Online conveyancing costs have come of age and with the credit crunch biting sharply, there are some great deals to be had with conveyancing fees greatly reduced.

As you know house sales have pretty much dried up, but if you are in the market right now you can get fabulous deals from online solicitors, who are really pulling out all the stops to get your business

I've been banging on about this for more years than I care to remember but my words have always fallen on deaf ears.

Now, it's not just me.

Estate Agent Today is a site, funnily enough, for the estate agency trade.  A place for us agents to blow off steam once in a while.

An article - Agents pull out of newspaper advertising - tells us what we, the agents have known for a while, papers don't work.  But it's the comments to the article which you really should take a look at.

If you were ever under the illusion that getting your house advertised in the paper was the way to go then these comments will stop you in your tracks.

You'll know - straight from the horses mouth - newspaper advertising was only ever about 1 thing - getting new sellers, not finding buyers.

At last, now maybe you can stop being hoodwinked by the crap the big agents are peddling and realise you're paying higher fees so 'they' can get more sellers.

-End of Rant.

estateagenttoday.co.uk have just put up a survey asking estate agents if they will renew their contracts with Rightmove when their contracts are up. They've called it the 'Rightmove survey', and as of today the figures are pointing heavily agsinst Rightmove with over 75% of respondents stating they'll be using other portals when their contracts are up.

The next question is who the agents will be listing their properties with and right now it seems Globrix are coming out on top with 24% of the vote and then Findaproperty.com on almost 14%.  The survey began on the 28th August and continues until the 28th November 2008.

If you're buying or selling a home, then it may be worthwhile to keep your eye on the survey.

We've been watching the rise and rise of Globrix since earlier this year and we're amazed at the rapid growth of this property search engine. They've now indexed over 800,000 properties in record time and are just a few thousand away from beating Rightmove into second place.

And it's easy to see why. Their search is intuitive and simpler than any search I've used.  You can refine your search in multiple ways:

• Freshness
• Bedrooms
• Bathrooms
• Property Type
• Outside Space
• Keywords
• Nearby Stations
• Nearby Schools

...The list goes on. Globrix is up-to-date and links every property listed to the actual estate agent making enquiries easier than ever before.

But from where I'm sitting the biggest benefit is they understand the internet and instead of being a walled garden like Rightmove all their properties are indexed by Google giving sellers, buyers and agents the ultimate property tool.  Rock on Globrix...

Go and have a play, you'll be amazed at the functionality and ease of use.

If you're finding this market tough, don't worry I've found the solution...

Kirsty and Phil, Colin and Justin, Ann Maurice and some other bloke, have put their heads together and come up with what can only be described as THE answer to our prayers.

In a recent article in The Times, they've laid out a foolproof blueprint to get you moved right away.

Actually, I'm kidding - It's the biggest load of tosh I've ever heard.  The advice they all give is the same old re-hashed garbage been bandied about for thousands of years.  Either it's an April Fool wrongly published, a hastily put together filler 'cos they had nothing else to write about, or maybe these Guru's just haven't got a clue when the market turns.  I'll leave it up to you to decide.

If you've been to this site recently, you'll have been in the middle of a storm. 

You see, for over a year we've been planning something extraordinary for our potential and current clients. 

It's taken longer than anticipated but now we can reveal all.

It's always nice to know other Ipswich estate agents value the extra work you put in to show a house off at it's best...

...but normally it's best to ask first before you steal.

Last Thursday I was up earlier than usual and sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea.  I was using this quiet time to think over a question which had been bugging me for months:

Rightmove have just released their November House Price Index and the average home is now taking over 90 days to get an acceptable offer. This is the longest time since Rightmove started recording this figure over 5 years ago.

Housesimple.co.uk, one of the new breed of online estate agents have just been featured in an article from the Independent 'Property websites: Is this the end of the estate-agent rip-off?'

In the article it mentions they sold a property for £3million recently.