“The UK’s Office of Fair Trading says more innovation is needed in the home buying and selling process, as the housing market remains dominated by traditional estate agents with weak competition between them on price.”
Alice Allan, ‘property portal watch.’

 The above heralded Tesco’s Supermarket’s re entry into the property selling business & once again opened the debate as to do Estate Agents offer value for money & is there real choice for the consumer?

Having been involved with the property business since 1989 I have witnessed the way in which the internet has dramatically influenced the way in which a property is marketed to the extent that now 85% of home buyers, at least, find their purchase via the property portals. The traditional methods of selling, or renting, a property relied heavily on newspaper advertising & personal visits into the High Street offices, both expensive mediums which in the main equate to estate agents fees ranging from 1.25% through to 2% & in some cases 3-3.5% for a multiple listing. The question rightly asked by consumers & now the Office of Fair Trading is -if it costs less to effectively market a property & people are not visiting High Street agencies why are home sellers being charged the same percentage as they would have paid fifteen- twenty years ago?

Some sellers in very recent years, disgruntled by this, have turned to the many private listings sites available on the internet but for most the idea of preparing property details, taking calls from prospective buyers, & moreover negotiating offers is not appealing. Similarly Landlords find, acting for themselves, the processes of referencing Tenants, preparing legal agreements, & inventories tricky as well as time consuming.

I set Oxford Homes Direct up in 2007 to provide a service which offers, & has successfully provided, another choice for property owners in Oxfordshire. The advantages associated of advertising your property via a superb range of property websites, which includes ‘rightmove,’ ‘ findaproperty,’’ primelocation,’ & ‘zoopla,’ together with a personal, professional, knowledgeable, & experienced approach. I passionately believe we offer a fee structure & service which offers real value for money, without compromise, whether you are selling or letting your home.

As the much used line goes -“why pay more when you can pay less”