In 2007, Tesco launched an online ‘estate agency’, Tesco Property Market, which offered home sellers a route to market with an online advert and a Tesco ‘For Sale’ board (what joy!) for £199.
After much uproar, it was decided that this meant that Tesco was offering estate agency services and thus had to comply with the Estate Agent’s Act. They decided this would cost too much and promptly sold the ‘business’ to Spicerhaart.
Now Spicerhaart is launching iSold.com, which, unsurprisingly, is backed by Tesco who will advertise the service to users of its own website. "We are offering a full estate agency service without the High Street presence," said Steve Shore of iSold.
iSold will not be available through Spicerhaart branches and all dealings with both sellers and buyers will be conducted online or via the phone. A basic online selling service will cost £999, but the Premium service, which offers a little more, is £1299. As well as being advertised on the iSold website, homes for sale will also be advertised on property portals such as Rightmove and Zoopla.
The only other Google listing for isold is the play Tristan and Isolde; which you will recall, was a story of star crossed lovers whose relationship ended in tragedy. So is Spicerhaart going to be renamed “isold-estate-agency-down-the-river’” or is it a fair crack at a changing market?
Andrew Ansell, Director, Hobdays Estates in Hertfordshire was moved to respond to our OFT report in the last issue of JUNGLEdrum, which included a reference to Tesco’s plans for online estate agency.“This is crazy! The OFT wants agents to be professional yet says that they cost too much money too use. However, if you are an online agent the rules should be relaxed! Business is tough, UK agents’ fees, among the cheapest in Europe, are being driven down all the time by sellers.
"Over the last year many estate agents have lost thousands of pounds! Does the OFT know how much its costs to run an estate agent. We pay out thousands in advertising each year, thousands in rents and rates. Then staff costs. Where else can you use a business’s services for free unless they come up with the goods or the sale?
If we were paid for the free work/advice we do then we could charge less. Don’t forget we only get paid if we do the job. And if we don’t we get nothing. Even if we have spent thousands on staff costs and advertising.
"If Tesco wants something, then this Government gives it and sod the small businesses who employ the majority of workers. Tesco will not rest until there are no shops, no banks, no bakers, no butchers, no nothing until they sell everything. But then no-one will have a job to buy anything that they are selling!
"Good estate agents do more than send a potential buyer to view a property. Once a sale is made we progress the sale right through to completion. Sellers and buyers are kept informed, we speak to the others agents in the chain, we speak to solicitors and take numerous calls from buyers and sellers. This costs money.
"Yesterday we had a problem on a sale where there are errors on the title lodged at land registry, the selling solicitor felt this was a minor detail, but the seller wanted it corrected ¬– and who wouldn’t? But this was going round in circles until I spoke with seller to tell him his solicitor was wrong and it was important. He asked me to resolve this. Again this meant us ringing both solicitors and then telling the seller’s solicitor to sort it out.
The result happy seller and happy buyer but this would not happen if you sell via an internet site agent where the seller pays a small fee to put on site and that’s it!"What a lot of people don’t realise is that good estate agents salvage lots of sales, sales that fall through cost buyers and sellers as they loose the property they want and another could cost a lot more.
Yes there are bad agents and we need to get rid of them, but the OFT is wrong in its approach.”
