The owner of a £15.5 million home in Knightsbridge has told how he is saving hundreds of thousands of pounds by selling it online and avoiding having to pay estate agents’ fees.
The six-storey Grade II-listed townhouse in Hans Place, near Harrods, has five bedrooms and a staff flat. The lower ground floor hosts a wine cellar and gym and there is a large garage.
It has been double-glazed, re-plumbed, rewired and sound-and heat-insulated.
The owner — the founder of a pharmaceutical company who asked not to be named — is moving to Richmond with his family. He said that after researching how much he would pay estate agents in fixed fees, he realised he could save up to £263,500 by going it alone, attracting buyers through online searches.
“What struck me during the process of appointing an agent was the work involved to sell my house seemed disproportionate,” he said.
"How can it be that selling a £15.5 million property should cost 15.5 times more than selling a £1 million property, when the agent’s workload is virtually identical? When we raised the issue with agents, there seemed to be very little wiggle room on the 1.2 to 1.7 per cent commission.”
The owner said he found he could sell online at a fraction of the cost of traditional agents. He signed up with Sellmyhome.co.uk. Online agents have about six per cent of the market. He said: “For less that £1,000, we will have access to the property portals.”
Will Clark, director of Sellmyhome, said: “We pride ourselves on customer service and will be giving the vendor experienced support. We’ve launched an app which allows clients to manage viewings, feedback and offers from their phone — the first of its kind.”
TV presenter Victoria Coren Mitchell, and her comedian husband David Mitchell, bought a home near the Belsize Park church where they married via online agent eMoov. eMoov claimed that an estate agent quoted a £70,000 fee to sell the £3.2 million house, but the owner paid just £720 by going online.
