House hunting horrors

There is no doubt that the Internet has changed the way that certain industries do their business. For a while, the travel agents were particularly vociferous about the threat being levelled at them by online ticket sales, which were robbing them of their commission-based livelihood.

For the most part, I have always enjoyed my encounters with travel agents. I associate them with the start of a big adventure.

Granted, I`ve had my problems with them - in one particularly memorable instance, I found my holiday budget alarmingly depleted after my travel agent deducted the cost of my ticket twice from my account. But for the most part, they`ve been a sweet bunch, providing me with the certainty of a tangible human being ready to deal with any problems that might arise while I travel.

Estate agents, on the other hand, are human facilitators I could well do without. In my experience of them, they are determined to make their sale, regardless of the needs or requirements of the buyers or sellers they are supposed to be helping through a complex and sensitive process.

Generally, the seller benefits from the dogged determination of their estate agent, because a higher price benefits both parties. The poor buyer is often confused, misled or downright lied to as they are pushed towards a sale.

Having bought my home just over a year ago, I thought I was well rid of these kinds of people for some time. However, the cost of properties in Orange Grove having doubled in 12 months, my friends have started clamouring for their space in the sun, and I have started to consider buying a second property as an investment. Back to Sundays spent visiting with estate agents.

Hunting property online is a concept in which I really do see a lot of value.

Georgina Guedes, Editor, ITWeb Brainstorm

When I purchased my home, I was treated so atrociously by both the estate agent and the seller that I now refuse to give my telephone number to the agents sitting houses that I visit on Sundays.

The estate agent revealed personal financial information to the seller, which was then used to badger me about her asking price. She refused to hear my insistence that while I had enough money to afford the bond repayments, it was the bank that was refusing to finance the house at the price she was asking. I eventually lost my temper spectacularly with both of them, with the surprising result that the estate agent dropped her commission so that the seller could drop her asking price to give me the house for what I, and the bank, were willing to pay.

Hunting property online is a concept in which I really do see a lot of value. As it stands, estate agents only seem to serve to confound and complicate matters, and are totally unable to understand the requirements of potential buyers.

Using a property finding Web site, like Private Property, cuts the estate agent out of the process, with the added benefit of lowering the house prices, since no such person has to be paid. Of course, you have to rely on the seller not to be greedy and keep the price at the higher rate to pocket the amount that would have been allocated to the agent. It does, however, give you the room to manoeuvre in your bargaining processes without having to take an unscrupulous third-party into account.

Of course, the Internet is not without its own problems. Not enough people are advertising their houses online to ensure the buyers are getting a big enough showing of wares.

Although more space can be allocated to the advertising of each house, a photograph is never an accurate representation of what a property really looks like, and a visit will have to be set up, which is less anonymous than going to a show day.

But for the most part, the benefits of online home browsing far outweigh the associated perils of dealing with estate agents, and I am fairly certain that in a few years, all property transactions will take place in this way.