Cheaper house sale fee pledged

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."

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