A mortgage adviser is to launch an online house sales service designed to challenge estate agents with financial services.
Currently, Sussex-based Property Financial Management is making its new For Sale Online service available to its own clients, but the platform will be available to mortgage brokers nationwide.
The new sales service has been launched to try and counter the number of estate agents who try to ‘pick’ clients off by getting them to use their own mortgage services.
Registered with the Property Ombudsman and planning to advertise properties widely on portals such as Zoopla, the service will cost £276 as a fixed fee upfront, with a 0.19% fee on completion.
The £276 fee includes an EPC, floor plan, professional pictures, written details, and supply and erection of a For Sale Online sign, as well as online marketing.
Chris Dixon, Property Financial Management managing director, said: “I am almost invariably the first person to hear when one of my clients is thinking of moving house, but when someone goes into an estate agent, they are told about the agent’s own in-house mortgage broking service.
“Yet I have clients who have had good houses, the type that are relatively easy to sell, who are charged an enormous amount of money by agents in relation to the amount of work done. I have absolutely nothing against estate agents, but this is a competitive market for all of us, and we all have to go after whatever business we can.
“My view is that this new service will not be for everyone, and if we feel that someone would do better to use a traditional agent, we will tell them.
“However, estate agents generally operate by swallowing the upfront costs and then charging a hefty ‘success fee’. By getting the client to shoulder the upfront costs, we can reduce overall charges to them considerably.
“Brokers are concerned that their clients are being picked off by estate agents, and I just feel that other brokers may want to use the platform. Our final success fee of 0.19% is roughly 20% of what an estate agent is charging.”
Dixon said that the new For Sale Online sales service offered to clients will not initially use Rightmove, purely for cost reasons. “It is extremely expensive, but we will keep that under review and it may change,” he said.
Comments
Did you misread the article? He is not launching another portal he is taking on Estate Agents at their own game.
I hope he expands to other Brokers to enable it as an Extra Service.
Every Broker Knows, how crap estate agents are. I am surprised it has taken this long.
Actually he makes quite a good point, he really does have a list of clients who all own properties... If the PR bit is done well and he uses their contact details wisely and provides engaging marketing that isn't too "salesy" he stands quite a good chance of getting some business.
The very best of luck!
So Mr Vendor I have failed as a mortgage consultant can I now try to sell your property. Hmm let me think!
Interesting, this story broke at the same time the one above, as CW review their loss making FS side, now what is the real story??
Oh wow, a new property portal, I wonder why anyone hasn't thought of that before.
FFS, if you can't afford to advertise on rightmove, how the hell do you think you can compete in this market. Are you a complete idiot??????
Mr Chris Dixon, you are going to fail and there is no two ways about it. Have you even researched how many other property portals are doing the same thing.
Here are a few things I will predict about your site
1) It will look crap
2) It will offer absolutely nothing different from all the others
2) You will have 0 listings
3) There will be another article about your site in 6 months time -
"Home selling website launched my mortgage advisor (who thinks he knows better than estate agents) fails to live up to expectations.
I would bet you a lot of money, but I'm an estate agent and I don't work in London, so I don't have any. Haha.
I don't think it will work. It's been tried before on numerous occasions. The type of clients who go for this sort of service are usually choosing their agent purely on cost rather than anything else and they want the cheapest deal possible regardless of what service they will receive in return.