EYE recently promoted a survey being run by independent researcher Mark Notari which asked high street agents about their attitudes towards online/hybrid competition.
This was the second time he had run the survey, and was a follow-up on one done almost two years ago (it was published in February 2016).
EYE felt then that the nature of its independence would be a useful help to the industry. We have made no attempt to add any questions and there has been no payment between us and Notari.
Here, you will be able to see the first part of the main findings.
We do expect more findings and analysis in the next few days and weeks – again, independent of EYE or any of our advertisers.
The researcher is a former Masters student of Reading University.
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I guess it shows in the main we are a consistent bunch.
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So are lemmings !
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It does show that in the main agents just need to stay focused and not worry as much as some shout loud and by competing against themselves (not other agents) is always going to be a disaster. Only if the public % moves away from the High Street should there be cause for concern. The biggest on-line, cheap option is PB and when broken down from national figures into local towns, they have no bigger presence than any other high street agent (they are less market share and after all those £M’s spent). It is those local consumers who have not been convinced with the media hype on-liners portray ….. without the TV propaganda they are a dead duck.
“What is your response to competition from online agents” …. very telling and is what you need to be doing, plain and simple … no magic bullet, for online have still not revolutionised estate agency .. they do less and charge less (not as charge less as the public first perceive with some) and that is all. That is your core weapon. We are a service industry.
Quote: Anthony Codling, equity analyst at Jefferies International: “The success or failure of Purplebricks will rest on their ability to sell homes, whilst charging a non-returnable upfront fee. Until they are willing to disclose those statistics, which as a data driven company they must have, I believe the jury remains out with respect to the effectiveness of their model.”
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When the marriage between mortgage companies, search providers and conveyancing occurs, then the use of new technologies will kill off high street agencies.
Those with the money and power to do that are the portals.
Ten years from now………???
I will give myself a thumbs down for this one, but I fear that there is a change around the corner that will be out of the high street agents control
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Unless the full service independent agent sector come up with the product first 😉
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Unfortunately the independent sector does not know how to collaborate – OTM the most recent example of course
They are not influencers, nor do their trade bodies know how to influence key stake holders
Estate Agents are sheep by and large – hence the dominance of portals they don’t know how to move away from
What other profession has a supplier calling the shots like RM does with agents – it’s crazy
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Online agents market is that of poor quality agents. In other words they are soaking up the business that the duffers usually get.
Top agents, the genuinely good ones, they won’t really bother. The trouble is, the duffers don’t know they are duffers, they think they are the bees knees, and that skews surveys such as this one.
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Actually we launched a low cost fixed fee option 2 months ago
I haven’t actually signed anyone up to it yet. The reason is because vendors call me in to do a MA and after we talk about what service is best for them they all opt for the standard commission full service. They all know about PB type of service but aren’t interested.
Also as a high street agent we don’t have the image of an online style agent so it could be, despite leaflet drops, newspaper adverts and the like the people who want PB type of service just don’t get in touch with us.
PB total market share in my part of the world 1.7% and I think they’ve gone down year on year from 2016 by about 0.2%
We’ll keep the fixed fee option available but unless the new year brings in a big change in market conditions I don’t think it’s going to affect the business.
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I have done one,,,, and she still expects the full service, however I have just signed up to a trial for an app that allows her to manager her viewings and offers on line
Will have to see how it goes
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Wake up and smell the roses guys!
Ask yourself the question “Why are High Street Agents required?” (Assuming by that we mean offices with windows in town streets)
Quite simply, they are not. Consumers “looking for property” rarely look at the windows or walk through the door.
Virtual offices or locations for larger operators on business parks etc will become the norm in time as virtually everyone accesses property details via the web or for those still not connected, a phone call from a printed ad.
I totally agree that the “On-line” national model will fail on service levels. But experienced local professionals will always be sought after, no matter where they operate from. Paying for “High Street” premises and probably more staff than you need are making it more difficult to compete against not just the on-liners, but the reduced fees regime created by the knee jerk reaction to percieved on-line competition.
Something has to give … and it’s probably your marketing spend or quality staff!
Just saying.
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#coffee
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Yes to full service
Agree the shop window isn’t as powerful as it used to be but people to like to know where you are, they are more uncomfortable going to your 1st floor bedroom/office rather than a shop/office.
The thing is, if all agents offered a cheap up front low cost alternative, I suspect on 2% to 5% actually want that service the rest really want the full service so there would be no PB or others because we would have taken back what is rightly ours.
FY information PB and the like rely heavily on rightmove and zoopla, we all helped to build their businesses by supporting them. If PB and the like go to the wall, as they surely will, I think we should tell RM & Z to not repeat their mistake without serious consequences.
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Something has to give – agreed
And the truth is that every agent has to put their fees up if they want to endure
Costs can only be trimmed so far
Technology alone cannot sell houses – it needs human interference, that is until humans streamline the entire process using technology and systems that don’t exist at the moment
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The main statistic has been overlooked here.
In 2017, ten (7.4%) less Agents could be @rsed to click onto this survey and submit their responses than did only 18 months earlier.
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