The HomeOwners Alliance has rejected an accusation that it is not impartial.
A tweet asked it: “How can you say you’re impartial when you have ‘partners’, actually just the one partner – Yopa? This isn’t impartial.”
The full tweet is below.
A spokesperson for the HomeOwners Alliance, which says on its home page that it promotes the interests of the home owner in the media and government, told EYE: “We have lots of partners, not one, but they don’t and can’t influence our advice.
“Our Find an Estate Agent tool provides free to the consumer independent data on the performance of estate agents.
“This tool showcases 18,000 estate agents for free and the results cannot be influenced.
“To use the tool, users that say they are interested in selling in the near future give their permission to be contacted by Yopa, an online estate agent, who will contact them to ask if they have considered an online estate agent model.
“We continue to be open to considering other agents (high street or online) and letting them have this marketing opportunity as well.”
A number of partners are listed on this page, see link below, and include ULS Technology, a conveyancing firm with a one-third stake in HomeOwners Alliance.
The Find an Estate Agent Tool (EstateAgent4Me) enables people to find “local estate agents”.
The Alliance says on its funding page: “We receive a referral fee for completed enquiries.”
The Alliance says that the money raised from its partners in referral fees enables it to produce free guides and consumer reports, enabling it to champion the interests of home owners and those who aspire to own homes.
HOA is a commercial organisation that has always championed (and partnered with) call-centre agents since its inception; most notably eMoov. Draw your own conclusions.
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Hang on! Aren’t these guys a .org.uk and wouldn’t that suggest they’re a non-profit organisation? That feels a little shady IMOH.
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What garbage is this..
We believe that the discipline which a for-profit organisation brings to bear on a business will likely to lead to a better run organisation. But our stimulus is to empower people at every stage of the home buying process
As well as the smorgasbord 14 individual referral fee arrangements
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The Home Owners Alliance comes across as anti high street estate agency, it always has done. It gives out advice that many would consider dubious and many people would think reading their posts that they have an agenda.
Despite many years of high street agency bashing have they mentioned the Emoov tragedy….no, and now to find out they are teamed up with YOPA (despite their “Independent” tool) is no surprise. They are an company that is riding the back of estate agency to make money from the public thinking that they are batting for them, which is not the case.
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