An estate agent is to give sellers the opportunity of paying absolutely nothing.
Anthony Pepe, which has three branches in north London, is calling its scheme the “hero to zero” initiative.
It gives vendors control over the fees they pay from 0% to 2%. Clients could pay nothing even if the property sells successfully.
The scheme follows on from a “pay what you want” initiative that ran from January last year, which offered sellers the chance to pay anything from 1% to 2% depending on how they ranked the agent’s service.
During the campaign, the average fee customers elected to pay was 1.7%.
Charlie Perdios, director at Anthony Pepe, said of the new campaign : “It’s obviously a bit of a risk in terms of offering anywhere from 0%, but we are confident that we provide a first-class service.
“However, many clients actually chose to pay over and above 1% with our ‘pay what you want’ initiative, which is a testimony to our level of service and attention to detail.
“We also believe that giving more control back to the customers really sets us apart from other estate agents.”
The campaign will run for a limited period and marks the opening of a new office in Highbury,
Coincidentally, yesterday on EYE, some tongue-in-cheek readers discussed advertising their fees from 0% upwards in response to new advice from The Property Ombudsman and Competition and Markets Authority on the display of estate agents’ charges.
Comments (2)
This is an excellent fee-raising initiative that works well for a number of my clients. It is seldom abused and one agent told me that using 0%-2% had raised his average fee from 1% to 1.85% The British don’t like negotiating and it was never about price anyway, whatever the online agents might tell you. Obviously you have to look after your clients, but didn’t you anyway? I have seven AgentMasterclass modules covering how to raise your fees if you’re interested. Have a great day. Richard.
I hope that 0% offer is inclusive of VAT 😉