Could this new app make London estate agents obsolete?

Selling a home? A new peer-to-peer selling app 'with the brain of an estate agent' could save you thousands

If you’ve ever sold a house, you’ll know all about the steep financial costs that go hand in hand with moving. Not only is there stamp duty, the surveys and lawyers to pay, but you might face early repayment fines for your mortgage and a pretty hefty estate agent fee as well – and that’s without even taking into consideration the price of a new house.

According to Which? the average estate agency fee for selling your home last year was 1.2% of the final sale price. With a property in the UK costing an average of £242,286, you could be forking out around £2,500 just to market your current home.

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With 98% of Britain’s buyers using the Internet to search for a new home, the industry is becoming more dependent on digital tools and away from traditional shop-front estate agents, and that’s in no small part down to cost.

Despite still charging a fixed fee, online agents such as Purple Bricks are considerably cheaper than high street estate agents, costing hundreds rather than thousands.

UcaDo, a free app that allows London house sellers to be their own estate agent, is taking this a step further. Using a format not unlike Gumtree, it encourages sellers to make a profile for their home by uploading photos and a description, which takes about three minutes, and then waiting for buyers to come to them.

“There are some exquisitely good estate agents, but our research shows there are 250,000 potential movers per year who don’t want to use agents at all. We’re here to help that market,” explains UcaDo creator Will Crossley-Tinney.

“With huge demand, a lack of supply, and growing mistrust, the UK property market is currently crumbling under the pressure, and we want to provide people with another way.”

They can use the app to contact buyers, arrange viewings and accept offers. So far UcaDo has over 350 unique users and this US-style peer-to-peer selling is growing in popularity in the UK. By letting owners deal directly with the public, it compares to other popular business like AirBnb that have users all over the globe.

The pros and cons

So who might benefit from using an app like this? If you’re no stranger to the property market and have previously been through the process of selling a home, then this could be an idea that appeals to you.

It shouldn’t involve much more effort from sellers as online estate agents already require them to do most of the work themselves, from taking photographs and creating the advert to handling enquiries and viewings. But it could prove to be ripe for disputes between seller and buyer – much like Gumtree.

“We have a growing help section that holds best practice advice and videos coming,” explains Will. “As with most social entities there is a certain amount of self policing, though with the sales there is a solicitor either side and also a Viewber service, who are able to do viewings should the need arise.”

However first-time sellers might prefer the guidance and help that comes with using an agent. After all, an agent can give you a valuation, help market your home and handle all negotiations, as well as offering an in-house legal service and simplifies the process by offering a single point of contact.