Here is a perfectly pleasant £135,000 house for sale in Doncaster – and a bit of a mystery.
It seems the owner wanted to save money by going the online agent route but wanted to double their chances of a sale.
So, the property is listed on Purplebricks.
And HouseSimple.
HouseSimple charges from £495, and Purplebricks £849 upfront, which means a total bill of £1,344 – capable of being reduced if the vendor has gone for HouseSimple’s no sale, no fee option from £995 and if HouseSimple fails to sell the property, but it’s also capable of going higher if HouseSimple does sell the property. In that scenario, the vendor will have paid £995 to HouseSimple for selling it and £849 to Purplebricks for not selling it.
Ouch! That’s £1,844.
We asked a local high street agent in the same postcode, Laura Gilligan, managing director of 3Keys, about her firm’s charges: at 1% plus VAT on completion, it would be in the region of £1,500 to £1,600.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62747711.html
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62556560.html
Comments (12)
Anyone noted that both PB & HS appear to be employing LPE midgets.
Nah – they’ve got KneeCams matey!
Gloslet
Here’s the thing…
The rise of the Call-Centre Agent model has been facilitated by t’interweb.
Their entire raison d’être is that because “it’s all done online, innit”, they don’t need anything else and they can save you more than the value of your property in fees.
SO… why would any reasonable individual consider the need to have TWO of them doing exactly the same thing – in exactly the same places – and potentially pay twice for exactly one result…
…which of course could potentially be a costly, monumental #fail.
PeeBee
Absolutely, but as you say ‘why would any reasonable individual’ – this is not always applicable in divorce situations
Perhaps it’s a divorce situation where the parties couldn’t even agree to use one agent ?
Regardless, it looks like desperation.
How can the advert justify a specific claim of saving £5,594 (that’s more than double our average fee) and why does the portal let this be advertised with the fee of £445? We had a banner on the portal a few years back about a fee offer (because we were low on stock). We were told we couldn’t advertise the fee ….only the percentage discount…e.g save 50%. Have the rules now changed to accommodate the online agents?
We need a large scale surveys of modern agency fees once and for all to make these claims more accurate….and less misleading.
The survey also needs to include price banding (what do you charge for a property between £150,000 and £200,000 for instance) ….and perhaps then a comparison by an online agent must be made in the relevant band….and they can’t lead some people to think high street agents would have charged an extra £5,594 to sell a property worth £135,000.
WOW!!
Makes you wonder what thought process some vendors work to!
This one must REALLY hate Estate Agents – going to so much effort not to instruct an Estate Agent to sell their home, even though it would have been potentially
cheaper;
easier;
quicker, and
have a better end-result
to do so, and elect instead to go down the line of NOT instructing an Estate Agent and pay for the listing services of two…
…oh – hang on…
Like I said. What goes through the minds of some can’t be fathomed.
for the avoidance of doubt, this is a classic case of
HEADs GONE
Who’s “HEADs GONE”, Eamonn…
…the Vendor(s)? – or mine?
Or both?
Answers, on a postcard, please…
answers on a postcard?
thats so bbc, but you working there wouldnt surprise me after your dog-gate confession.
Still getting over the shock of that.
Horrified
answer to the above was vendor but now both
“thats so bbc, but you working there wouldnt surprise me after your dog-gate confession.”
Okay – you’ve got me on that one.
What have I confessed to?