The former owner of Poundland, Steve Smith, has put his £6.5m house up for sale with his own online agent, EstatesDirect.
Smith reckons it will save him £115,212 in estate agent fees.
It will be interesting to see if in future he should require the expertise of the likes of Knight Frank or Savills, or one of the very good local agents in Bridgnorth.
Rightmove lists a number of agents in Bridgnorth, including one called EasyLet, should the Smiths – who want to downsize – decide to rent out their home instead.
Always a thought.
However, let us not get ahead of ourselves.
Smith, who is chairman of EstatesDirect, said: “I’ve always looked for value for money in everything I do.
“If [a high street estate agent] sold my house for £6.5m at 1.5% plus VAT, I’d have to hand over £117,000, which is staggering considering how little they do.
“Doing it online costs me a total of £1,788, so I’ll save £115,212.
“It is the future of property selling, so no wonder the high street estate agents hate us.”
Smith could, in fact, have opted for a cheaper package – £195 plus VAT. His £1,788 package offers estate agency services such as accompanied viewings.
Smith sold his share of Poundland in 2002 for £50m, helping him to buy Hammer Hill House near Bridgnorth, Shropshire.
You can find the brochure – complete with the agent’s obligatory note to point out that the client is a ‘connected person’ under the Estate Agent Act – here
That sure is a posh motor parked outside.
Comments (26)
please, please, please track this Property Eye. lets have an update end of every month as to how its going………………betting he is on with a main agent by say end of March????
Well, surreyagent – in order to 'track' this one correctly, let's first look at PAST HISTORY, shall we?
20/4/11 – marketed by Savills @ £5,500,000. NOT a typo – ONE MILLION QUID cheaper than current price! Seemingly withdrawn and relisted on same day by same Agent on 5/10/12 (536 days from first instruction) – then withdrawn once again after a further 90 days, on 2/1/13.
It was also marketed for virtually the same period – 20/4/11 to 1/12/12 (593 days) by Andrew Grant Country Homes, at the £5.5 million price.
Of course, with both of these listings they could have started at a higher figure – who knows.
EstatesDirect have had the property on the market since 23/10/14 at the £6.5 million tag. OR HAVE THEY?? Not according to that wonderful 'Listing History' section on Zoopla that I normally scream with rage about.
http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/34941569?search_identifier=40b6e7e86a285af4f0012c1adf9ca4e9#AR5UcwfEwRvwER73.97
As can be seen, the property was listed at FIVE MILLION – and then increased same day. Now of course the company could claim that some numpty had dyslexia of the digits which was only spotted when ninety-nine offers came in, all of the "asking price", within the first few hours of marketing – but that maddening feature (misdescription) that Z no doubt claim "offers a heightened user experience" has this time bit someone on the B.Hind big style. It's a wonder that they didn't delist/relist… same as what they did on RM after re-writing the wording they'd cut'n'pasted from the previous Agent's brochure…
But like you say – let's see what happens in the coming weeks… months – or as per previous attempts by tried, trusted and established Agents, YEARS of marketing! ;o)
Publicity stunt using the online parasites, I know a decent agent should earn their fee back compared to the poor service the parasites offer.
It's not just about sticking a few photos online and hoping for the best.
Mind you sell it quick cos soon the onlines wont be able to advertise on the top portals.
I would just buy a row of terraced houses somewhere for £1m, looks the same.
More knocking – when will it stop? it does the industry (profession?) no favours.
BTW – as far as I know most £5m+ properties are sold with no public marketing at all. The right agents (and property finders) know who is in the market.
This is just a publicity stunt, nothing more. The poor presentation of the property would not be acceptable to anyone who was serious about achieving the best price for the house . It is also overpriced by about 1-1.5 million in my opinion, rendering it difficult to sell (which, in my opinion, could be what the seller wants?)
If ever a house needed full expensive and extensive marketing this one is it. To me it resembles an institution of some sort. What poor judgement thinking a cheap shoddy on-line outfit, his or otherwise, has any chance of maximising his potential to sell – and at the right price. He will be on the phone to one of the big boys within a year or two, if indeed he wants to sell in that timescale.
Shock horror… This sale price equates to £442 psf! Calling all buyers, he only ever sells things for £1 therefore @£1 psf = £14,690 Check out the EPC after works its rating gets worse. Well done!
I'd be gutted if I spent £6.5m on a house that had no gym or cinema room!
The marketing looks as if it cost £1. The saving, however, is very subjective. I doubt a Russian Oligarch will see this online. Their PA's tend to use the agents who specialise in properties such as this and to hell with the cost – if such a buyer wants it, they pay whatever so the fee is utterly irrelevant. Selecting an agent bases upon fees, especially at this level, is somewhat naive.
I was considering an offer but it's only got an 'Average Boiler' and NO low energy light bulbs.
Looking at the details and market share this agent has at no time has "You get what you pay for" been more appropriate. I would not market a studio apartment as poorly as this. On the other side of the coin can you a purchaser with 6.5 million trawling through websites? I do not sell this value of property all the time but when I do I never get a call from the purchaser from RM, Z or even my own website enquiring….. Nice bit of advertising for his agency tho so tip of the hat in his direction!
Sorry Ros what sort of car is it? My 23" screen ought to show that photo in a bit more detail than it does. It would be lovely if it were in focus or more than 100kb.
Isn't it staggering that in the same 20 years that Autotrader, Amazon, Ebay etc have managed to grab a fair chunk of business away from retail particularly at the budget end where the consumer won't shift off the sofa unless they have to. Online agency despite the massive fee savings purports to offer hasn't yet captured a viable share of the market.
What Mr Smith hasn't point out is that he has already shelled out close to £2000 and his property hasn't sold yet…..
If there were ever a setting for the follow up story on what Del and Rodney splashed the cash on to out Boyce Boycie?
"A Pina Colada if you will Raquel"
It is always interesting to see people who have been incredibly successful in one enterprise believe they are experts at everything. Didn't the very successful insurance companies walk away from estate agency back in the day? I hope 'eye' will report Steve's eventual selling price so we can all chuckle about the inability of on-line to achieve the very best price. I'd bet that the net result is way behind what would be achieved if he paid the fee and had the best agents negotiating on his behalf. Instead, what will KF be saying to prospective buyers about the value of Hammer Hill House? False economy don't you agree?
Presumably if he was the proud owner of a Bugatti Veyron and decided to sell it he'd bung it on the Auto Trader website, flog it to a bloke he met at Watford Gap services and tell everyone he'd saved himself a fortune.
Well hello, Steve From Leicester – nice to see you here on 'The Dark Side'! ;o)
If I'm honest I don't think I could imagine a worse vendor. It was probably best he use his own agent and sells to a…. "lottery winner"!
7 incorrectly sized photographs and an illegible floorplan, hardly top drawer marketing.
Sticking to the shelf stacker principle. Bung it on the shelf and hope some punter buys it.
If they guy had any balls, or there was any substance to his flawed argument he would have listed it with KF and his own 10bob onliners and let the results do the talking. End of. Like most online agents, a lot of bravado, smoke and mirrors and very little substance.
I dare say some idiot would sell it for a pound. ………… cheap fees often means the inability to negotiate a best price. Lets see if he gets his £6.5m. If he gets £6m then it will of cost him £1/2m
Nice house and all that, selling things for a quid has paid off……..however, this is the man that was promising world domination a couple of years ago wasn't he? – well here he is with 130 odd houses for sale so good to see its going well. I also wonder how that bloke in Knightsbridge is getting on with his sale – Jonnie
He could save money, IF he sells it. AND if he gets the same price a local agent could get; but of course this can never be proved or disproved and so the arguments go on and on…. In the meantime he's £1788 out of pocket with no result. Good luck Steve.
Nice house in fairness, although just 7 photos….? You would have thought it would have had a couple more……………..Perhaps he was not prepared to pay for the 8 photos or more package.
Classic — he knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Brilliant comment, really put a smile on my face. Gets my vote for comment of the week. So true. Hope Steve Smith reads it.
I work for an online agent but if I was selling this place I would want a specialist, very shoddy marketing, I agree. I see a lot of traditional agents here resentful of the online agent model but I don't think you can say one way or another which is best overall, you have to pick which is best for you. I know many traditional and online estate agents and there are some online I would pick over traditional and visa versa. One good thing that has come about through this is more choice for the consumer and less chance of being ripped off by the money for old rope brigade and every town has at least one.