When Britain's beacons went automatic in 1998, Trinity House Lighthouse Service, the corporation chartered to run lighthouses by Henry VIII in 1514, decided it could make more money by renting out the cottages than by unloading them.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Peter Bolton King, of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), says private sale websites offer a totally different level of service to that of an estate agent.

BBC: Selling your own house: Could it save you a fortune?

CBI's: the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, in a survey published on November 4th, suggested that the service sector was weakening.

ECONOMIST: Singing in the rain