The ‘top’ 1,000 estate agents in England and Wales are to be given free badges by the HomeOwners Alliance.
The 1,000 were emailed yesterday, chosen from 18,000, on the basis of information from estate agent comparison service Estateagent4me, a part of the HomeOwners Alliance.
The Alliance said that the top 1,000 could use the badge on their website and in marketing materials to show they are ranked as among the “very best agents in the country”.
It said that the award is based on impartial performance data and was thus “more meaningful than other types of awards, as they are self-selecting or based on criteria that are irrelevant to homeowners, such as whether the agent has bought a table at a dinner”.
It also said that the badge being free sets it apart from the British Property Awards, which charge a licensing fee of £199.
Paula Higgins, chief executive of the HomeOwners Alliance, said: “We want to take the chance and risk out of choosing an estate agent, and help homeowners choose one that is best suited for them based on their performance data rather than their sales patter.
“The ‘top performing estate agent’ badge should be a factor to help home sellers make an informed decision, whether it’s based on getting the highest asking price, selling quickest or how much they pay in fees.
“We hope that this scheme will help the top agents win more business. In turn, we hope this will lead to a home selling revolution, getting estate agents to move away from the hard sell or the lowest price, and instead compete on how well they serve homeowners.
“It is important that this is an objective scheme based on issues that matter to the consumer, rather than whether the agent has bought a table at an awards dinner.
“Sadly, one of the main reasons homeowners get in touch with us is because they get into problems with their estate agent. We hope this tool will get homeowners asking the right questions from the start.
“We know that estate agents are a critical part of the home selling process, so we’re pleased to be able to showcase and help the best ones.”
Yesterday, we tried to find the best estate agent in Fleet, Hampshire, using the HomeOwners Alliance tool on its site.
This lists the local top agents based on how likely they are to sell your home; the speed at which they are likely to sell it; how close they get to the asking price; and how much they charge.
Our search for the best estate agent in our local town yielded some odd results.
Seven were listed, at the top of which was Romans – not the local Romans, but a branch in Wokingham, Berkshire, described as eight miles away.
We were surprised at this, partly because Wokingham is over 11 miles away and partly because the Fleet branch of Romans was in second place.
The list of Fleet’s top seven agents also included Purplebricks in Shirley, near Southampton, described as 100.5 miles away (it’s actually about 43, but hardly local).
In fact, Fleet has not one but two genuine Local Property Experts of its own, in Jurgen Ciolek and Shaun Read.
We were also surprised to see at least one very strong local agent not in the list, and noted that Bridges had told the HomeOwners Alliance that it did not want its data used.
The full list of the 1,000 top estate agents in England and Wales is in the spreadsheet which can be downloaded below.
“Our search for the best estate agent in our local town yielded some odd results”
forgive the editorial suggestion but how about
Our search for the best estate agent in our local town yielded some quirky results.
There is quit alot of quirky stuff on HOA, mostly about how traditional agents are bad online agents are good. Perhaps the noticable sea change in attitude this year reflects the fact online agency isn’t the future of property sales some people reckoned it would be.
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First things first – I’m not on the list.
Which is probably just as well – because they’d be sending me a window sticker that I wouldn’t be displaying.
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What a JOKE!
Another laughable piece of work from the organisation whose direct property experience amounts to 2 home moves and a kitchen remodel.
I think this does more harm than good really.
Given this badge provides brand awarness for HOA it’s easy to see how the display of this badge in your window could funnel your potential clients towards ULS Technologies PLC – (the HOA conveyancing referral partner, 30% equity partner & orignial creator of the estateage4me tool).
If you rely on conveyancing referral income – beware the Trojan Horse.
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Thing is; at the very least 71% of actual “best in area” agents won’t be on the list. With only 1000 awards covering about 3500 activity centres less than 1/3rd of centres are covered by this attempt at an agency rating system. More genuinley good agents won’t be on the list than are
It is fair to say by definition any agency that is paying for premises staff etc is good enough at selling property to keep the lights on and pay the bills. The local market and local reputation determines who to use. The only exception to that is where investors cash is being used to buy loss leading instructions and having the fees of those who do sell halved buy those who don’t.
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Sounds like someone was desperate to beat Peter Knight hence the award ceremony jibe……shame they actually didn’t put more effort into it really.
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Tried our city. Results were patchy. No online agents 🙂 A ‘cheap’ 2 bed terraced house through up an accurate list of agents (their average asking price per firm listed by the site were circa £150,000). But a search for a 5 bed detached through up the exact same agents, with none of the high end agents in town listed. Soooo *shrug*.
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*Threw
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Must be a typo, my firm is not on there 😉
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Not relevant particularly to this story, but have I been asleep at the wheel the last few days (in the heat) and missed some big announcement?
Where have all the two pictures on each property gone on rightmove?
Has someone thrown the wrong switch or something, whilst they all gather together for their two day conference?
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Still there – at least in my patch, AgentV
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AND yours – best as I can tell.
Are you browsing using the ‘old’ Rightmove by any chance?
That site format only shows one piccy.
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Thanks, could be a cached version, but strange why it would revert today.
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Scanning the list there are a host of great London agents I would happily recommend to clients missing on this list. Ohhhhh dear!
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Oh look 1000 agents who are all subscribing to estateagent4me ……….. but no this is a free award, based on how much the agent got as a percentage over the asking price……… or should that read, how much they under valued it in the first place, or how much they had to drop it to on Rightmove……… or the agent that always puts prices as offers over ………
More awards please, the more the merrier, then they all become worthless.
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“The Alliance said that the top 1,000 could use the badge on their website… to show they are ranked as among the “very best agents in the country”.”
And yet on their own website, under the “How Should I choose an Estate Agent?” section, they state:
“Assuming they will advertise on the internet, which portals are they using? Their own website is not worth worrying about.”
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Whilst I am certain that there are many Agents on the list who are, actually, those at the top of their game, the same cannot be said for all, by a long chalk. There are more flaws in the system than floors in the Sears Tower.
This is where they ‘explain’ – sort of… ish… the fatally flawed methodology used by this “tool” to spew out its’ highly questionable list of ‘The Great & Good’ of our industry:
http://hoa.org.uk/advice/guides-for-homeowners/i-am-selling/how-estateagent4me-works/
Confused? You will be…
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Right forgive me here as I got so annoyed at the bull stuff above that I had to post, the top 1000 agents my backside! I have never been contacted nor gauged as a good or a bad agent and am not a member so I utterly resent these silly idiots providing such bull things (like I said, forgive my annoyance) but if i find out that my competition have won business via home alliance denigrating me as an estate agent on service,quality or any other thing I’ll be suing them, more silly idiots I bet that cant do so they teach!!
Actually I’m not sure they can do that either but like I said I do find these things annoying, rant over.
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