Chestertons boss dismisses ‘scaremongering’ about OnTheMarket

| Rosalind Renshaw

Robert Bartlett, CEO of Chestertons, said his firm hopes not to be on any other portal than OnTheMarket.

He dismissed what he called ‘scaremongering’ on the day that the challenger portal marked its first birthday.

Bartlett, also a non-executive director of Agents’ Mutual which launched OTM, said yesterday: “At Chestertons, we are proud to have been instrumental in the development, launch and direction of OTM and we have every confidence in its future.

“After just one year, it has significantly disrupted the portals market and is already standing tall as one of the major portals.

“The lightning-quick website has impressed our clients and applicants, many of whom have told us that they find the ad-free search process very user-friendly and that they appreciate the clear, high-quality presentation of the properties.

“This no-nonsense approach has struck a chord with a large number of consumers, not least because many of the new properties displayed at OTM are advertised exclusively there first, often 24 to 48 hours before they can be seen on any other portal.

“There is a lot of scaremongering around OTM but the reality is that it provides our 34 London offices with high-quality leads and that the volume of these leads has been increasing.

“However, we know that this is still only the beginning. Ultimately, we hope OnTheMarket.com will build itself into a market-leading position where Chestertons needs no other portal at all.

“As full-service estate and letting agents, we have long faced the challenge as to how to regain control of our property data from Rightmove and Zoopla Property Group and to deliver a better service to our clients and to property searchers.

“The creation of Agents’ Mutual as an agent-owned, agent-controlled business has at last disrupted the property portals market and presented agents with a portal which will work for them without the need to secure large profits for shareholders.

“We believe that it is only a matter of time before increasing numbers of agents realise that OTM provides the very real possibility to regain control of their data now and that as it continues to build on its membership and property stock, OTM will prove unstoppable.”

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13 Comments

  1. HarryN
    January 27, 2016 at 08:37

    Wasn’t this the guy who was on this website telling the world he’d made the right decision sticking with Zoopla, then u turned and told the world he done the right thing sticking with Rightmove?

    Its amazing what garbage is classed as news nowadays.

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    1. PeeBee
      January 27, 2016 at 09:09

      “Its amazing what garbage is classed as news nowadays.”

      Yeah, well – considering it only seems to be you scribbling MDT all over the bog door down the other pub these days you’re well placed to make that statement…

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      1. AgencyInsider
        January 27, 2016 at 09:48

        Leave him PeeBee! He ain’t werf it!

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    2. Property Pundit
      January 27, 2016 at 11:42

      A post by El Burro on 6 Jan reproduced here for the benefit of harry hood:What I don’t get about the anti OTM brigade is why are they bothered?If OTM is as rubbish as they suggest and all their agents are just flushing their money down the pan in a Ponzi scheme (HarryN) why aren’t they just letting their competitors get on with it?Surely you’d love them making complete ars*’s of themselves, after all it’s money on a doomed project that they could be spending on much more effective platforms competing with you?It seems to me Zoopla were openly rubbishing OTM at the start, that has given way to an almost evangelical campaign to teach others the error of their ways by a band of non OTM agents. Or are they? Maybe Zoopla decided that openly rubbishing a competitor was never going to get them many votes and a different approach was needed . . . . . .Who else would give a monkeys?So why do you give such a monkey harry hood?

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      1. 1stTimeBuyer
        January 27, 2016 at 16:57

        Swap OTM for Zoopla and visa versa, and the same applies!
        A post by El Burro on 6 Jan reproduced here for the benefit of harry hood:What I don’t get about the anti ZOOPLA brigade is why are they bothered?If ZOOPLA is as rubbish as they suggest and all their agents are just flushing their money down the pan in a Ponzi scheme (HarryN) why aren’t they just letting their competitors get on with it?Surely you’d love them making complete ars*’s of themselves, after all it’s money on a doomed project that they could be spending on much more effective platforms competing with you?It seems to me OTM were openly rubbishing ZOOPLA at the start, that has given way to an almost evangelical campaign to teach others the error of their ways by a band of non ZOOPLA agents. Or are they? Maybe OTM decided that openly rubbishing a competitor was never going to get them many votes and a different approach was needed . . . . . .Who else would give a monkeys?So why do you give such a monkey harry hood?

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  2. harry hood
    January 27, 2016 at 09:19

    Another vacuous hollow statement with no data whatsoever.

    It’s damaging for our industry that bosses of the top firms try and boss the stage with these releases which are not backed up with facts or a single statistic.

    Still at least he had the decency to put his own name to it

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    1. Property Pundit
      January 27, 2016 at 11:42

      A post by El Burro on 6 Jan reproduced here for the benefit of harry hood:What I don’t get about the anti OTM brigade is why are they bothered?If OTM is as rubbish as they suggest and all their agents are just flushing their money down the pan in a Ponzi scheme (HarryN) why aren’t they just letting their competitors get on with it?Surely you’d love them making complete ars*’s of themselves, after all it’s money on a doomed project that they could be spending on much more effective platforms competing with you?It seems to me Zoopla were openly rubbishing OTM at the start, that has given way to an almost evangelical campaign to teach others the error of their ways by a band of non OTM agents. Or are they? Maybe Zoopla decided that openly rubbishing a competitor was never going to get them many votes and a different approach was needed . . . . . .Who else would give a monkeys?So why do you give such a monkey harry hood?

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  3. the message
    January 27, 2016 at 10:06

    Thanks mr Bartlett – I was getting worried it wasn’t working!!

     

    You have reassured me

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    1. RealAgent
      January 27, 2016 at 10:50

      Well you’ve had your say Message, in fact, you were so proud of it you had to post it twice. Clearly the views from Robert Bartlett however are considered more important than yours!

       

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  4. the message
    January 27, 2016 at 12:59

    I am sure they are. Slightly less thought through and considered however. And actually, my arena post listing out the 10 ideas to help OTM has had 66 replies of mostly sensible analysis.

     

    I just repeat that a lot of us not on OTM do care, because we want it to succeed, and refusing to listen to us is a bit stupid really, given we are the next wave of joiners.

     

    OTM has listened in some ways, in that the price we are now being offered to join is more sensible (we offered free for 6 months and 50 for the next 6), and we would try it if we didnt have to leave one of the other two, as they are important to us. But we also want some action on better corporate governance before we join as well

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    1. RealAgent
      January 27, 2016 at 13:57

      When you say “listening to us” I assume you mean you.

      Thats interesting about the offer you’ve had, perhaps you’d like to post it?

       

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    2. Woodentop
      January 27, 2016 at 14:46

      So what exactly is it that will make you join OTM?

       

      Can’t be fee from what you have said. If your on RM already and wish to stay with them, fine and that won’t harm your business, so its down to dropping Z? Being on three portals is arguably self destruct on time and expenditure when the market you are targeting are only using one or two (latter if it’s not on the first). One should also remember what RM & Z are actually doing to your business with their antics, none of which happen at OTM.

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      1. the message
        January 27, 2016 at 16:03

        I genuinely dont see R or Z “doing anything” to my busiess excpet being a place we advertise. yes I am annoyed at how prices have gone up, but am old enough to remember how much we used to pay/still pay for other forms of advertising

         

        I would go to OTM for £50 a month if they dropped the exclusivity clause, brought some independence to the board, and turned off the plans for overseas properties, and the countrylife deal, both of which stink to high heaven. Throw in an independent chairman and I will be in like a shot.

         

        OTM to stop wasting marketing money, but to slowly build up traffic with all of us pushing it. If people dont want to advertise on Z or R fine, but dont force them not to do something that works for them

         

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