The portal said that technical work was underway to offer the service through supplier iamsold from the spring
Rightmove has forged a link with the controversial Modern Method of Auction service being offered to agents.
The portal said in a statement to agents that technical work was underway to offer the service through supplier iamsold from the spring.
Zoopla has already gone down the MMA route.
All the relevant listings of Rightmove’s customers who are already part of iamsold’s partner network will be automatically “enhanced” with information about MMA, the portal said.
Agents who don’t currently have an auction service can sign up to iamsold.
Agents have varied opinion about MMA. One agent left a comment on an Estate Agent Today story on Thursday of last week, saying: Modern Method of Auction is the next PPI scandal to be exposed. I hope there are solicitors looking into this.
Buyers can bid on a property online through MMA which allows for a long completion timescale, giving the eventual buyer time to sort mortgage finance.
But once the online hammer falls, the buyer must pay a substantial non-refundable reservation fee, which can run into several thousands of pounds which can attract stamp duty.
However, Rightmove’s agency director Dave Anderson says this initiative helps agents give more choice to clients.
We’re excited to be working with iamsold as our first auction provider for this feature and hope that by differentiating these listings on site it will help educate buyers and sellers about the Modern Method of Auction, so that they know there are different purchasing and selling routes available to them from agents, he says.
We also hope this may open up more routes to property transactions for agents who may not currently be using an auction provider or who do not have their own auction service, he says.