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Written by rosalind renshaw

Estate agents are being offered a new and free listing portal service covering the country.

However, the offer comes from a controversial source – the for-sale-by-owner website Little House Company.

As the property portals war hots up, Nick Marr, pictured, who runs the 13-year-old private sales site, said: “We intend to help estate agents sell more homes, let more properties and secure more instructions at no cost.

“It’s not for every agent, but great for those thinking outside the box.”

The Little House Company, established on the premise of being a platform where owners can sell directly without using an estate agent, is already used by agents as a source of leads.

Marr freely admitted: “The idea came to us to accept agency listings after we tried to stop agents continually contacting our sellers in an attempt to sell them their services. This is probably one of our biggest problems at this moment in time.”

However, Marr said that more formal co-operation between private sales sites and estate agents is not without precedent. He said: “In the USA, some of the most visited for-sale-by-owner websites work closely with realtors, and provide agent services as another option for owners to consider.”

Marr also said that he was keen to present another option for agents confronted with a choice of just two, Rightmove and Zoopla. The latter, he said, had been responsible for the disappearance of several property websites after it had acquired them.

He said: “The situation for hard pressed agents has been made worse by the recent announcement that the estate agents-only portal PropertyLive was closing its doors.”

He went on: “The portal market in my view has become a dangerous place as two major players dominate the market. Estate agents could soon find themselves victim to price hikes from the big two without anywhere else to go.

“Our ethos is about consumer choice and this means agents as well as sellers. We have never been anti-agent but pro-choice.”

Marr said that he will not have to charge agents as his site generates its revenue from private advertising revenue and the sale of EPCs, floor plans, photographs and For Sale boards. 

He added: “I do not envisage making any charges for estate agents. However, I think only a handful of savvy agents will list with us, although hopefully I will be proved wrong.

“Breaking ranks for an estate agent is a big fear and those that are joining us tend to be independent guys who recognise the opportunity.”

Agents wanting to upload free listings to the Little Property House can do so in bulk, manually, or by supplying a Rightmove data feed. More at the link below.


https://thelittlehousecompany.com/estate-agents

Comments

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    Believe in a free web? www.easiersale.co.uk is another free for all to use property listing portal launched late Nov 2013. Be interesting to see if people start using these sites?

    • 27 November 2013 23:37 PM
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    Pads4people.co.uk are a free property portal website that anyone can use. They offer a free mass upload option of properties for agents with agency branding included. You don't even have to have data in Rightmove format! They can refresh your property data every 24 hours direct from your website. They specialise in sales, lettings and houseshares in the UK

    • 02 March 2013 10:34 AM
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    He does remind me of a shaven James Caan from dragons Den. Does anyone remember that failed portal he invested in?

    • 31 January 2013 12:52 PM
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    Don't kid yourself. There is nothing free in life. When little house gets enough customers and they reach saturation, then the cost will go up. Estate agents and altruism are like chalk and cheese

    • 29 January 2013 23:29 PM
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    Scott - No his business will not dwindle as what alternative is there for someone who wants to go FSBO
    His justification is this is MLS in action, If it works and lots of agents list it brings in massive amnount of potential buyers for the FSBO client who has paid just 29.99 and a tiny amount on new potential buyers to the agents which is why they pay nothing.

    • 29 January 2013 16:16 PM
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    I also say good luck to the little house company, however he now has a large announcement that says

    'Free advertising for estate agents' and next to it an ad that says 29.99 is all it takes to launch your advert..

    So he is going to charge for FSBO but not for Estate agents seems to me that he has decided to forsake the FSBO business all together which could be a problem if he is making his revenue from selling boards, photographs and EPC'S etc as he may find this revenue dwindling as the private sellers leave his site.

    To be honest I wouldn't advertise with him as a private seller if he is going to charge me to list one property but let an agent list his whole portfolio for free.


    I know that Finders and Sellers is new but I have to be honest and say that looking through his site, after being live for 13 years and with just under 1500 properties listed on the site, I'd be inclined to invite agents in as well.

    Why not make it free for everybody? We Are!!

    • 29 January 2013 11:00 AM
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    I think you need to keep an open mind.

    Buyers get to see more property. The more powerful the big players get in the market, the more power they have, and that can't be a good thing for anyone other than them.

    I say good luck to Little House Company!

    Agents get extra coverage for free, buyers get more choice, I can't see anything wrong with that,

    • 28 January 2013 15:54 PM
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    Shitemove show me the research you talk about.
    But yes very few owners have the inclination time or access to the portals .to do it as good as an agent.

    • 28 January 2013 14:28 PM
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    No stock then

    • 28 January 2013 11:43 AM
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    He's only doing it to boost his stock/web presence then to steal more business form hard working agents and always get a lower price for his private sellers.


    Research that shows 80% of those who try to sell privately eventually end up using an estate agent anyway, as they cannot get the price or the interest that they had hoped. It’s no surprise, then, to hear that very few people try and sell privately a second time as the first can be so traumatic.

    • 28 January 2013 09:41 AM
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    Looks like the redesigned site and private listings are not working then!

    • 28 January 2013 08:25 AM
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