As a professional property developer, Darren has gained a lot of experience in the property sector, particularly in the UK where he has a multi-million-pound property portfolio. Having made dozens of property transactions over the years since selling DatingDirect.com, Darren began to question the costs involved in buying, selling and letting property.
Traditional high street estate agents charge large commission fees for selling your property, usually between 1% and 2% of the asking price. It seemed unfair that the higher the valuation, the more it costs to sell or let your property, even though the service is basically the same regardless of the property value. And when you consider the record highs in house prices over the past decade, a commission based model begins to sound unfeasible for the future.
Looking for a fairer alternative - a fixed fee - Darren looked into the many, so-called online estate agents that had sprung up over recent years. However, although these estate agents offered the fixed fees Darren was looking for, he found that the service was hit and miss. Online estate agents save costs by operating online instead of from a high street branch, but this also means they don't have the local expertise or man power.
A conversation with industry expert Ben Grove, led Darren to set up EstatesDirect.com - a national estate agent with 0% commission. By employing local experts in every area of the UK, EstatesDirect.com offered the same level of service as the traditional estate agent, but by charging a low fixed fee like online estate agents, EstatesDirect.com being without doubt much fairer and simpler for the customer. The best of both worlds.
Launched in January 2011 EstatesDirect.com became one of the largest leading online estate agents in the UK, long before other sites such as PurpleBricks, YOPA, and easyProperty etc adopted the same business model. EstatesDirect.com was acquired in 2017 and merged with a larger similar business.