A new real estate business promises to slash commission rates.
Monday, January 24th 2005, 1:48AM
by The Landlord
Go Gecko says it will sell houses for $5950, regardless of the value of a property - although there are some conditions.
But the real estate industry is sceptical about the proposed new chain of agents.
Agents usually calculate their fee as a percentage of the value of the property being sold and work from a scale - the more expensive the property, the higher the fee.
John Waymouth, a specialist property barrister, said agents usually charged up to 4 per cent on the first $300,000 and 2 per cent on the remaining sum of the sale price. For a $500,000 house, that worked out at a $16,000 commission.
But Tauranga-based consultant Peter Williams, who is helping Go Gecko get established, said: "It doesn't matter whether the house is worth $200,000 or $2 million - there's no money up front but we will provide all the same services as other real estate firms."
