Martin & Co, the UK’s largest property franchise business, has become the first ‘high street agent’ to offer an online property sales service. Vendors can now choose between Martin & Co’s traditional, commission based, estate agency service or its new fixed fee online service where the vendor handles their own sale.
For an up-front fee of £499 plus VAT, vendors will be able to advertise on the UK’s largest property portals, including Rightmove. As a high street agent Martin & Co’s online vendors will receive the additional support of traditional shop window advertising in local branches and advertising to a database of registered buyers.
As part of its online service, Martin & Co will handle the initial stages of the sales process, including advising vendors on valuation and how to achieve the best price for their property, completing photography and particulars for the customer and relaying enquiries from potential buyers.
Martin & Co will not charge commission on sales through its online service. If customers decide to switch within the first two weeks to Martin & Co’s traditional services their up-front fee will be deducted from the commission payable on sale completion.
Commenting on the launch of its online sales service, Martin & Co’s Chief Executive, Ian Wilson, said:
“In a first for the UK estate agency industry, Martin & Co is providing choice and offering both traditional and online estate agency services to vendors.
“While we believe the traditional service will continue to be the norm, a growing number of people are choosing to personally manage the sale of their property through online platforms.
“Our new online offering offers a low cost alternative to vendors who want to look after their own sale, but at the same time provides the highest quality service to market their property effectively and help them to achieve their desired price.”
Carole Bazzoni, Director at award winning Martin & Co Andover added, “Buying a property is unlike any other type of purchase. We encourage people thinking of selling their property locally to contact Martin & Co Andover to learn about our sales service options and find the approach which best suits their needs.”
The launch of its online sales service marks another significant development at Martin & Co, which extended its property sales offering in 2012. In December 2013, the shares of MartinCo Plc, the holding company of Martin & Co, began trading on AIM of the London Stock Exchange.
