Like Tree9Likes

Reliability of gohome.com

Closed Thread
Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 1 2
  1. #11

    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Wrong side of the door to hell
    Posts
    6,079
    Quote Originally Posted by Proplus:
    I don't see what the issue is with using stock photos, for me they just to get an idea of what the property looks like, it's not I'm going to rely on just the photos to buy/rent the property, I'll be visiting them myself.
    How does this work for village houses? Because there is no stock village house, and yet I routinely see photos from very nicely decorated, spacious village house being used to represent village houses all over Hong Kong. This isn't 'giving you an idea', it is deliberately misleading people, so that they will contact the agent about this amazingly cheap, wonderfully decorated and spacious flat.

    Only to find that it has just been let, of course. But we have all these other wonderfully shitty places for twice the price.

  2. #12

    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Tsim Sha Tsui
    Posts
    3,963
    Quote Originally Posted by kimwy66:
    How does this work for village houses? Because there is no stock village house, and yet I routinely see photos from very nicely decorated, spacious village house being used to represent village houses all over Hong Kong. This isn't 'giving you an idea', it is deliberately misleading people, so that they will contact the agent about this amazingly cheap, wonderfully decorated and spacious flat.

    Only to find that it has just been let, of course. But we have all these other wonderfully shitty places for twice the price.
    Admittedly I've only ever viewed about 6 village houses in HK, so went through about 30 or so online listing, and I did not encounter these, maybe I was lucky.

    What I do look at when I go through property listings is the date they were put up. Anything over 90 days is not up to date anymore and it's just not worth the hassle.

    In regards to photos of outside the building, I normally refer to Google maps Street view, that gives me a better indication (even though it's not very recent) of the building and surrounding area, other buildings, etc.

  3. #13

    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Sarcasm - because beating the crap out of people is illegal
    Posts
    14,622

    Gohome is useful for getting agents' details in the area you want to look at, i.e. before you schlep out there.


  4. #14

    I always count on my close agent to give me update on available flat within my budget.

    Some flats with attractive rent will not be published on the web as they will be rented out within 1-2 days by agent referral.

    An reliable agent is an advantage !

    Pm me if you are looking for flat in central or Western district. My agent is very good N professional


  5. #15

    if a reliable website existed, you wouldn't need an agent when you could just look things up yourself
    i smell a conspiracy


  6. #16

    I moved a week ago and had only 2 weeks to find an apartment to rent out before we had to move out. Like many others I went on gohome, squarefoot, spacious etc. etc. to desperately try to find an apartment within our budget and that was fairly big. I did manage to find an apartment doing this, but I think I was really lucky to get a hold of an agent that still had the apartment not rented out.

    BUT, it is so much better to go to the area that you're actually thinking of moving to and search for real estate agents there. There are some more local agents where they have quite good listings that the big ones like MIDLAND don't have. And if you actually visit the agents, they'll show you the available ones there and then and you won't have to constantly wait for them to call you back so they can "check if its still available"

    pb1234 likes this.

  7. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by kimwy66:
    How does this work for village houses? Because there is no stock village house, and yet I routinely see photos from very nicely decorated, spacious village house being used to represent village houses all over Hong Kong. This isn't 'giving you an idea', it is deliberately misleading people, so that they will contact the agent about this amazingly cheap, wonderfully decorated and spacious flat.

    Only to find that it has just been let, of course. But we have all these other wonderfully shitty places for twice the price.
    There are actually a good amount of village houses where the interiors are very nicely decorated... they cost quite a bit now!

  8. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by bloodchocolate:
    I moved a week ago and had only 2 weeks to find an apartment to rent out before we had to move out. Like many others I went on gohome, squarefoot, spacious etc. etc. to desperately try to find an apartment within our budget and that was fairly big. I did manage to find an apartment doing this, but I think I was really lucky to get a hold of an agent that still had the apartment not rented out.

    BUT, it is so much better to go to the area that you're actually thinking of moving to and search for real estate agents there. There are some more local agents where they have quite good listings that the big ones like MIDLAND don't have. And if you actually visit the agents, they'll show you the available ones there and then and you won't have to constantly wait for them to call you back so they can "check if its still available"
    Yep it's one of the problems with the local agent scene. Used to do property related work here in HK, which had me calling a lot of agents based on online listings. A lot of them just say they're gone, what are you looking for?

    So far I've found Spacious.hk and 28hse to have better responses.

  9. #19

    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Happy Valley
    Posts
    79

    Real estate websites like Gohome etc. are not that much reliable in the sense that many of the listings are relisted from the past. Having said that, they do provide a good overview of what units are possibly available in certain districts and what price range you can expect to pay there. For that purpose it is good to use it during your analyzing process.

    Whenever I do apartment huntings, I go to those websites, look at the availability, jot down the building names I like, go over that district in person and ask the property agencies on the spot if they have any availability for the buildings I have marked down. Works a wonder as when I get in there prepared they will know I have done my homework and less likely to 'cheat' on me

    Good luck!