Townends: Buyers prefer to pay upfront for HIP

The way in which house sellers are choosing to pay for their home information packs (Hips) has transformed in 2008, according to Townends estate agent.

The organisation offers sellers four options when looking to produce a Hip in order to put their property on the market.

Initially, the most popular of these was a deal whereby the agent paid for a Hip – as long as the seller signed a sole agency agreement – with 65 per cent of customers selecting this option.

However, this has since been cut to just 15 per cent.

In place of this offer, the most favourable method of payment is currently the pay up front version - which has seen a rise of 31 per cent, up from 18 to 49 per cent.

The remaining options - 'deferred payment' (where the client does not have to pay until their sale completes) and 'bring your own' (which sees estate agents accept any Hip providing it complies with all relevant legislation and is produced by any authorised supplier) - are now the least favoured options.

These two payment methods currently account for 18 per cent of the market each, slightly above the free option.

"The launch of our flexible Hip proposition … was warmly welcomed by our clients who appreciated having a choice of solution rather than the 'one-size fits all' approach used by several of our competitors," said Peter Ford, regional director for Townends.

"Three months after the launch, I'm not surprised an ever-increasing number of our clients are choosing to pay up front for their Hip.

"This option allows total flexibility as the Hip is owned by the client and, as the cost is paid at the outset, it makes budgeting for the total cost of the move much easier."