New online agent looks to be muscling up to Purplebricks

| Rosalind Renshaw

Online agent YOPA looks as though it is gearing up to go head to head with Purplebricks.

It has opened in Manchester and says it has an “army of Local Property Experts” and has just started a TV advertising campaign.

In Manchester, it has recruited experienced estate agents David Higham and Tim Shinners to push the concept in the region.

They are in turn recruiting up to 20 local experts to operate in Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cumbria, Cheshire, Derbyshire and the Isle of Man.

The YOPA business is likely to be well funded. Two of its founding directors are Andrew and Alistair Barclay, the sons of the Telegraph’s magnates Sirs David and Frederick Barclay.

A fourth director is David Jacobs while the third director, Daniel Attia, is YOPA’s chief executive, who yesterday said: “YOPA is the new kind of estate agent. By combining online efficiency with great local service we can save home sellers thousands.

“The days of the old-fashioned high street estate agent that closes at 5pm are firmly over.

“We can offer a slicker, faster, more efficient service with the customer at the heart of everything we do.”

YOPA charges £780. Purplebricks charges £798.

The YOPA TV advert is currently running on ITV in the Granada and Meridian regions. Prime time slots include the Rugby World Cup, X Factor and Downton Abbey.

Some of those boards look sort of familiar – take a look here

 

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30 Comments

  1. agency negotiation limited
    October 27, 2015 at 07:27

    Ask why YOPA is doing this – the customer at the heart of everything they do, or, as an opportunist attempt to float their boat? Not quite sure why established estate agents would find either this or the PB business model lucrative!

    Report
    1. PeeBee
      October 27, 2015 at 09:34

      Not a bad thing for you, Sir – another player to add to your list of hopeful contestants for you to interview as to who will offer the best ‘value proposition’ to your retained clients!

      Oh… hang on… maybe not after all.

      These jokers are based in the North-West, aren’t they – so maybe it will be your Mancunian ex-wannabe disciple who will pick up the business there instead.

      Ironic, really – he’ll be there preaching your words… using your book… and your soapbox.

      I hope you held something back – or Grasshopper will defeat The Master with his own teachings.

      Question is – how many more have you let loose out there?

      Soon we’ll have more agency negotiators than agencies!

      Report
  2. livingproperty
    October 27, 2015 at 07:48

    All that will happen is that people will flock to them, they’ll have too much business, not be prepared for it and their service will fail. Then they’ll hire loads of staff, put them on £10k a year and it will become a call centre with each and every member of staff hating it and it shining through to their clients. Then they’ll go on a crowdfunding website and ask for £400k to stay afloat and so they can actually pay people their wages.

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    1. BBP
      October 27, 2015 at 08:09

      well said, @living property.

      I wanna add one more line to yours,

      ….if they don’t get crowdfunding, will go to administration and tax payers money will be spent in case, if needed!

      The bottom line is, high street agents are staying on cause they are respected by their customers mainly because they offer personal and exclusive services.

      So these online agents mean nothing to us!

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  3. BBP
    October 27, 2015 at 08:25

    Let me give an example, you can go to supermarket to get a full set of grooming kits for as little as £5 which could save you £££ in compare to the salon! But is that innovation (machine)  made any difference to the salon industry??

    In Bury, Lancashire, there is a salon in every 1000 yards (in avarage) and there is estate agents in every 5000 yards! All of them are doing good business as well!

    So people don’t get fool anymore! and it’s not a joke!

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  4. jeremy1960
    October 27, 2015 at 08:34

    here we go! Let them slog it out, they have little room to manoeuvre other than keep reducing their fees until they disappear up their own a***s!

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    1. wilko
      October 27, 2015 at 09:25

      I think eventually they will start to merge and in the end the one with the most crowdfunded money will be the market leader…..Still be hard to see how they will turn a profit.

      Report
  5. smile please
    October 27, 2015 at 08:46

    I agree with the majority of posts, i would add caution tho that online agents are starting to get a foothold and to completely dismiss it is dangerous.

    If they keep getting the funding they will continue to grow, there will always be part of society that cares more about perceived saving than actual loss and service.

    I think the thing that some forget is they do not just make money from house sales, the data they collect they make a very tidy profit from.

    If Countrywide are looking at a hybrid / online offering it really must be taken seriously in my humble opinion.

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  6. JAM01
    October 27, 2015 at 09:10

    They can’t differentiate between themselves and the other on liners. If the market share for purely online was there it wouldn’t be an issue for them. But it isn’t there and they will dilute the current general online offering. I saw the ad on ITV in Kent just after 5pm. Good time slot but then went onto the website. Not good!

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    1. Harree
      October 27, 2015 at 14:07

      How do you know the YOPA website isn’t any good? The only way ANYONE knows if a website is ‘any good’ is by having access to site the conversion stats ie., the percentage of people who visit the site and make either a direct online enquiry or a telephone enquiry.

      Without that information any website opinion is just that … a stab in the dark at best or, perhaps in this case, a totally prejudiced anti-online agent assumption.

      Report
      1. PeeBee
        October 27, 2015 at 14:36

        OH COME ON, ‘Haree’!!

        You’re either an onlinie (which you’ve never admitted to previously and therefore blows the last six months of your incessant anti-OTM rantlets completely out of the water – or looking at the woeful website and reading your comment above may give some the impression that you’re a complete numpty… and therefore blows the last six months of your incessant anti-OTM rantlets completely out of the water.

        Not sure if there’s a third option in sight but feel free to contribute one for consideration by the masses…

        Report
  7. wilko
    October 27, 2015 at 09:28

    I am getting increasingly annoyed by the claims made by the online agents about how successful they actually are.

    I have seen e moov, tepilo and housesimple all mark properties online as “under offer” even when a real high street agent has sold the property and not them.

    Has anyone else seen this happening in their areas?

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    1. smile please
      October 27, 2015 at 09:44

      Not seen this are way, are they allowed to do this?

      Worth reporting to RM and Z?

      Report
      1. wilko
        October 27, 2015 at 10:03

        It’s a tricky one because technically if we sell a property where an online agent has failed are they actually doing anything wrong by marking up as “under offer”. When they then say x % of properties placed with us got sold, as long as they haven’t said they have sold them are they doing any wrong. It is mis leading in my view though and I wondered if it was as widespread as I suspect it is?

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    2. PeeBee
      October 27, 2015 at 10:16

      Funnily enough, I found one last night, wilko – not in my patch but in the North-West.

      It is being reported.

      I have to say that I am finding it being done by ALL types of Agent – not just onlinies.

      Beauty of the internet – how easily cheats make themselves visible for people that are looking to expose them.

      And there ARE people looking for them.

      Report
  8. Gump
    October 27, 2015 at 09:34

    I had a call from my dad the other month, told me he had got a valuation from Purplebricks, naturally I hung up and deleted his number, then shortly after I got a call from a number I didn’t recognise, it was my Dad again, so I asked why PB……his reply…..”cheap and they do the same job as you don’t they”

    We may think we are the best of the best, but it would seem some of the public don’t seem to view the onliners as any different to us.

    My town has had 4 onliners list this month, not good

    PS. I would actually sell my dads house for free for him! 🙂

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    1. smile please
      October 27, 2015 at 09:46

      This is the problem,

      The public think its a like for like offering, until us High Street agents educate the public better and until ASA and alike clamp down on the misleading adverts, they will continue to make ground.

      Report
    2. RealAgent
      October 27, 2015 at 10:07

      That was quite funny for you Gump…..

      Report
      1. Gump
        October 27, 2015 at 11:13

        Why thank you RealAgent, I do have my moments 🙂

        @Smile I don’t think we can educate, it’s going to be their experiences with the onliners and word of mouth that makes or breaks them. And if they are mainly good, we could end up being in a spot of bother in a year or two.

        Report
  9. Stevie
    October 27, 2015 at 10:05

    Does anyone know of one of us guys that close at 5pm? except possibly Jamo1

    30 years on and I have never closed before 6.15 – 6.45 so where attia got the idea that we do, I have no idea.

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    1. Property Ear
      October 28, 2015 at 14:43

      My firm used to open til 6 – now we open til 5 – selling just as many houses, taking just as much in commission. You have to work smart not so hard – if you let him, Joe Public will bleed you dry – there is life beyond estate agency!

      Report
  10. wilko
    October 27, 2015 at 11:01

    It will be interesting to see how the online agencies perform when the market hardens….and we all know it will.

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    1. Nick Salmon, M.D. Property Industry Eye
      October 27, 2015 at 14:10

      As you’ll see on the ARENA forum, Simon Bradbury of Thomas Morris has opened up a new topic to discuss ‘online’ agent market share. Readers of this thread could usefully contribute.

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    2. Harree
      October 27, 2015 at 14:17

      When the market hardens some onliners will suffer badly … but then again, so will some traditional agents.

      Onliners v traditional arguments remind me of BA’s tactics and slagging off of Freddy Lakers low cost airline. BA’s argument was  that low cost fares would lead to massive safety issues due to lack of investment in maintenance, unsustainable low fares and a shoddy sub standard service that he public wouldn’t tolerate. Sound familiar?

      How wrong they were as Easyjet and Ryanair + countless cut price airlines around the world have proved.

      So … why do the majority of traditional agents insist on believing that the High Street, local agent, model is the only one Joe Public will ever use in numbers?

      Beats me.

       

       

       

       

      Report
      1. wilko
        October 27, 2015 at 18:19

        The vast majority of posts in online v high st are not about wether or not joe public may use online one day in their numbers,  but more to do with the way they lie to their customers about savings, make debatable claims about success rates, opening hours. Not to mention poor marketing photos in many instances…..And I don’t remember Freddy Laker, Easyjet or Ryan Air staging tasteless funerals with BA coffins !!!!

        Report
      2. Property Ear
        October 28, 2015 at 14:36

        The difference is that Easyjet, Ryanair & Co are actually getting you where you want to go – Chances are very high the On-liners won’t get you there because they can’t afford the fuel!

        Report
  11. PaulC
    October 28, 2015 at 03:58

    A whole 24 homes listed on Rightmove

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find/Yopa/London.html?locationIdentifier=BRANCH%5E121063&includeSSTC=true&_includeSSTC=on

    Report
  12. PeeBee
    October 28, 2015 at 07:48

    PaulC – their listings are all over the place – you simply don’t know what’s what.  Their own woeful website shows (if you can be bothered to wait long enough for the photos to load, that is) 28 properties; RM lists 34 (of which 16 are ‘Under Offer/SSTC); and Z lists 30 of which 13 are showing UO/SSTC.

    Now here’s the thing – it’s all back to the dubious claims here methinks.  This band have been going only a few months (oldest properties on Z show as 29 March) but already they are spewing out the same baloney as their bigger, bolder cousins.

    First example (don’t worry – there are MANY more to highlight… and I will…) of website billshuttery:

    “50% of Traditional Agents drop the market price in the first six months of advertising… Not only do we aim to sell your property much faster than that, but we’ll be accurate and fair with our valuation.”

    Funny, that.  Of the 33 units on Zoopla, TWELVE of them have been reduced within 6 months of instruction – and by as much as 18.9%!  Of those, only 5 of them are currently ‘Under Offer’ so watch this space for future further reductions.

    You couldn’t make it up.  Oh – hang on…

    Actually – no, they haven’t.

    They’re just copying the same old: same old onlinie template.

    Report
  13. PeeBee
    October 28, 2015 at 07:55

    Meanwhile, down the other pub, The Quirkster is crying into his short-measure pint of lukewarm pee-water that Countrytwide aren’t going to buy up an established big name for their proposed ‘online’ proposition.

    Awwwww… diddums.  Looks like you’ll have to book another numptyfunding exercise for when you’ve sp***ed all the last wad of cash up the wall, Russ! ;o)

    I reckon February’s looking good…

    Report
  14. PeeBee
    October 28, 2015 at 13:07

    HELLO, YOPA!

    I take it you’re reading this but keeping a low profile?

    Okay – please help me on some of your website claims.  Here’s your Starter for Ten, as Bamber Gascoigne would have said:

    You state “95% sold Achieve asking price or above”

    Sounds bl00dy brilliant – however according to Zoopla, 31.25% of your current ‘Under Offer’ properties have been reduced, by an average of 6.16% – which of course must have been prior to agreeing a sale.

    The Law of Averages means that’s waaayy off the mark you have set in stone.  Care to enlighten where the ‘statistics’ you quote on your website come from and what validity the have?

    Don’t worry – there’s plenty more where that came from… ;o)

    Report
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