HouseSimple Defends New Fee Structure
After introducing a pay-as-you-go fee option, which includes a success fee, online agent HouseSimple explains what its customers want.
The firm also confirms details of Carphone Warehouse founder, Sir Charles Dunstone’s investment in the company and its plans for improving the online estate agency sector.
HouseSimple is due to begin advertising on television “imminently” and will fundraise soon as it hopes to quadruple in size over the next 12 months.
HouseSimple Defends New Fee Structure
It will also start advertising on the London Underground in the future.
On the new fees, HouseSimple CEO, Alex Gosling, says: “Until last week, HouseSimple did offer customers a no sale, no fee option.
“We introduced the £995, plus VAT, option back in 2007 but it has consistently been our least popular choice amongst our customers.
“The no sale, no fee price plan has now been discontinued.
“We have listened to our customers and given them what they want.
“We have brought our fees down to a much more appealing and realistic level, while still focusing on offering a high quality service.”
Gosling also states that Dunstone and his business partner invested £5m in HouseSimple.
He explains: “The investment agreement was for £5m and the valuation was in double digits.
“HouseSimple.com is also likely to be raising significantly more in the coming months.
“The company has doubled in size in each of the last two years and is now looking set to quadruple in size over the next 12 months.”1
eMoov’s Russell Quirk places HouseSimple fourth in a ranking of online agents, based on current inventory and weekly run rates. The top ten is as follows:
- Purple Bricks
- eMoov
- House Network
- HouseSimple
- Tepilo
- Hatched
- Open Houses
- Urban Sales
- Estates Direct
- MyOnlineEstateAgent.com
1 http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/customers-did-not-want-no-sale-no-fee-says-online-agent/