Ditch the Agent! New private sale-by-owner website launches

A new website has launched called ‘Ditch the Agent’.

Run from a farmhouse in Aberdeen, it normally costs £10 to list a property for 30 days, but is currently running a free offer.

It does not allow estate agents to register, saying it is strictly for private sellers and buyers.

At the weekend, it appeared to have two apartments listed – one in Salford and the other in Bulgaria.

Information on Ditch the Agent says the idea was born out of frustration: “Selling our house a few years ago we became frustrated with the total lack of quality service received from our estate agent.

“It seemed to us that all we were doing with that arrangement was handing over a chunk of our well-earned cash if we managed to sell.

“We were showing people around, chasing up for feedback and put in all the hard work, then handed over a fat fee.

“The final straw was the cheeky clause that said even though they hadn’t achieved what they should have (sold our house), if we ditched them and sold our house in our house in the next six months we would still have to pay. Really!”

Taking a swipe at Purplebricks, it adds: “We decided there really must be a better way, a place where there are no estate agents, even the funny coloured stones that pretend they aren’t normal estate agents.”

We have approached Ditch the Agent to see if we could get more information, but have had no response.

http://www.ditchtheagent.com/

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12 Comments

  1. devonlondoner59

    A 22000 sq ft apartment?  Really?

    Is the Property Misdiscriptions Act applicable to private sellers?

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    1. AgencyInsider

      Please tell us you are not a practicing agent devonlonder59.

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      1. jeremy1960

        Amazing isn’t it!  There are still a couple of agents in our town which have Web sites and paperwork that refers to PM!

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      2. devonlondoner59

        no, I’m not an estate agent. But I’m sure you can’t make clangers like ‘22000 sq ft’ in sales particulars….

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        1. AgencyInsider

          Well that is a massive relief to us all devonlondoner59. Because the Property Misdescriptions Act was repealed in 2013.

           

          And in fairness, whilst 22,000 sq ft is a clanger, it’s an innocent enough mistake. Like me misspelling your moniker in that first post.

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          1. devonlondoner59

            No hard feelings

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            1. AgencyInsider

              None at all 🙂

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  2. PeeBee

    AWWWW… after having ‘followed’ me last week (BIIIG mistake) – dey have bwocked me fwom deir Tw@tter page!

    Diddums!

    They mustn’t wike deir wittle ankles being gnawed…

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  3. gardenflat

    I’ve seen it all…….I’m starting a new site called ditch the council where we all take our own rubbish to the tip, are you in?

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  4. KByfield04

    Yawn.

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  5. Property Paddy

    How about “Ditch the Vendor” ?

    OK might be bad for business but who wants vendors like this bloke?

    Or maybe we should go further than money laundering checks and make sure we have a reasonable client (maybe a psychometric test perhaps?)

    Just a thought

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