Agents offered £300,000 in US-style shared fee deal for mansion

Agents are being offered a theoretical £300,000 if they introduce a buyer willing to pay £30m for a mansion on sale in Windsor.

Some of the trade press yesterday covered the promotional video for the property, which is a 23,000 square foot unit sitting in 40 acres of land it has nine bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, an indoor pool and a 1,000-bottle wine store.

Now the agent instructed to sell - Sean Newman from Fine & Country Windsor - wants rival agents to help him find a purchaser willing to pay the price.

He says: “We are moving towards the American model of estate agency where estate agents work together and share the fee, so we are offering estate agents in the UK and overseas one per cent of the sale price. We are looking to achieve £30m-plus for this home, so this could be worth £300,000 to the agency that refers a buyer.

“I am looking forward to collaborating with other agents to show that by working together, the seller can get maximum exposure to the widest possible audience of buyers and achieve the best sale price for their property. 

“Hopefully this will become standard practice across the industry and will encourage agents to charge a higher fee, so they can offer a decent split of the commission.”

The property has an asking price of £20m which Newman claims is a bid to tempt buyers into an auction-style bidding war. He is holding a preview event for interested agents on Friday November 12 from 12pm to 2pm. 

“We will be providing champagne, canapes and this will be a perfect opportunity for agents to promote themselves and this property on their social media channels” he adds. Interested agents should email georgie.lower@fineandcountry.com.

There will be an open house event for buyers on Sunday November 28 with the deadline for offers at 12 noon on Friday December 3. 

Newman says the property is vacant, and all the legal work is done, so the buyer can be in by Christmas.