Another hybrid estate agency adopts ‘no sale, no fee’ model
Four-year-old 99 Home is the latest hybrid to adopt a more traditional approach to fees to its customers.
A leading hybrid estate agency has launched a ‘no sale, no fee’ service after ‘listening to customer requests’ that they offer the fees model.
It is the latest hybrid or online agency to edge towards the traditional estate agency model of fee charging.
99 Home, which was launched in 2017 by independent estate agent Sachin Gupta and IT professional Vijay Vashistha, is now offering vendors a fixed-fee £999 fee only payable upon completion.
This includes everything other than accompanied viewings and EPcs, which is offered alongside a 1% high street-style service that includes hosted viewings.
Both services are national and, unlike rival Purplebricks, the company does not charge a higher fee within London.
But 99 Home continues to offer its original fees structure alongside these new ones.
This includes both £99 and £499 sales packages and several levels of lettings services from £49 to £499.
Conveyancing
99 Home has also signed up with unusual conveyancing platform WeComplete which, as The Neg reported in August last year, pays agents directly rather than passing referral fees to them for recommending business.
Adopting a no sale, no fee model doesn’t always go well for hybrid agencies. Two years ago, Yopa attributed its accelerating losses to the adoption of this model, which it still offers alongside its Pay No and Pay Later models.
One challenge for hybrid agents like Yopa and 99 Home is that they offer vendors a sometimes bewildering range of different pricing structure and models, which can look intimidating compared to traditional agents, most of whom offer a single ‘no sale, no fee’ rate.
