Well, another good idea bites the dust. Joneses Real Estate has gone into voluntary liquidation.
I wrote a post here several months back on the Joneses. It seems that any alternative to the commission sale model on selling your house is doomed to failure. Which is a pity as there is a market for it, perhaps not on the scale that the Joneses began with.
So, Real Estate agents rule the day, with their huge commissions – once again we have no choice.
Yes, sad to see a new model die. However, it always seemed to me there was something incongruous about The Joneses. A “low-cost” model that had the biggest and flashest real-estate offices in town – reconcile that.
No choice? Not so – the real alternative is to sell your house yourself with a private sale.
There is still Trademe
Thanks Ray and Mike – Ray, your comment got caught by my SPAM filter – apologies!
It annoyed me to hear the man from REINZ saying that the death of the Joneses was proof the low cost model doesn’t work. What a load of rot. It’s unfortunate that the Joneses were looking to get bigger just as the property market is taking a hit…I’m sure there are hundreds of very happy Joneses customers out there who can attest to the success of a house sale with a $8995 commission.
But then, what else would we expect from the fat cats at REINZ?