The first formal meeting of members of aspiring new trade body CIELA, the Charter for Independent Estate and Letting Agents, is due to be held today, in Bicester, Oxfordshire.
They will be discussing how to harness the potential firepower should independent agents choose to unite their resources and data to create a new trade organisation.
David Butler, founder and CEO of ResiAnalytics and formerly of Hometrack, will attend to explain the power of the combined data that independents currently hold between them, but do not currently use.
According to CIELA – founded by agency software supplier Charlie Wright – initial supporters have “overwhelmingly expressed the desire to form an organisation which represents the collective voice of independents and communicates to the public what independent agents actually do”.
Also attending is CIELA’s PR team, including professionals said to have worked on such brands as Zoopla and Tepilo in the past, with a proven track record of good consumer coverage.
Today’s meeting will be filmed and footage shared on the CIELA webpage afterwards.
I feel another On The Market scenario is about to happen, instead of splitting agents allegencies I feel this is the most important time for all governing bodies to come together and support us in these testing times, let us see what you will do for us, I was going to say less talk and more action but there isn’t any talk and certainly no action, I guess the dentist really did a job on all of them but really if you want our backing then now is the time to show your teeth if it isn’t already too late which I fear it may be.
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For a good start……how about the NAEA sorting out the internal turmoil caused by allowing ‘online lister’ members to openly and very publicly DENEGRATE the full service agency businesses of the majority of the other members.
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That would require the NAEA to grow a pair, Sir – which is not on their immediate/medium-term/not-in-a-month-of-Sundays agenda.
But you can continue to live in hope.
I know it’s a daft question – but are you a Member/Fellow of said Association?
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Hi PeeBee. No I am not a member. I wanted to join a few years back and they told me they were not taking any applications from directors at that time as they were amalgamating with ?ARLA. I took the hump and never bothered since. Was interested again in last couple of years…..until I found out they were sitting back and letting online listers say what ever they wanted about the majority of their members….unchallenged. Because of that I now won’t join on principle. I don’t agree with organisations that turn a blind eye to attacks on their members because of a few extra coffers in the pocket!!!
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“No I am not a member.”
I didn’t think you were.
Then I hate to say it – especially as doing so puts what could be seen as my own hypocricy on the subject in the spotlight – but you’re not exactly in the strongest of positions to ask them what they’re doing, are you?
I can at least claim several years’ past paid Membership giving me some rights to highlighting their many shortcomings – but they certainly won’t listen to outsiders if they don’t listen to those paying the bills.
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Whenever I have been in a room with something pertinent to say, that I totally believe in…. and no one is willing to at least give me the curtesy of listening, debating and then addressing…. I leave the room….always have, always will.
Those that will not at least listen, are typically also blind to the dangers they face…and will at some point die from ignorance. Always have, always will.
Whilst you are right that the NAEA will not listen to me, it does not stop me wanting to point out the dangers they face through not listening and ignorance towards their members. The reasons they will lose trust and members are the very same reasons why I will not join.
I may be very critical, but at the heart of it all I want to get them to help our independent industry in its hour of need. I also want to help….always have, always will!!!
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AgentV
Your passion and commitment to the industry is not and never has been in queston here.
If those levels were a benchmark to entry, then a great deal of those currently working within simply would not have reached the bar.
Unfortunately that is not the case – neither is it apparently a concern of those various ‘bodies’, that purport to upholding and raising standards, that many of those that inhabit the world of property do so for today’s gain and think not of tomorrow.
NAEA’s stance (in a strange alternative reality where ‘stance’ is defined as ‘lying down with a blanket over your head shouting “LaLaLa if I can’t see it or hear it then it isn’t happening…” ) is a sick joke – but their only alternative is to expel the very Members who currently contribute to make Arbon House a very nice place to be lying down under aforementioned blanket.
Chicken:egg. Neither of which have the “pair” I referred to in my previous post.
And the new Pretender brings nothing whatsoever to the table.
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What do NAEA’s legal advisers say? I see members benefit from a legal helpline.
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Splitting agents allegiances might be seen as a good thing. The governing bodies have shown a distinct lack of success in bringing the separate parts together, to benefit either the consumer or the agencies.
It’s a case of Identify who you are and what you stand for.
Corporate agencies have a different agenda than independents. Online have a different culture than hybrids. That is a good thing. Agents are still perecieved as a commodity. The signs from CIELA are very encouraging.
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‘initial supporters have “overwhelmingly expressed the desire to form an organisation which represents the collective voice of independents…”.’
But – how can it? Surely it only represents the (however small/large) percentage of independent Agent Owners/LLP Partners that have signed up to its’ ‘vision’ of independent domination?
This is the outfit that, on their website display a quote from a release on 17 January stating
“Would you ever consider uniting with all your fellow independent agents in the fight against corporate domination and unfair practice, if you had shared ownership of such an organisation, and legal certainty that it could never be sold off?”
yet it talks of potential future flotation?
I’m inclined to disagree with Mr agency negotiation – I’m thoroughly discouraged by the signs I’m seeing…
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Ah, Mr. PeeBee. We meet again. I have missed the absence of your keen mind.
It’s a No from you then, I take it? Must everything be perfect for you to take a leap of faith?
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Nope – just realistic… honest… and first and foremost, be in the best interests of the industry and its’ customers.
I’m still looking.
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We agree. Realistic…honest and, in the best interests….
However, I look at the alternatives and question whether this is a step forward. Or backward. Are the existing alternatives realistic, honest and in the best interests of the industry and its’ customers? I would argue that CIELA is a step in the right direction. I could, of course, fence-sit until they have established themselves, but I look at some of the agents involved and notice a common thread of values.
The vision, as I understand, was to take back ownership of the data. Itself, a realistic goal. The founding agents will, no doubt, alter the business model as it gains momentum. And the statements by which they are obviously judged will, by default, conflict with earlier statements. Until they no longer do. We all seek congruency. I think, in this respect, one has to look at the intent.
I am not here to defend, or otherwise promote the vision. I just feel that the existing alternative is not in the best interests of the independents. The corporates and Online have been excluded. That narrows the field, somewhat. Does it disadvantge the corporates and therefore the industry ‘as a whole’? Yes.
If you nail your flag to that particular mast, only siding with visions that ‘benefit the whole’, I can see your objection.
Is it, then, in the best interests of the consumer? My question would be: Is the consumer better served by a unified group of independent agents than they are by a fragmented body of independents that have no shared vision and no shared values?
A step in the right direction is, in my opinion, better than no step, at all.
I could, of course, be wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.
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Mr agency negotiation…
Someone a while ago raised a few hackles (including, as you would expect, mine…) by suggesting that those that work under the umbrella of ‘Estate Agents’ should be renamed “Housemongers” as the current title is a gross overstatement of their job role.
On reflection – now that the amarathine mist has had a chance to dissipate – I can actually see where that person was coming from. Many within the industry would struggle to achieve, never mind maintain, the status of ‘Housemonger’ in a less kind market than the one they currently enjoy. As to being what an ‘Estate Agent’ should mean within the world of commerce and in the minds of reasonable folk – they could only dream of aspiring to the hope of a chance of cutting the mustard.
But where do all these unworthies blag the opportunity to work; let loose on an unsuspecting public to create the vast clouds of stench that taints the opinions of the masses that their ‘quick buck:minimal effort’ attitude runs through the industry, thereby defeating the tireless work that the real, dedicated, professional Estate Agent performs day in:day out in order to actually do the job right?
NOT, as may be intimated, hinted at or even shouted from the parapets solely within Corporate, Online or Hybrid Agency. There are, you may be surprised to see me state in writing, some superb, professional Agents who work in those camps.
As to why – you’d have to ask them that question. And I reckon you would get some pretty logical and even totally justifiable answers. I was a Corporate Agent for best part of a decade. Loved it. Went down the ‘independent’ pathway for my next Directorial role – found it more of a corporate mentality than the former.
Did it change how I did my job? Not one jot.
WHERE you work is irrelevant – HOW you work is what matters. If, as a result of where you work you can’t do the job how it should be done – then there’s a problem that really only has one solution.
IF, that is, the person concerned actually gives a fuppenny in the first place…
…or I could have it all wrong as well, of course.
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Sir,
your general thrust appears to be that there are some superb agents that work outside of the independent sector.
I agree. I’m trying, however, to avoid agreeing with everything you say, since it becomes a disconcerting habit.
My views may be in no way a reflection of the true vision that CIELA put forward, but I feel their intent is simply to better control the valuable data that every agency so freely cedes’ to the portals. That, and to provide an alternate voice to the regular dissemination of half-truths put forward by the Online, Hybrid and some corporate agencies. I accept that this does also include some independents.
Independent agencies, such as your good self, have chosen the business model that best suits individual needs and objectives.
Of course, you are a vital part of the industry as a whole, but does that mean it is necessary for all to work together. For mutual benefit and that of the consumer? You mention some superb professionals that work in Online, Corporate and Hybrid. I doubt it not.
But, there was a line by Denzel Washington in the recent film, Fences: “If you hang around a barber shop long enough, eventually you’re going to get a haircut”.
“HOW an agent works, is what matters.” That then, brings up the question of the systems and processes within an organisation. I would imagine that the directives from above, in each of these sectors, differs widely. Corporate objectives, and how they are implemented, differ widely. They impact ultimately on the consumer.
For me, the competence of any agency is only half the equation. Character ticks the other box. And when choosing any agency to act for a vendor, I come across some agencies that have an abundance of competence, but lack the other vital part. If a vendor is to work successfully with any agent, there has to be shared values. Not just a respect of their competence. I am more than optimistic that you are instructed as much for your personal qualities, as for your agency record.
Back to the original topic. I guess the answer is that if you believe what CIELA believe and further believe that you can make a contribution, then it makes sense to work together to the same goal. I won’t hold my breath:)
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