‘I would never sell my property through an online agent – hybrid is the future’: YOPA director Andrew Barclay reveals how he plans to grow the Google of real estate

Love them or hate them, the traditional high street estate agent may have a new internet rival on the block, but just don’t call them an online-only operation.

YOPA, standing for Your Property Agent, rolls out nationwide this week, and in an exclusive interview with Property Industry Eye, co-managing director Andrew Barclay explains why they are more of a hybrid agency than an online estate agent.

“When we started two years ago we were a purely online service. Customers paid roughly £450 to get a listing on the big portals and we tried to give them services like photos and floor plans.

“But we quickly realised that this is not a viable business as people still want the human interaction.

“Putting such as large asset with a sole online-only website is a little bit risky, I wouldn’t do it with my own flat.”

Instead, Barclay, aged just 24, argues that a fixed fee hybrid agency is better value for money for homeowners looking to sell their property.

YOPA offers to list properties for £780 and will provide photos and floor plans as well as postings on Zoopla, Primelocation and Rightmove.

There are extra charges for accompanied viewings or help with energy performance certificates.

Sellers can access an option to delay payment for six months on an interest-free basis.

YOPA operates a centralised call centre in Tamworth, currently employing seven people. Callers are directed to Local Property Managers who manage the valuation and sales process as an estate agent would.

Barclay says there are currently 60 LPMs servicing all areas of England and Wales, made up of ex-estate agents, but he plans to recruit more. LPMs get a salary at first and are later self-employed.

But what experience can Barclay and his co-directors bring to the table? Yopa’s directors are Andrew, his cousin Alistair Barclay and Daniel Attia, both 26.

Andrew started his career at Enstar Capital, a residential and commercial property developer in London. He later jointly founded Hillgate Property Investments with Alistair.

Alistair has some estate agency experience, having worked at London-based Best Gapp.

Daniel started his career working with Michael Elliott Advisors, a commercial real estate investment advisory. He concluded circa £100m of transactions.

Barclay insists that lacking decades of estate agency experience is a positive, adding: “We are all quite young, in our twenties so we have no set way of doing things.

“A lot of the other competition is run by ex-estate agents. This business isn’t really about us, we pretty much have the best people in their own fields and our job is really to give them the resources they need.

“A large part is having LPMs as ex-agents who can do the valuations and support sellers. We will have a big focus on technology and digital elements and have plans for growth in this area.

“We don’t want to be run like an old school agent.”

The idea for YOPA popped up when the four founders, Andrew, Adrian, Daniel and another friend David Jacobs were talking about Dan selling his apartment and the lack of options for private sales a few years ago.

He says: “Purplebricks was at that time non-existent. We saw an opportunity to build a household brand.”

Barclay predicts the demise of the high street agent as “most buyers come through the portals and there is less need for a back-book of clients” although he says there may be room for village estate agents over big brands.

He says: “YOPA still offers a local person on the ground who has been a branch manager so knows about going round the house and doing the same job an estate agent would do, but with no high percentage based costs and just a fixed fee.”

Barclay says the business will be run on honesty and transparency when it comes to pricing and working with customers, although he is less willing to talk about his relatives, the Barclay brothers, owners of the Telegraph and hugely wealthy fathers of Andrew and Alistair Barclay.

There is no suggestion that the newspaper moguls are involved in their sons’ business.

The main shareholders of the business are one of the co-founders David Jacobs, Hillgate Investment Trading, which lists Andrew and Alistair as directors, and a company called Bryanston 2014 that lists Attia as a director.

Obvious distinctions will be drawn with Purplebricks, which recently listed on the alternative investment market, but a flotation is not currently part of the business plan.

He explains: “We are talking to investors who can bring added value. But we don’t need to go cap in hand.

“It is premature to start talking about exit strategies. We are not in this for a quick buck, but want to take business off the high street agent and create a real solution for the UK home owners.”

Barclay says one of YOPA’s agents sold two properties in three weeks during a recent trial period at the end of 2015.

The website currently has only 50 users, but Barclay predicts it will hit this number each day after recent television adverts attracted thousands of enquiries.

Barclay adds: “Millions of homes are sold a year so this model is scaleable. There are thousands of online operations. We believe there is an opportunity to create a well-known household name based on honest valuations, transparency and decent technology.

“We aim to be the Google of real estate.”

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Pictured left to right: Andrew Barclay, David Jacobs, Dan Attia and Alistair Barclay