A high street presence is no longer essential for estate agents, thanks to the rise of property portals and a change in consumer behaviour, according to Jonathan Handford, managing director of Fine & Country Leamington Spa.
He says that while many agents were already making the move away from the high street, the pandemic has been a catalyst for change and adaption.
Handford says that many firms have benefitted from working remotely during the pandemic, and that this has given rise to many more estate agents embracing a remote-working, self-employed agency model, a model which has helped his business thrive over the years.
Handford said: “While we have seen the self-employed, remote-working model gain more traction over the past year, this is something we as a business have been using for some time.
“In around 2006/2007 we started to introduce a self-employed model into our business which provided our associates with more freedom and the opportunity to earn a higher commission. We were really trying to emulate a bit more of the US and Australasian models to do things a little differently to what we had seen in the UK.
“Although the concept was initially quite alien to the UK market and it was difficult to recruit people in the beginning, as the concept proved itself and agents could see its success, the self-employment model has become the corner stone of our growth and it has helped us attract entrepreneurial individuals who are self-disciplined, hardworking, and committed to the job.
“As a business we have been able to grow alongside our associates growing their businesses and have been able to expand to new territories without the necessity of having a traditional high-street office.”
He added: “If I am paying between £50,000 and £100,000 a year for the use of an office, I would rather pay that to my people because they are the ones who will generate more sales, listings and enquires.”
Comments (13)
Working from home is the answer to a situation forced upon us.
What goes around comes around. The High Street agency will be back and to say it will not is utter nonsense. Anyone who has run an office knows the service they provide cannot be done fully in the bedroom and the consumer who pays you are not allowed to call there. Yes you can work from home but you are at a disadvantage and vulnerable to poor communication and well-being/retention of invaluable staff are being forgotten. Consumer wants service and so do employees want security (like never before).
What this article highlights and what it is all about is … save money on overheads. Ignoring service and we are a service industry contributing to our local economies and well-being and things that entails. Leave the high street and your brand will suffer.
I always find it odd that the rare bedroom agent that does bank a few quid they then set up an office shop front.
Its almost like they don’t have the money to offer a full service at the start so shout down office fronts then when they have a spare few quid they make the decision to open one.
How strange.
I have one high street office, the rent is just over £1k a month, it easily gets me two or three instructions a month just from people popping in while they are walking past (not at the minute granted). It keeps me at the front of peoples minds when they are thinking about what agents to ring. The older generation like that they know they can call in whenever they want. I cant imagine the hassle and waste of time involved in getting keys to surveyors, contractors, buyers on completion etc etc etc. where as they can just come to the office while I am getting on with other things.
The office makes me money its as simple as that, plus at the minute I get to dodge Home Schooling.
Yes totally agree and work from home will never take off either. Employees will just take the mick, efficiency and profit will suffer… oh hang on.
The world has changed and will not be changing back, time to smell the coffee in your expensive profit draining offices chaps.
Fine & Country are well ahead of the game.
Other than rent and business rates (if applicable) what ongoing costs does an office have that you don’t have working from home ?
For the record, Jon and his truly outstanding team at Fine & Country Leamington Spa do an amazing job and I for one have learnt a lot from him as have other Fine & Country licencee’s around the country.
The beauty of the Fine & Country model is that licencee’s can choose whether they want to use a “High Street” or “Self-Employed” ( or a combination ) option and make it work for them.
The power of this brand,the tremendous support we receive from Fine & Country centrally and the local expertise that the licencee brings to the table are the real key factors behind its success in my view.
He’s in a beautifully branded shop and I bet he wouldn’t give that up for anything. His shop is part of his brand image and his business success.
The public do love dealing with agents who operate from well-branded good-looking shop fronts.
Back bedroomers are low paid unsuccessful agents in the main. Not always, but nearly always.
so in short Simon, both you and he are looking to wear two hats?
“The beauty of the Fine & Country model is that licencee’s can choose whether they want to use a “High Street” or “Self-Employed” ( or a combination ) option and make it work for them.
As I understand it, this is not ‘unique’ to the F&C set up. As if an agent for KW or exp wished, they too could set up in an office, at their own expense. F&C are simply in most instances a ‘concession’ within many high street brands to give a feeling of exclusivity, at a cost, of course.
My point is not establishing what works best for the individual, but what is best for the industry as a whole. We talk frequently on these message boards of the evolving industry, adapting to change etc etc This is not change for the industry. The self employed model is merely positioned to those who do wish to rock up and sit in an office. Basically selling a dream. In fairness, it works for some. And many are good estate agents , who have probably grown tired of the increased hours for a lesser salary, which was mainly driven by that other industry evolver, PurpleBricks. Remember them and the agro they brought? But again, what about the industry? Lots of agents under their own name without any form of legislation to keep them in check, could be creating a cocktail of confusion for the home seller and more opportunity to bring our industry into focus for the wrong reasons.
So the brand which says on their own website ‘over 300 locations worldwide’ publishes an article on the morning of their conference saying you don’t need a high street branch.
Couldn’t write it…. oh wait someone did.
Scoop! Estate agent who champions the self employed work from home model, indicates the high street office is obsolete, shocker!
Whilst what Mr Handford says here will not be a surprise to any of us. I myself speaking with friends, family and above all clients, they tell me an office located on the high street in full view will always be a draw to inspire confidence in that particular brand. Are we all merely kidding ourselves in believing that we do not ‘need’ an office to base ourselves as it allows us to cut costs? Yes, most of what we do can be achieved remotely, but if the industry switches to the self employed model completely, then accountability, reputation and delivery could go a little wry, as we may simply create a Wild West of ‘iffy’ agents.
His comments are badly timed as he said “ the self-employment model has become the corner stone of our growth and it has helped us attract entrepreneurial individuals who are self-disciplined, hardworking, and committed to the job.”
In this case, IR35 will catch employers who admit someone is self-employed but they’re actually doing what should be a job. F&C should do their homework on IR35. Hopefully he’s providing sick pay, holiday pay and other employment benefits.
Apparently, IR35 applies to firms with 2 or more of the following criteria:
a turnover of £10.2m, a balance sheet of £5.1m, and a payroll of more than 50 employees . . .
There is apparently a small firms exemption but it doesn’t mean the firm can get away with disguised employment, it means (as far as I know) that the total responsibility for defining the disguised employment doesn’t fall to the employer. The employer, however, is responsible for employment costs and this can’t be dodged. Problem is, if an employee (disguised as a self-employed contractor) demonstrates they should be employed, the employer is in hot water and on the hook for back dated tax and employment liabilities.
This is the best I can do as I’m not HMRC!