CarnegiesUK can is best described as a hybrid estate agency. While you won’t see a high street office with windows displaying glossy property photos and prices, one thing the pandemic has taught us is that times have changed. High street shopping has evolved, and the internet is now our primary resource for shopping, working and conducting almost every aspect of our transactional lives.
The key question is why pay steep sales fees for a service which belongs to a different age? Higher fees are necessarily to cover the cost of renting a prime location retail unit, office equipment, large scale advertising and marketing campaigns and running the office itself (think utilities, maintenance and service charges). While most sellers instinctively opt for a traditional estate agency out of fear of the unknown, we are here to change the game. It is not all about saving money (although that is the biggest incentive), but about fundamentally rethinking how property sales are now carried out.
Why pay fees of around 1.5% to sell your house, when the main advertising portals are online? When we look to buy a property, the very first place we look is online. You can see everything you need, contact the agent and decide where you want to visit from the comfort of your own home.
Property portals have become central to the property buying process in recent years and for sellers, with Rightmove being the current the market leader, receiving approximately 127 million visits per month. Zoopla says its websites (which include Prime Location) attract over 50 million visits per month. When it comes to selling your home Rightmove and Zoopla offer the widest possible audience possible, and high street windows are not needed.
Unlike our high-street counterparts, that typically charge around 1.5% of your property’s selling price, we charge 0.75% of the property value. This is a fixed rate for a personalised face to face agent service, with no hidden costs. For a property valued at £1,000,000 that is a saving of £7,500. We know this business and will make sure you are happy with the photographs and marketing and will provide a full and transparent evaluation of recent sales prices in the area to ensure you get the best possible estimate. We conduct the viewings in person at a time that suits you, and ensure you receive quick and honest feedback to inform your next decision.
You will be supported by a dedicated, experienced salesperson and negotiator throughout the process, who has genuine understanding of the emotional impact of selling your home. One of the many complaints we have heard about is how the traditional, larger agents often lose interest once the sale has been agreed and offer accepted. The typical salesperson who ‘seals the deal’ and then disappears to concentrate on the next one. While that part of the negotiation may be over, we know too well that the rollercoaster of what happens after that point until completion needs care, attention and empathy.