For many years high street estate agents held the keys to buying and selling a home, with sellers often paying them thousands of pounds in fees.
But now a new breed of online estate agents has got in on the action, taking advantage of technology and lower overheads to sell your home for less – potentially saving you substantial sums on traditional percentage-based sales commission.
Most charge a fixed fee, typically between £500 and £1,200, and will list your property on the main online portals, such as Rightmove and Zoopla, which is where the vast majority of people now go house hunting.
An online estate agent could save you £2,761 on the sale of a £300,000 home
Services vary from basic listing deals to those who will assign you a local agent to do viewings, negotiate and hopefully get a deal closed and you moving home.
By using one of these agents instead of a traditional high street option, sellers can save thousands of pounds, while also getting their property marketed professionally.
But they must remember that it’s not all about cost and instead pick a service based on its quality, as this is what is likely to achieve them the best sale price on their home.
The biggest online agents Purple Bricks and Yopa charge £849 and £839, respectively, plus an extra £300 if you want them to do viewings.
The average estate agent’s commission fee is 1.3 per cent, including VAT, according to conveyancing form MyHomeMove.
On a £300,000 home, a seller who chose Purple Bricks or Yopa and opted for them to handle viewings would pay £1,149 or £1,139, respectively, whereas using a traditional high street agent at that typical rate they would pay £3,900. The online option could save them £2,761.
Someone selling a £750,000 property would face a potential average high street agent charge of £9,750 and could save £8,601 by opting to use an online agent.
| Agent | Fee | Average percentage of asking price achieved |
|---|---|---|
| Yopa | £839 | 98% |
| Purple Bricks | £849 or £1,199 | 96% |
| Tepilo | £645, £895 or £1,295 | 96% |
| Hatched | £495, £895 or £1,695 | 96% |
| Housesimple | £595, £695 or £995 | 96% |
| eMoov | £795 | 96% |
| Doorsteps | £99 or £199 | 97% |
| easyProperty | £825 or £1,500 | 96% |
| Source: This is Money / Homeowners Alliance for % asking price achieved | ||
Yopa, standing for Your Online Property Agent, was founded in 2014 by Andrew and Alistair Barclay, sons of the Barclay brothers
Fee: £839 plus £300 for viewings (£1,399 fee in parts of London)
Average percentage of asking price achieved: 98%
Yopa, standing for Your Online Property Agent, was founded in 2014 and has grown to be the second biggest player in the market with a slightly lower fee than rival Purple Bricks.
It offers a dedicated local agent and listings on Rightmove, Zoopla and PrimeLocation, with professional photographs and adverts, a for sale board, and online dashboard. The standard fee is £839, rising to £1,399 for some London postcodes.
Aiming at those who find the idea of a full-on DIY sale a little daunting, Yopa assigns a local agent to sellers for face-to-face valuations and help with negotiations. If you want them to do viewings it will cost £300 extra though.
When it comes to the bill you can pay upfront or after selling. Yopa markets your property until it sells but you pay after six months if it hasn’t been sold by then.
Managing director Daniel Attia said: ‘The old estate agents are like the cassette tape, we are the iPod.
‘The reason we decided to launch Yopa was that the service and the price people were paying for it were so far apart. We wanted to offer exactly the same service but cut the costs drastically for the consumer.’
Fee: £849 plus £300 for viewings (£1,199 fee in London and surrounding areas)
Average percentage of asking price achieved: 96%
On the board: Michael Bruce says the branch model for estate agents is outdated
With a 72 per cent share of the online market, Purple Bricks is the biggest and most famous online agent after a mostly successful marketing drive – and it’s been backed by star fund manager Neil Woodford.
It was launched in 2014 by Northern Irish brothers Michael and Kenny Bruce as ‘the first 24 hour estate agent’.
For £849 nationally – or £1,199 in London – Purple Bricks puts you in touch with a local property expert who gives you a valuation and gets professional photos of your house and details arranged.
For an extra £300 Purple Bricks will conduct viewings for you.
You get a dashboard on their website where you can track viewings and listings on all the top portals.
Unlike some online agents, which can cancel listings after a certain time, Purple Bricks markets your property until it sells.
After the deal is done you get a post-sales team contact to help you all the way to completion.
Michael Bruce said: ‘What property owners want is to get that local expertise, but they are more tech-savvy and want to see what happens as it happens. You don’t get this on the high street.’
Tepilo was founded in 2009 by Channel 4 presenter Sarah Beeny (pictured)
Fee: £645 to £1,295 plus £360 for viewings
Average percentage of asking price achieved: 96%
Tepilo was founded in 2009 by Channel 4 presenter Sarah Beeny. The basic package for £645 will buy you six months of marketing on Rightmove, Zoopla and Primelocation.
This doesn’t include professional photos or floor-plans, so the classic package of £895 will be more appealing to most people who don’t have the ability to do these themselves and make them look good.
Even then unlimited viewings are not included and will set you back an extra £360.
There’s also the premium package for £1,295 which includes premium listings on Rightmove and Zoopla.
Mrs Beeny said: ‘I know what a bad agent does and what a good agent does – and we wanted to have a go and see if we could make someone’s journey much easier and more straightforward and more logical. It isn’t logical to have to pay more just because a house is more expensive. It doesn’t mean it’s more work.’
Hatched offers three packages, including a no-win no fee option at £1,695
Fee: £495 to £1,695 on no sale, no fee
Average percentage of asking price achieved: 96%
Founded in 2006, Hatched is one of the older online agents. It has three price packages, including a no sale no fee option.
There’s the basic £495 upfront package which gives you an expert valuation, professional photos and listings on Rightmove, Zoopla and Primelocation for 12 months.
For the middle package costing £895 they throw in premium listings and unlimited virtual reality tours where an expert shows buyers around via webcam.
What Hatched offers that many don’t is the no sale, no fee package. It’s the standard package but you pay nothing upfront and £1,695 on completion – potentially a lot more expensive but perhaps tempting if you’re not fully confident that your house will sell.
Four accompanied viewings or one two hour open house are offered as a bolt-on for £180.
Managing director Adam Day said: ‘An online estate agent uses technology to drive efficiencies in order to deliver the best online customer experience and the lowest and most transparent fee possible. At Hatched, that is what we do.’
Housesimple was developed by entrepreneur couple Alex and Sophie Gosling in 2007. Pictured: Its TV advert
Fee: £595 to £995 on no sale, no fee plus £295 for viewings
Average percentage of asking price achieved: 96%
Housesimple was developed by entrepreneur couple Alex and Sophie Gosling in 2007.
The upfront £595 package gives you a valuation, professional photos and floorplans and six-month listings on up to 500 sites including Rightmove, Zoopla and Primelocation.
The fee is discounted by £50 for using each of Housesimple’s conveyancing service and mortgage brokers, bringing it down to £495 if you use both.
Viewings cost an extra £35 each or £295 for a hosted viewings pack.
You can pay after the sale for £695 – an extra £100 – but must also pay after six months if your property doesn’t sell.
And there’s a third option to pay £995 for a no sale, no fee deal which smashes Hatched’s £1,695 offer.
Mrs Gosling said: ‘I got fed up with traditional estate agencies. I found myself doing all their work for them and resenting the money that they pocketed. They were getting away with murder. So I decided to launch a new type of service.’
Fee: £795
Average percentage of asking price achieved: 96%
eMoov was founded by high street estate agent Russell Quirk in 2010
eMoov was founded by former high street estate agent Russell Quirk in 2010.
It has a simple pricing structure – one fee of £795 which gets you 12 months marketing on the online portals and is payable upfront, at completion, or after 12 months if your house doesn’t sell.
There isn’t an option for agents to conduct viewings but they do negotiate with the buyer on your behalf.
Mr Quirk said: ‘It was clear to me that property portals would become destinations for property buyers.
‘Today sellers no longer see value in retail spaces. Technology has fundamentally changed this industry and consumers simply aren’t getting the service they pay for from traditional high street agents.’
Fee: £825 or £1,500 for premium including viewings
Average percentage of asking price achieved: 96%
The easy branded online property service was established in 2014 and merged with GPEA, the owner of the Fine & Country estate agent brand earlier this year.
It says that makes it the the UK’s second largest hybrid estate agency by reach, with more than 368 local property professionals operating throughout England and Wales
The standard package at £825 provides professional photos, floorplans and a description as well as marketing on easyProperty.com and the other major portals for up to seven months.
The premium package at £1,500 includes premium listings on Rightmove, Zoopla & PrimeLocation and viewings.
The company offers a money back guarantee but only if your property hasn’t received an offer within 20 per cent of its asking price within five months.
Fee: £99 or £199
Average percentage of asking price achieved: 97%
Launched in 2016, Doorsteps is the cheapest of the online agents, offering a valuation and marketing on hundreds of websites including Rightmove and Zoopla for just £99.
Most sellers will need the £199 package which includes photos and floor-plans but this is still far cheaper than the other agents.
A big plus is that they keep all properties online until they are sold – which the site claims 16 days on average. Purple Bricks and Yopa also offer this.
An online agent means ditching the traditional big high street agents to get a keener fee, but does that matter nowadays? This is the choice you must make
So should you use an online agent?
Despite their rise, online estate agents still only have five per cent of the market.
Supporters of the traditional high street agent will tell you that this is because there are significant downsides.
Some claim that the problem with a fixed fee upfront is that there is no incentive for the agent to sell your house – they’ve already been paid. You’re basically paying someone to list your home, not sell it, and this is a gamble.
Other agents will tell you that it is their local knowledge and years of experience that you are paying for.
They may suggest that they have a list of interested buyers, know the right levers to pull to get your home sold, and are better placed to get the sale all the way through to the all important completion.
On the flipside, almost everyone who has ever bought a home will know that not all estate agents are particularly good. You don’t have to spend long looking at homes for sale to find bad photographs, deal with muddle viewings , or encounter agents who just don’t call you back.
While a good high street agent may be worth paying a big fee to and average or poor one isn’t. The thing to balance is whether you think a high street agent will get you a higher price that outweighs the extra money that you will pay them.
Online agents regularly change their offers as they compete for customers, so it’s worth watching closely and not ruling them out when you come to sell. Make sure you pick the best one though, not just the cheapest.
And if you do opt for a high street agent negotiate on the fee – and potentially even ask to cap it.