Online agency Hatched claims that it has now saved' vendors £13m in fees since it was launched eight years ago.
Well over £9m of these savings have actually been made in the last two years, which is clear evidence of the growing popularity of online agency says the website's founder and director Adam Day.
The £13 million figure is calculated by the 3,500-plus vendors who, the site claims, have each made an average of over £3,700 in savings against the notional cost of traditional High Street agents.
Hatched states that 75 per cent of its sales are agreed at 99 per cent of their asking prices, which compares with what Day describes as a traditional agent's typical conversion rate of around 65 per cent sold at 97 per cent of the asking price.
Day insists the flat up-front fee business model is a better deal for sellers as an agent who is only paid on selling a house and therefore motivated primarily by securing their own commission, will not necessarily be acting in the best or sole interest of the client when negotiating. With this model, it is inevitable that personal or business interests will influence an agent's advice to clients to accept an offer'.
Comments
@ Guest (Guest) "Same old answer, online agents undersell and so actually cost clients money. THERE IS NOT ONE SHRED OF EVIDENCE FOR THIS!" ... err. aren't you contradicting yourself.
Also, I can happily point you in the direction of oodles of High St agents who have (lied) overvalued a property in order to keep it out of the hands of the competition and "re educate their greedy vendor " later (to a correct figure), costing him months and months etc.
Those who live in glass houses ....
Same old answer, online agents undersell and so actually cost clients money. THERE IS NOT ONE SHRED OF EVIDENCE FOR THIS!
How many people have you paid out huge marketing costs for but not sold their property, Who Cares!
I wish someone would take the time to see how much this agency has lost their clients in under selling the properties on their books, I bet it is more than the 13m allegedly saved in fees. Also how about telling us how many people have paid up fees and not sold
Please stop the relentless positivity around Hatched and their owner. I think he has had at least 5-6 articles this year solely about how great they are and how much they save people. It isn't true firstly, nor news.