The man who was the chief architect of corporates entering estate agency in the eighties has died.
Frederick Crawley was deputy chief executive of Lloyds Bank when in 1982 he convinced the board that a radical move into estate agency would be a profitable venture.
The ground-breaking idea was to use estate agency as a distribution network for the lender’s mortgages.
As a result of the bank’s decision, Black Horse Agencies was born and Crawley became chairman from 1985 to 1988.
Black Horse Agencies immediately went on a huge buying spree of high street independents before selling out in 1998 to Bradford & Bingley – whose estate agency business was then sold in 2004 to Countrywide.
In the eighties, the corporates’ headlong rush into the sector saw many high street firms sold at the top of the market.
When the market boom turned to bust, proprietors were often able to buy back their businesses for next to nothing.
Although Lloyds did not stay in estate agency for very long, it is said that the basic decision for the bank to enter estate agency was never regretted and that the bank saw it as the hallmark of a bold tactician.
Crawley, who was a charismatic public speaker, retired from Black Horse in 1988 but, among other things, went on to become a director of Barratt Developments.
He has died aged 88 and leaves two daughters.
"Lloyds did not stay in estate agency for very long, it is said that the basic decision for the bank to enter estate agency was never regretted and that the bank saw it as the hallmark of a bold tactician."
A legacy that lives on? While the industry has been busy with AM and OTM a small bit of news slipped by almost un-noticed followed by another small bit of news, again almost in-noticed. The finance for the purchase of GMGPS and Jupix (both software suppliers to Estate Agency and Property management) was reported as being provided by…… Lloyds Bank. Why is that news? effectively Lloyds bank has in direct access to all the financial service leads Mr Crawley's vision envisaged. Effectively Lloyds bank has re-entered the industry through the back gate and can set up an open cast goldmine of data in the back yard of the industry.
I have my suspicions is the acquisition trail isn't over yet; last year a publishing firm bought Expert Agent another main supplier of cloud based Software to the industry, it makes tactical sense to bring that data set into the fold too.
Lloyds bank have always have an aggressive strategy in respect of financial services and with the moral compasses long thrown overboard in the corporate buyout of the software houses it seems to me it is now down to individual Agents to ensure they have protected themselves from third parties accessing their Cloud hosted data bases. It is my recommendation that ANY agent with a hosted software system reads and understands the full implications of the agreement they have in place with their software suppliers and has a clear understanding of the value and motivation of the strategy of “owning the desktop”.
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