There are quite a few online estate agents on the market these days, although at I Am the Agent we are proud to point out that we were the UK’s first online estate agent.
We pride ourselves on our completely open and transparent charging structure, so that what you see is what you get. From the start, our ethos has been ‘transparency, savings and a trusted community’.
Our online Essential sales package is just £399 inc VAT for 12 months marketing time on Rightmove and Zoopla with free pro photos or a free EPC thrown in. And if that’s all you want, that’s all you pay. We can offer optional extras, but you don’t have to take them if you don’t need them and the pricing for those add-ons is clearly shown on our website.
Unlike some of the other online estate agents, we do not offer a ‘pay later’ option. But that’s not because we are mean!
When online estate agents offer the ‘pay later’ option, this will usually mean you have to sign up to a credit facility agreement. That agreement will probably be with a finance company, not even with the online agent you are using, and it’s recently been reported that certain agents get sellers on board without even informing them that they will have to sign a credit agreement with the pay later option.
The credit facility in these agreements often comes with huge penalties if you pay late, sometimes up to 1000%. And don’t forget that the ‘pay later date’ kicks in on a set date, whether or not you have sold the property, so you are not necessarily going to be flush with cash at the time you have to pay anyway.
You should be careful about signing up to these ‘pay later’ deals if you are going for a mortgage on a new property, as it may hurt your application (and definitely your wallet if you miss the payment date!). This is because just applying for a loan can lower your credit score - 10% of your score comes from the number of credit applications you make. Each time you apply for credit, like the pay later deal, the application is placed on your credit report and it will show that a lender has reviewed it. Several enquiries, especially in a short period of time, may flag up to your mortgage lender that you are desperate for money or perhaps taking on more debt than you can afford. Have a look at The Balance article on this for more detail.
We know it is probably a bit daunting to part with the £399 upfront, but sellers tell us they prefer the certainty of the one-off fee, with no hidden charges or payments to be made further down the line. With our 12 months marketing time (which is twice the length of time allowed by some of the other online agents) you get a pretty good cushion if something unexpected happens while the property is on the market anyway. Our experience is that if sellers present their properties to the market well (that’s where those pro photos come in) and price sensibly it should not take too long to find a buyer. Take a look at Rightmove’s latest house price index and overview for their advice on pricing sensibly.
Check out our blog for advice on how to choose an online estate agent and how you can tailor our services to suit you.
I Am the Agent was established in 2009 and offered the first truly 24/7 enquiry line and service way back then, with a 24/7 tenant and buyer hotline, so we never miss a lead. We have let and sold over 9,500 properties, so we know our market.