Estate agency is one of the few industries where professionals invest months (and months!) of work with no guarantee of being paid. Tradespeople don’t do it. Architects don’t either. If you want expert advice from a consultant, a lawyer, or even a personal trainer, you pay for their time. Yet estate agents routinely take on listings, invest in marketing, and viewings without any firm commitment from the seller.
And when things fall through, which they sometimes do through no fault of your own, agents are left with nothing.
Sales collapse. Vendors change their minds. Buyers pull out. The process is full of uncertainty, but the financial risk sits entirely with the agent. It’s a flawed model, and it’s why so many agencies struggle with cash flow, especially in their early years.
The solution isn’t to work harder or hope for fewer fall-throughs, it’s to rebalance the commitment. Upfront fees when listing a property shift the relationship from one where the agent takes all the risk to one where both parties have some skin in the game. This isn’t about replacing commission. It’s about ensuring that before an agent commits their time, money, and expertise to a sale, the seller is equally invested in the process.
Some agents structure this as a refundable marketing fee, returned upon completion. Whilst others require a non-refundable payment at the point of listing, separate from the final fee. Either way, the message is the same: estate agency is a professional service, and like any other profession, that service has value from day one.
There’s sometimes pushback against this idea. Some agents worry it will deter sellers. But the reality is that serious vendors, the ones who genuinely want to move, won’t object to paying for a professional service. And for those who do? They’re often the same homeowners who would have withdrawn their property months down the line anyway, leaving the agent with wasted time and sunk costs.
The best agents won’t see upfront fees as an obstacle. They see them as a sign of commitment to the process. When a seller is financially invested in their own sale, they’re far more likely to follow through. And when agents have a business model that generates income from every listing, they can operate with greater confidence, invest more in their service, and ultimately build a more profitable, sustainable agency.
For too long, estate agents have absorbed all the risk while sellers take none. But the best agents understand that to build a stronger business, one that isn’t constantly battling cash flow problems or relying on sheer volume to survive, things have to change.
The real question isn’t whether you should charge upfront fees. It’s whether you can afford not to in 2025.
Chris Webb is the founder of The Estate Agent Consultancy
An excellent article and I wholeheartedly agree, however the problem is the vast majority of agents do not subscribe to upfront fees which is utter madness. For up front fees to work effectively all agents (or atleast the vast majority of) need to implement them.
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Don’t disagree that the NSNF model is broken but unless your suggestion in adopted throughout the industry, it will simply drive vendors into the clutches of those agents with less integrity.
Why?
Because I’m less concerned with my choice if there’s zero risk but if there’s a commitment to invest a few thousand in an agency’s marketing, with no guarantee of a sale at the appraised value, I’m hesitant. From someone with sufficient industry experience, I couldn’t put my finger on whether Savills is the preferred option over Knight Frank. If one is asking for an upfront fee and the other isn’t, I’m inclined to go with the latter.
Vendors place their trust that an agent will achieve a certain result and often it’s necessary for them to substantially reduce the price without any significant impact on the agency fee.
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I agree with some sort of listing for the photographers and ultimately they belong to the vendor, but one one occasion I couldn’t understand why a property wasn’t selling (my home) and decided to check after 5 viewings by looking at the lounge cam recording, the potential clients loved the property but the independent agent was doing his best to put them off by saying he had a similar property cheaper(less desirable area) 10 miles away-when I contacted agents manager-he was speechless -sold 1st viewing next agent. Ive had family homes undervalued by “professionals” that I assume live in bedsits and more, so Its a big NO to NSNF from me.
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