Portland, Maine
Harbourline Property sets out the scope and the fee of every instruction before it begins, and tells a seller what the market is likely to make of a house before the listing is written rather than after.
Each service states the scope it covers and the basis it is charged on. Four of the six are charged as a percentage or a retainer, so the figure that matters is settled in writing at the appraisal rather than estimated here.
A visit of 45 to 60 minutes, every room walked, and a written figure with the comparable sales it rests on.
no charge
Photography, floor plan, listing copy and the portals, with the fee payable only on completion.
2.4% of the sale price
An agent at the property for every appointment, and a written note of what each viewer said.
$220 per viewing day
A brief agreed in writing, then properties found, filtered and ruled out on the buyer's behalf.
$1,500 retainer
Marketing, viewings, referencing and the deposit lodged, ending at a signed tenancy.
$900
Rent collected, repairs arranged through known trades, and inspections on a fixed schedule.
8% of rent collected
An instruction is agreed before it starts. What the owner wants to happen is written down, the work that would serve it is set out in plain terms, and the fee for that work is confirmed at that point rather than after it. The appraisal figure comes with the sales it was drawn from, so an owner can see how it was reached and argue with it. Where a property would be better served by a different kind of agency, or by waiting, Harbourline Property says so at the appraisal and charges nothing for having said it.
Photographs of the kind of house, street and room the agency is asked to value and let. None of them is a property currently for sale, and none shows an occupied home.
Four people share the six services between them. Whoever carries out the appraisal stays with the property through the listing, the viewings and the completion rather than handing it on.
Valuer and managing agent
Carries out market appraisals and writes the figure up with the comparable sales behind it, so an owner can see the reasoning rather than only the number. Also holds the properties the agency manages for landlords, from the periodic inspection to the repairs a landlord has agreed in advance.
Buyer’s agent and viewings lead
Opens the house on a viewing day, walks each party round in an order that makes sense of the layout, and reports back what was actually said rather than a summary of it. On a buyer search the same role sees properties first and says which are not worth the drive.
Lettings and marketing lead
Prepares what the market sees: the photography brief and the weather it waits for, the order the pictures run in, the floor plan, and a description that does not stretch a study into a third bedroom. Carries a letting through referencing, the inventory and the deposit.
Sales negotiator
Takes the enquiries that arrive without a service attached to them and explains what an appraisal covers before booking one. Once a property is listed, puts every offer to the seller in writing with the buyer's position set out beside it.
I had a number in my head from a neighbour and it turned out to be wrong. The walk round took about an hour and I was shown, room by room, where my figure came apart. What came back was a range with the actual sales written under it.
Ellen Marsh · Deering Center
I work offshore and could not be there for a single viewing. Somebody opened the house at nine, put the heating on, and ran six parties through in a day without my having to think about it once. The notes that evening were the things people actually said.
Tom Ferreira · South Portland
The photographs were taken on a clear morning in the week they said they would be, and the order the pictures ran in made sense of a house that is awkward to explain. The description did not call the study a third bedroom, because it is not one.
Grace Whitlock · Munjoy Hill
A visit of 45 to 60 minutes, every room walked and measured, and a written figure afterwards with the comparable sales it rests on. It carries no charge and it commits the owner to nothing.
Sale listing and marketing is charged at 2.4% of the agreed sale price and falls due on completion. If the property does not sell, no sale fee is payable.
No. The appraisal gives a considered figure and the reasoning behind it. What a buyer will actually pay, and when, is decided by the market rather than by the agency, and any agent who says otherwise is guessing.
By email at any hour. Messages are read and answered during office hours, Monday to Friday and on Saturday, in the order they arrive.
It carries no charge and takes 45 to 60 minutes, and it ends either with a scope worth agreeing or with a plain statement that none of the six services fits.
It is published in the open, where anyone can copy it, so it is left short of its final polish and audit pass. The design chosen is fully audited and polished before it goes live.