Spicerhaart launches online estate agency with Tesco

National estate agency Spicerhaart is lunching a new online estate agency business in collaboration with Tesco.

The new website, iSold.com, will initially be aimed solely at property buyers and sellers in the Bristol area, before being rolled out to the rest of the country if it proves a success.

The service will be marketed to users of Tesco’s website. All business will be conducted online or on the phone – there will be no crossover with Spicerhaart’s national branch network.

The main selling point is the cost – iSold will charge vendors a flat fee of £999 to sell their property, rather than the 1% to 3% fees traditionally levied by estate agents.

For the £999 fixed fee the seller gets a valuation and home consultation, and has professional property details drawn up for the internet, including photos and measurements.

The details are advertised on all of the major property portals including Rightmove.com and findaproperty.co.uk, as well as the iSold website.

Customers get access to the website 24/7, plus the services of a telephone-based team available from 8 a.m. to 10pm weekdays and 9.30 to 5pm on Saturdays.

Customers can also buy their Home Information Pack, conveyancing services, survey and arrange their mortgage through the service.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) recently called for more innovative online estate agency services to help drive down prices.

There are a number of ‘virtual’ estate agents in existence, some of them even cheaper than iSold.com, but altogether they still account for just 2% of property transactions in the UK.

Tesco attempted to muscle into the estate agency market in 2007, offering sellers the chance to offer their property for sale online and put a Tesco ‘For Sale’ board outside there home for £199.

 But it was quickly told that its service did not adhere to the requirements of the estate agency and property mis-description laws, and the business was sold to Spicerhaart after four months.

Spokesperson Steve Shore insists that the old business had not simply been rebranded and relaunched.

 "This is a new business," he says. "We have carried out detailed financial analysis, to ensure it will work. We have been looking at it for some time, developing the IT behind it, and the property market is now picking up," he adds.