Darker side to UK estate agents forces The Little House Company to rebrand

The UK’s largest and oldest private sales website will be re-launching on Monday 16th March after suffering for years with agents trawling the site and poaching their private vendors.

Private sellers' frustration at being contacted by numerous estate agents trying to win their business proved to be a major source of complaints for The Little House site, but there was little the website could do to stop the practice.

Given the traditionally frosty relationship between estate agents and private sellers, it seemed slightly ironic that an agent’s secret weapon for expanding their business was a For-Sale-By-Owner site. Co-founder Nick Marr has found that private sellers who wanted to go it alone still wanted advice or services from professionals when it came to certain crucial aspects of the sale – such as valuing a property for example. In fact, Marr claims that 8 out of 10 of his customers will require the services of an estate agent at some point in the process.

Formally The Little House Company, TheHouseShop.com will now launch with a new offering that lays out a more transparent, formal relationship with the agents that have been secretly using the site for years.

TheHouseShop.com will offer homeowners a gateway to access all the ways to sell a home: from For-Sale-By-Owner and online agency, to high street agents and even property auctions – making it the first site to allow homeowners to choose how they want to sell their home.

In the digital age, more and more people are going online to buy, sell and rent property, but the offerings from the main property portals are almost identical, and while benefitting estate agents, offer nothing new to consumers. TheHouseShop.com’s model allows sellers to pick and choose as much (or as little) professional help as they need and gives agents a legitimate, above-board way to showcase their services to private sellers.

As an added incentive to get agents flocking to the new site, TheHouseShop.com will offer them free listings, along with the option to sign up to offer professional valuations to homeowners and receive free valuation leads.

Consumers also stand to gain a good deal at TheHouseShop.com, as it will feature listings from private sellers, online agents, high street agents and property auctions, allowing buyers to search the entire market in one place. TheHouseShop’s inclusive, pro-choice approach appears to have given them an edge over exclusive “agent-only” portals like OnTheMarket who will only deal with brick and mortar agencies.

“Different people and different properties have different needs, and we offer sellers all the available options at a competitive price,” says Company Director Nick Marr. “We are already working with thousands of estate agents who recognise the value of our unique audience and the services we offer, so this new model was a no-brainer for us.”

TheHouseShop will be an inclusive platform for everyone buying, selling or renting property, be they consumers or professionals.

TheHouseShop – It’s Your Choice!

Estate agents can go to www.thehouseshop.com now and sign up for exclusive Beta access to the services on offer at TheHouseShop.

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