An agent has rebutted accusations by Purplebricks that vendors are often left in the dark as to whether all offers have been passed on to them by high street firms. Purplebricks also said that high street firms left sellers out of pocket.
But Shaun Amner, a Winkworth franchisee, said that traditional agents “bring much more to the table” than online firms which he said do not generate buyer competition to achieve the best price for clients.
He also said agents can use up-to-date technology to ensure that vendors are completely informed of buyer interest including whether they are likely to offer, and what they like and don’t like about a property.
Amner is involved in the new generation of proptech, specifically a new app which is designed for agents to use immediately after viewings, enabling feedback to be sent immediately to sellers from the buyers themselves although they still have to communicate through the agent.
Amner said: “Apart from capturing buyer feedback immediately after a viewing and emailing to the vendor, the app also uses an algorithm to analyse all feedback for the property and then compares this to those properties that are selling and those that aren’t.
“In doing so, it allocates an individual score for the property and this, coupled with the exact scores of each individual viewer, provides them with genuine insight and complete transparency.”
Amner said: “The key benefit of using a good, local traditional agent is their proactive sales approach coupled with their database of relevant buyers which can help to ensure maximum interest in a short space of time. This then leads to competition for the property and ultimately it’s through creating competition that allows the agent to fully explore a property’s maximum value.
“Online agents simply list a property and then wait for the enquiries to come in.
“It’s a completely reactive approach and often means it takes much longer for them to find a buyer. This means that little, if any, competition is created, which in turn impacts negatively on the sale price achieved.
“Traditional agents know that they bring much more to the table than the online agents, despite what the online agents would have the public believe.”
“Agents can use up to date technology to ensure vendors are completely informed of buyer interest, whether they are likely to offer, and what they do and don’t like about the property”.
Luckily i use modern technology to comply with with, its called the telephone!
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This is the whole point of trueview. We help local agents do what they are best at – delivering specific, tailored and knowledgeable feedback to their clients. We are a supplement to the local knowledge agents develop. Our specialism is augmenting that personal approach with the kind of context that only a data-driven approach can give you. Our numbers back up the truth of how the market sees a property and helps you communicate that narrative. So when you’re on the phone explaining the latest development in a sale, you can prove that it isn’t just your view but the view of all of the people who have seen the property.
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What about a filter in case of an unfavorable review, with us, although still reported, it’s called discretion with you prop techers it’s just an algorithm and god forbid a rival gets access!
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trueview captures buyers reviews of a property they’ve seen. If they have a negative perspective of the property, it is helpful that the vendor sees this, particularly if their price expectation is too high. Because the data comes direct from the buyer, they are more likely to believe it when it is negative and thereofre more likely to act on it. The data is only available to the agent and to the vendor.
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Can a on line agent rearrange a viewing after it’s cancelled due to a google earth view showed a huge field of scrap cars near by when local knowledge can explain its a regular car boot sale!
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Well the seller can with PurpleBricks. Once the viewing is booked you’re in direct communication with the person who booked the viewing. So if it’s cancelled you can ask them why. If you list with a traditional agent you have to trust that the agent does this or pressure them to do so.
Communicating directly with the viewer takes away the risk of the agent not doing their job properly.
As for traditional agents generating extra viewings. Perhaps this is a marginal advantage but I would have thought anybody looking for a new home would have set up an alert on Rightmove.
It’s all about pros & cons and in my opinion there’s a huge number of properties that the online model works well for.
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Leaving the success of your house sale down to whether or not a Rightmove Alert has been set up, is seen, acted upon & serves up all the properties that could potentially accomodate the concious & subconcious wants / needs of the buyer is asking a lot from what is a fairly rudimentary bit of tech IMO.
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“It’s all about pros & cons and in my opinion there’s a huge number of properties that the online model works well for.”
“…works well for…” is one thing; “…delivers the best result for…” is something completely different.
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>serves up all the properties that could potentially accomodate the concious & subconcious wants / needs of the buyer is asking a lot from what is a fairly rudimentary bit of tech IMO.
Well yes, but that appears to be what nearly everybody uses these days. I’m yet to come across an agent who actually proposes what I’ve actually told them I want, never mind my subconcious thoughts :). I just get bombarded with anything and everything pretty much, even from areas that I’ve no interest in living. With Rightmove I’ve set up alerts for locations a certain distance from various train stations, something that seems to be beyond the understanding of the agents who know I’m looking to buy.
>…delivers the best result for…
Yes but who knows what delivers the best results for any given situation. What is hypothetical and what is reality in terms of traditional estate agents?
I should have said that in my opinion using PurpleBricks or another online agent would deliver equal or better results for a huge number of properties. For the other properties its pot luck depending on which agent you list with. Good or bad? Who knows?
One thing is certain in my mind there will be a lot of owners out there with negative experiences with traditional agents and that will bear down on any decision. Being told of the advantages of using a traditional agent will probably contradict their own experience and the experience of people they have discussed it with.
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Fair points Cyber, one can’t argue with the experiences you had with traditional agents.
Out of interst – “Using PB or another online agent would deliver equal or better results”…
When it comes to a large proportion of traditional estate agents, I don’t disagree with “equal” but I am intersted to hear what fundamental advantage you feel these companies have over the “trad EA” that leads you to believe they would achieve a better result?
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Shame, really, that Mr Amner – using the front of a highly respected traditional Estate Agency for kudos – has nothing to bring to the ‘High Street vs Call-Centre’ table other than a bit of kit which in my view effectively de-personalises the extremely personal process of homebuying and selling.
Don’t ring, Mr Amner – when I want an algorithm to do my job for me I promise you’ll be the first to know…
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It isn’t a substitute for personal feedback. trueview is a tool for agents that want to make the personal feedback more useful by providing extra context in a way vendors can believe.
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I think we are missing the point here. I don’t think we need to convince estate agents of the benefits. We, as estate agents are clearly failing to get this point across to the (currently) tiny percentage of sellers who want to use a cheap alternative. It is up to US to get the message across as the cheap online businesses have a relatively large budget to get their point across.
There have always been cheap alternatives to traditional estate agency but, in the past, they haven’t the benefited from much publicity. If we don’t get our act together (maybe with OTM and other initiatives) we will all suffer as the cheaper option becomes ever more popular.
Mind you I remember the old cheaper option of the past – Seekers. They would sell you house for an upfront fee of £199. Fortunately, as the market turned to needing proper estate agents – they went bust! 🙂 The same could easily happen to PB, Wrongmove, Hoopla and all the others, if we get it right. Get it wrong at your peril!
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What about local knowledge, understanding the buyers and vendors needs, staying alert to other opportunities for buyers and sellers, ensuring that a chain of sellers is held together, cajoling solicitors to do their job, chasing surveyors, staying on top of the transaction and keeping the parties at peace with each other.
Add to that information that an agent may have about a buyers or sellers position and a tireless energy to see the deal complete.
Not sure the onliners can offer quite the same service.
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Delusional to think that people only search and buy through the internet, many haven’t got it. It was reported that 40% of the buying market walk into an agents office and have need of their personal service. “On-liners only” fail to put property infront of and have contact with non-internet users, a fundamental breach of market exposure and best price potential for a vendor.
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