Homes Matter’s Low Cost, No Sale, No Fee Service Rattles Estate Agents

April 12, 2007 - Press Dispensary - Homes Matter (http://www.homesmatter.co.uk), a new estate agent based in St Albans, is shaking up the entire industry by selling homes for a fixed fee of GBP £799, irrespective of the property’s value. Sellers stand to save thousands in fees – and worried rival agencies are already fighting dirty against their new competitor.

Nigel Farren, founder of Homes Matter, says he was originally told by local newspapers that he could not advertise because other estate agencies had threatened to withdraw their advertising. It was only when he pointed out to the papers that this was anti-competitive and against the interests of their readers that they agreed to accept the advertising. However, the papers will not place Homes Matter adverts alongside those of other agents for fear of further upsetting these agents. Mr Farren is therefore to ask the Office of Fair Trading and the Ombudsman for Estate Agents to investigate the attempted blackmail by agents against the papers.

“The reaction of estate agents doesn’t surprise me because we are challenging the traditional model of house-selling,” adds Mr Farren. “Estate agency has been money for old rope for far too long and most home sellers are fed up of paying high fees.”.

“We want to put customers first by offering a straightforward pricing structure and agents clearly do not like this,” says Mr Farren. “We provide huge savings which sellers can put towards redecorating their new home, paying stamp duty or treating the family to a lovely holiday. Whatever they desire.”

“It is a seller’s market, and property prices continue to rise – yet agents have not reduced their fees. It does not cost the agent more to sell a more expensive property, so why charge the client more?”

To give a simple example, if a home is priced at £300,000, and an agent charges 1.5% plus VAT, a seller would have to stump up £5,287.50. However, Homes Matter would charge only £799, resulting in a saving of almost £4,500.

Homes Matter takes a fresh approach to a marketplace which has long been resistant to change. It operates on a no-sale, no-fee basis; marketing of property is internet-driven, the staff are not paid commissions, and the business uses a sophisticated web-based system to reduce administrative costs.

Homes Matter wants to make the home-moving experience less stressful for everyone concerned. It has therefore joined a 690-strong network of estate agents, so it can help customers moving out of the area. It has also partnered with one of the UK’s largest conveyancing firms, MyHomeMove and with the UK’s leading independent mortgage adviser, John Charcol. And, to protect its customers’ interests, Homes Matter has joined the Ombudsman scheme - a step currently taken by only around 60% of agents.

Unlike most agents, Homes Matter will also actively promote home information packs (HIPs) and home condition reports (HCRs). “Home buyers have historically had to rely on poor information from estate agents to make a decision about the most expensive purchase of their lives,” says Mr Farren. “This situation must change. As the HIP market evolves, we believe buyers will become wary of buying property that does not have an HCR as they will think the seller has something to hide.

HCRs will help buyers make informed decisions and we support the view of ‘Which’ magazine that the government has bowed to pressure from estate agents and lenders by deciding HCRs will not be a compulsory component of Home Information Packs when they are introduced on June 1, 2007.”

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Homes Matter is a St Albans based estate agency which aims to combine the best elements of traditional estate agency with those of online, private sale companies. It is self-funded and began trading on March 1, 2007.

Because it is a full service agency, Homes Matter can offer sellers access to portals such as Rightmove and Propertyfinder, which the private sale companies cannot. Its creative approach allows sellers to save thousands of pounds in estate agency fees. Homes Matter will initially focus on selling properties in Hertfordshire, Beds, Bucks and North London and plans to operate nationally in the future.

For further information, please contact:
Nigel Farren, founder, Homes Matter
Tel: 01727 857487
Email:
Site: www.homesmatter.co.uk