MANCHESTER, England, July 3 /PRNewswire/ --

- With Photo

- Tesco's 'Sell it Yourself' Venture Will Not Succeed in
Generating Significant Completions

- Old Style Estate Agents are Similarly Doomed to Long-Term
Extinction

- The 'Hybrid' Model of Agencies Like BrightSale is the Only Future
for the Industry

The Managing Director of the UK's fastest growing online
estate agency BrightSale today explained why Tesco's new private sale
property website (tescopropertymarket.com) is fatally flawed:

"There are now three distinct models of estate agency in the
UK: 1) the old-style high fee branch network agencies, 2) the pure 'sell it
yourself' websites (like tescopropertymarket.com) and 3) what we call the
'hybrid' model - which is a combination of the best features of both. The
'hybrid' model is used by new online agencies like BrightSale. It is based on
the success of other industries and it is the only long-term future of estate
agency in this country.

The pure 'sell it yourself' online model as proposed by Tesco
is fatally flawed. Selling a home is a very big deal, and the feedback we
have had over the past six months is that people do not feel confident in
going it completely alone. They need the support not just of sophisticated
online tools, but also of a properly trained single point person who can
negotiate with buyers, deal with solicitors, chase up chains and attend to
the many, many other aspects of completing a sale.

The old style traditional estate agent is similarly in danger
of going the way of high street travel agents. The costs of running a branch
network have to be passed on to customers, and the lack of investment in
online tools by the vast majority of these agencies has left them
unresponsive to customer demands in an online world. The future is not bricks
and mortar (and logoed cars and flashy suits) any more than it is 'sell it
yourself'.

The only way forward for mass market estate agency is follow
the example set by travel agents and conveyancing firms. They have spent
millions on online tools to give their customers the support they need whilst
dramatically lowering their costs. But they have also invested in state of
the art UK call centres staffed by dedicated and trained professionals."

The UK is behind other European countries in developing an
alternative estate agency model. In Holland, for example, woonaccent.nl has
captured a 3% market share. But they have done so by combining online tools
with dedicated professionals handling each sale.

The future is certainly bright for online estate agency in
general, but we believe it is clouded for Tesco.

Note to Editors:

The BrightSale model combines a low fee (0.5% with legal fees
thrown in) with human negotiators based in a call centre in Manchester. The
company was only established in January 2007, but already has over 130
listings.

A picture accompanying this release is available through the
PA Photowire. It can be viewed at www.mediapoint.press.net or
www.prnewswire.co.uk.

Visit the BrightSale website at www.brightsale.co.uk

For further information contact:

    Adrian Pepper
    +44-(0)-7774-269755
    adrian.pepper@aspirationmedia.co.uk

    Andy Etches
    +44-(0)-7983-358823
    BrightSale
    andy@brightsale.co.uk