Stonehouse Real Estate Ltd is a Christchurch City real estate agency, licensed under REAA (2008), positioning itself as a deliberate departure from the traditional real estate model. The agency describes its aim as delivering the "Highest Retained Equity" to clients from a property sale or purchase, built around a Time & Attendance plus Disbursements fee structure rather than a standard percentage-based commission.
The agency is led by Principal Agent Kim Franklin and Director Sam Doubleday. Kim frames the business around professional trust and transparency, while Sam describes the approach as representing whichever party — buyer or seller — has engaged Stonehouse, rather than working both sides of a transaction. Drawing on what it describes as ten years of sales data, Stonehouse states that the average time to get a property unconditionally sold has been less than 20 operative hours, regardless of sale price.
Stonehouse positions its service in the realm of "Professional Consultancy," comparing its approach to that of architects, structural engineers, dentists, and surgeons — an on-the-clock, precision-focused service with proactive communication from a dedicated Agency Associate throughout a transaction.
Stonehouse Real Estate Ltd, based in Christchurch City, describes itself as a deliberate departure from how the real estate industry typically operates. Built on more than two decades of industry experience among its people, the agency states its goal is delivering the "Highest Retained Equity" to clients from a property sale or purchase, in the shortest possible time.
Stonehouse's approach grew out of what it describes as an intimate understanding of the industry's common shortfalls: fees that scale disproportionately with sale price, poor communication about progress, work being delegated away after an agreement is signed, properties poorly understood or promoted, inflated price expectations used to win business, breaches of client confidentiality, and conflicts of interest created by unregulated commission-sharing between agencies. The agency also points to real estate's global reputation as sitting near the bottom of the "Trusted Professions" spectrum as part of the problem it set out to address.
Rather than charging a percentage of the sale price, Stonehouse uses a Time & Attendance plus Disbursements model — billing based on the actual time and costs involved in a transaction. Drawing on what the agency describes as ten years of real-time sales data, it states that the average time to get a property unconditionally sold has been less than 20 operative hours, whether the property sells for $500K or $5 million. That data point underpins the agency's pricing philosophy: charging for the time a sale actually takes, rather than a fee tied to the property's value.
Stonehouse frames its work as sitting closer to "Professional Consultancy" than a traditional sales office — comparing its precision and client-first approach to professions like architecture, structural engineering, dentistry, and surgery. In practice, this means clients work with a dedicated Agency Associate who provides proactive updates throughout the process, along with property promotion carried out accurately across the industry's main media platforms, and a stated fiduciary obligation to protect the client's interests and circumstances throughout the transaction.
Principal Agent Kim Franklin describes his philosophy as "Keeping it Real," built on trust, transparency, and impartial information rather than the industry culture he describes as driven by "greed & ego." Director Sam Doubleday takes a similarly direct stance, stating plainly that Stonehouse represents whichever party has engaged them — seller or buyer — rather than trying to serve both sides of a transaction at once.
Stonehouse's website features a number of client testimonials from vendors and purchasers across various Christchurch-area properties, including sales in Prebbleton, Hadleigh Lane, Tweed Street, Innes Road, Kahu Road, and Oxley Avenue. Recurring themes in the feedback include appreciation for clear communication, a sense of being treated fairly compared to experiences with other agencies, and satisfaction with the outcomes achieved.
Stonehouse Real Estate can be reached by phone at 0508 987 789 or by email at [email protected]. The agency invites prospective clients to call for a confidential conversation about their property needs, a market update, or simply a second opinion — positioning itself as a resource even for those not immediately ready to buy or sell.