Gloves off in battle for house-sales listings

A marketing company has hit back at the Real Estate Institute for a promotion which encourages people to use agents instead of selling their houses privately.

Nelson-based Jocelyn Thornicroft, a founder of private house sale company Green Door, said she advertised in Dunedin to counter the campaign in the South Island.

The institute's promotions encourage people to think of agents as "house doctors" and promotes the benefit of using a real estate agency to sell a house.

"The REINZ in recent advertising has suggested that buying and selling property privately may have more legal risk than using an agent," Thornicroft's advertisement said.

"This may be true if you sell totally alone," it said, then promoted Green Door's moves to develop a code of practice and ethics for its franchise operation.

Green Door, which lists about 600 houses, was also bound to comply with the terms of the Real Estate Agents Act, 1976, it said.