The Guild of Professional Agents and its sister organisation Fine & Country are exploring the launch of an online agency solution for members.
It would be called Property Platform.
Malcolm Lindley, who is managing director of both the Guild and Fine & Country, yesterday said: “At the moment it is a twinkle in our eye.”
However, he went on: “We are building it and testing it at the moment.
“My thinking is that by the end of the summer, there could be a soft launch.”
He said that members have been told of the idea: “We have been testing the water to see what the appetite or resistance is.
“On the whole, we have had excellent feedback and agents are grateful to us for looking at this. Generally they have been very receptive.”
However, he emphasised that the project is still very much in an exploratory stage and might not happen, saying it was not really a story.
He said that Property Platform would not be an online agency run by the Guild or Fine & Country, but something that would allow individual agents to compete with “the online threat”.
According to one insider, not all Guild and Fine & Country members are happy.
The source claimed: “Members are up in arms. They are saying, ‘We want to bury online agents, not compete with them’.”
The source said members have been told they would be able compete on a postcode basis to run a Property Platform business. Any vendor instructing the service would apparently pay £250 upfront.
Lindley told Eye yesterday that while online agents currently account for a tiny part of the market – he put it at less than 1% – agents were nevertheless concerned because of trends in other industries.
Lindley said that some independent agents are not even being called out to do valuations, with vendors deciding to go straight to using an online service.
He said there was a lot of noise from several big players, including Purplebricks, easyProperty and eMoov, “plus a number of bedroom boys”.
He told Eye that there are a number of issues with an online agency offering, with the big question being: “Are you delivering an estate agency service or an online publishing service?”
He said other issues included complying with anti money-laundering laws plus other regulations.
While Rightmove and Zoopla accept listings from online agents, OnTheMarket does not.
Lindley said that OTM’s “one other portal” rule was already causing problems to Guild and Fine & Country agents, as it meant they could not be on property websites such as Country Life and the Sunday Times.
The Guild is also set to recruit new business development managers to visit and service its 750-plus member offices.
It already has a team of four people based in the field, but now aims to double this by September.
Marcus Whewell, Guild CEO, said: “The Guild has always stayed in close contact with its members, whether via conferences, regional meetings, local annual reviews, or electronic media such as newsletters and social networking.
“However, the essence of our business remains face to face advice and guidance, and so we are investing significantly to once again ensure that every office in the network receives a quarterly visit.
“This will help keep all Guild Associates up to speed with the latest developments in the market, and ensure that they can take full advantage of the training and services available.”
The Guild has also announced that it will now distribute a fresh, personalised electronic e-zine every fortnight for all its members, in partnership with BriefYourMarket.
Whewell said: “The biggest challenge for independent agents is often time.
“In this way, every member can engage with its entire database of clients in a reliable and consistent way, without the staff being challenged or distracted.”
One very good reason never to buy a franchise.
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Who bought a franchise? It’s a ‘club/mutual interest group’ as far as Guild members are concerned. F&C I’ll grant you is more franchise-like.
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Fine and Country is a Franchise Brand. Agents can just drop the guild if not happy. It would be a lot more work to walk away from your fine and country branding etc.
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This proposal was firmly rejected by the majority at the N Home Counties meeting. A vociferous Simon Bradbury put across most attendee’s views!
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I did walk away – when they tried upping my subs from £250 to £1000 per month after just a year and had phased out ‘Town Licences’! Suppose it was mutual consent 😉 Was another 2 years before I joined GPEA but don’t regret it – good value and you get a wider perspective on what’s happening in agency around the region and nationally from mainly non direct-competing agents.
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Online agency has threatened to take over estate agency for 10 to 15 years. It’s still less than 1% of the market. Customers don’t want it. I’m not going to worry about it.
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Sounds like this group has lost its way in marketing terms. They’ll be shooting their own brand values in the foot.
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Just like TeamProp…..
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It was only a matter of time before the incumbents moved to compete with us. Traditional agents have a real problem if they don’t tackle the fair fees and high service approach of firms like emoov by joining us as we revolutionise. But you also have a significant problem cannibalising your own businesses if you do.
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Collaboration is far better and often means higher fees, access to more live listings and ability to drop some portals. In Shepway (Hythe/Folkestone/New Romney we’ve linked 6 agencies in the last 5-6 weeks).
We also have more agents looking to join our N Kent sharing agents.
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