed to know, and local knowledge is really helpful. In fact he knew the place as he had sold it to the current owners 7 years earlier.

I also tried booking a viewing via another online agent, and they took 3 days to get back to me. We were travelling 100 miles to view properties and I needed to get 5 in for the day. Needless to say by the time they came back to me we had something else lined up to view.

And I can categorically state that good photos and a floor plan will get you viewings. At which point the agent needs to do their job and sell the house.

We're looking forward to our new life in West Wiltshire :)
 
Speaking of images, some agents must be stupid.
When I see the main image as a shot of the back of the house I know the front will look carp and be of no interest.
 
Ok thanks for the massive tangent and moving on can we bring this back now.

So I'm thinking maybe xt20 an xf possible a cheaper Sony route or maybe an rx100
 
Nuzik said:
Ok thanks for the massive tangent and moving on can we bring this back now.

So I'm thinking maybe xt20 an xf possible a cheaper Sony route or maybe an rx100
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I think ease of use, eg interface will play a big part here. The users are going to want something that's as easy to operate as their phone. Considerations such as noise in shadows etc is not going to bother them.

I would check the reviews for your short list on this basis
 
Nuzik said:
Ok thanks for the massive tangent and moving on can we bring this back now.

So I'm thinking maybe xt20 an xf possible a cheaper Sony route or maybe an rx100
Click to expand...

I'm quite new to this forum and fast learning that a simple question can turn into 2 pages of non-answers.

I think what you're looking at is improving photos, rather than taking the world's best 'real estate' photos then a point-and-shoot is just fine.

I have always been impressed by the Panasonic TZ100 - which is quite good value at the moment now the TZ200 is out. Again the Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark II might be a great shout with its APS-C sensor, and that's under £500 new at the moment.
 
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