Would you sign up to an estate agent offering to sell your home for free?

This is Money Podcast

This is Money

Business News, Business, Investing, News

4.1 • 650 Ratings

🗓️ 28 June 2019

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The bumper fees we pay to estate agents to sell our homes are a common gripe, so what’s not to like about one that offers to do it for free?

Yes, free.

Online agent Housesimple says that it will sell your home at no charge, rather than the 1.5 per cent you might pay a traditional High Street agent, or even the £900 or thereabouts that rival fixed fee agents charge.

So, what’s the catch and would taking up this kind of offer be a good idea?

On this week’s podcast, Simon Lambert, Georgie Frost and Will Kirkman dive into the murky world of selling houses and whether estate agents are worth their fees.

They also look at how much it costs to get on the property ladder around the UK and why it’s got more affordable in London, with one major caveat.

On the agenda this week, in addition to that, is the help or lack of for mortgage prisoners and how to get your pension to last to 100.

The team also take a trip back to the 1970s, to find out why a decade famed for being economically rubbish for the UK also managed to deliver the last time unemployment was this low.

And finally, Simon has some tips on how to do well in our £20,000 Fantasy Share Picking Game, which include not copying him thanks to his lowly 1,400th place in the practice league.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to This Is Money in partnership with NS&I. I'm Georgie Frost and joining editor Simon Lambert and I today is reporter Will Kirkman.
0:09.4	And today we're talking property, getting in and moving on, living to 100 and whether your pension will last as long as you do.
0:17.0	Simon shares his top tips that could bag you big and we've done our flares and we go back to the 70s.
0:23.4	Don't forget you can stay up to date with all the latest breaking money news just to go to this ismoney.com.
0:27.8	uk or download the app.
0:31.2	This is Money brought to you in partnership with NS and I giving your little ones a head start with our junior ISA.
0:39.8	Now coming out, we'll be talking about how much you really need to buy a property,
0:43.3	but selling one doesn't exactly come for free.
0:47.0	So imagine if you could do it without paying a penny of commission to the estate agent.
0:52.1	It could potentially save you hundreds, if not thousands
0:54.9	of pounds. Well, the country's fifth largest estate agency, where based House Simple, is offering
1:00.4	to do just that. A market first free of charge service, they've already been trialling it in
1:05.9	Yorkshire and the northwest, and they plan to roll it out further afield over the coming months. So it sounds great.
1:11.9	But what is the catch?
1:14.1	Is there one, or am I just being cynical, Simon?
1:17.9	How much could this save you typically?
1:20.2	And where does the money go to?
1:22.2	Break it down. Estate agent fees.
1:24.2	Estate agent fees.
1:25.1	There can be anything up to 3%. however, they are more likely nowadays to be
1:31.2	around about 1 and a half percent. And they may or may not add VAT to that. You will pay with VAT,
1:38.1	but some estate agents do a sneaky thing where they quote you their charges and then it's plus VAT.
	...

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