All credit must go to the hard-working foot soldiers at Countrywide, who I’m told, are working exceptionally long hours to make a go of the business and hold on to their jobs.
It’s not their fault they’ve been let down by their masters at the top. Their role is to enact the strategy as laid down by the board, whether they agree with it or not.
I’ve heard that top brass are doing the rounds of the branches, trying to allay fears by asking branch staff what they would like to see happen – ‘listening’ to those at the coal face who’ve borne the brunt of the rash of terrible decision-making that has brought this once great company to its knees.
Having cleared out really good, highly experienced staff and replaced them with people without the right skills never made sense. Even now, why has the board not been sacked for overseeing and sanctioning the direction that Countrywide took?
And why put someone at the helm who has no property experience? Executive chairman Peter Long has taken on the acting CEO role – while also holding board roles with Royal Mail, leisure group Parques Reunidos Servicios Centrales, and travel giant TUI, along with other interests.
I don’t doubt his calibre and ability, just whether he is able to focus entirely on the job in hand.
Why wasn’t his eye on the ball when the business unravelled in the first place?
When the renowned founder of Countrywide, Harry Hill, starts suggesting it’s time for the company to be broken up, you know the end is near. I’ve been saying for some months now that the only way forward is for Countrywide to sell off its assets, which are worth more as individual components, than as a going concern.
The share price may now be slightly up at 90p, compared to its lowest price ever of 78p, but this still means the company is valued at less than £200m – compared to a high of £1.6bn before it dived into its disastrous retail approach.
If the company was serious about picking up the pieces after departure of CEO Alison Platt, it surely it would have announced that it had a new high calibre CEO in place by now? Perhaps they can’t afford one? Or find one? After all, very few people within the industry have the level of expertise required to run a company this size. Or maybe no one at that level wants to join a sinking ship?
Indeed, Harry Hill has also said it will be difficult to recruit a new Countrywide boss.
What they need is someone from within the industry who can settle everyone down and lead the charge as they battle back to become a top player once more. Either that, or be kind to staff and shareholders – and split up the business now.
Two-timing to make a living
Judging by the number of job applications we are receiving from people working for the internet agents, not all is rosy in the hybrid garden.
We understand that many of them are struggling to make a living – and even taking on second jobs in order to make ends meet.
It’s not easy being your own boss, out on the road, working all hours to bring home the bacon. But when the market is tough and properties aren’t selling – and you have to take care of your own holiday and sick pay as a self-employed person – suddenly the perks of the job aren’t quite as appealing as being under the wing of a caring employer.
I’ve even heard that if the properties you’ve listed don’t sell for some time, you may even stop receiving further valuation leads! In effect, you’re taken off the road until they sell which means no income, so there must be intense pressure to go for dramatic reductions in price.
The only way these businesses are going to make money is by selling properties in great volume – and there’s no evidence of this, looking at market share in the areas we operate.
Given how much desire there is for transparency around the sales figures of hybrid estate agents, I’m sure many of us would be fascinated for there to be transparency around their recruitment success rates as well.
How many people do they take on across a year – and how many are with them a year later? What’s the average amount these individuals are earning? And how does this compare across the industry?
I’m also curious to know how many have got second jobs, because they desperately need to boost up their income.
Of course, there will be winners and losers. But if our HR postbag and inbox is anything to go by, there’s huge pressure to succeed, not just in order to make ends to meet, but to ensure that shareholders get a return on their investment – something that is, quite simply, failing to materialise, as yet.
Vendors must be told where the deposit is coming from.
I thought I’d share with you some information we were recently given about the declaration of a purchaser’s finance for a deposit. In this particular case the purchaser was using a bridging loan.
It’s critical that you put this in writing to the seller and not just verbally, as otherwise a seller might say they would have accepted a higher offer if they had known the sale was going to be subject to another arrangement.
While agents find out where a mortgage is coming from, very few will ask about the deposit. Do we now have to tell the vendor that the offerer is having to sell their Ferrari to get the money together, I wonder?
Comments (23)
At their current market cap CWIDE May represent a buying opportunity for PBRICKS. After some major branch lopping, with the creation of both key local and regional centre’s, it would give their LPE’s a place to live and provide a “bricks & mortar” marketing opportunity.
PBRICKS wouldn’t even have to pay cash as CWIDE shareholders would bite their hands off for PBRICKS shares as it will feel like a better bet on the future than a losing one on the past.
Overtimevit would create a combi-agency using both online and traditional agency skills.
If failure follows there would be a big market for the acquisition of both single offices and mini chains from the smokin ruins.
I don’t think it is a mistake to treat modern residential estate agency as a retail business as long as the implementer’s are experienced agents.
As for the current businesses chance of survival I would probably abandon the federal approach to the operation (other than administration etc) and create groups/regions of say 25/50 offers run by their best managers increasing personal commissions and lowering salaries in due course. Keep the “producers” and weed out the “snoozers”
This approach would assist any liquidation of the business in packages should it prove impossible to save the existing “profitable” (albeit reduced) business.
Running other people’s businesses is such a joy as their is no cost to failure.
Think I will tell the Captain to lift anchor and move to the next cove.
I agree. PB is only going from strength to strength. They have the money, and a very experienced team of ex agents running the show. If they bring out a fixed no sale no fee option to run alongside the pay upfront option there’ll be no stopping them. CW’s retail disaster could well feed the purple monster.
“If they bring out a fixed no sale no fee option to run alongside the pay upfront option there’ll be no stopping them.”
Au contraire, mon ami! Le singe est dans l’arbre…
The quicker they do the better, actually – it would decimate any ‘competitive advantage’ their current paltry NSPR listing fee gives them in a very large chunk of the UK.
Bring.
It.
On.
Countrywide office opposite me closed 16 months ago. Still got all the signage up. What kind of message is that to the public? Bizarre.
Local offices to us still have the ‘Sell For £995’ plastered all over their windows…..I thought they had withdrawn their online offering!
That’s their “full service” fee 🙂
Unfortunately most agents are reducing their fees to compete with the online companies, then if a seller has already paid a online agent a fee ,they are then deducting this off their already reduced fee.
This worsens as sometimes during a sale, commissions have to be reduced to help progress the sale.
When you take into account advertising costs, marketing costs, paying the negotiator’s commission and bills for the offfice ect you are left with very little profit.
As transactions are slowing, the volume of sales decreases and staff wages increasing, I can see alot of businesses struggling or going bust.
Without the backbone of a strong lettings business most of these tradional sales agents will be forced to close or sell the brand name for very little.
There will be some that will survive but only ones with extremely low costs, the rest will be swallowed up by agents who have acquired lettings portfolio’s and are doing sales as a secondary business.
Mr Shinerock (Jnr, I presume…)
Welcome to our pub! Hope you don’t mind all the noise and activity – it will be quite a shock to the system no doubt when compared to being down the “Mars’n’Uranus”.
It’s been a while since we were treated to any news, as read from your bog door.
I’m pleased to announce that I agree with ‘your’ points of view just as much as I do (I assume) your old man’s.
That might be how you Suvvern quazi-corporate softies play your game – but luckily here ‘oop North we’re made of sterner stuff and a little cold wind is welcomed, as it means not needing to sit with the fridge door open.
PLEASE don’t use the term “most” – when all you have to go off is your own experience in your own back yard.
The only Agents that are at risk are
a) those that cannot negotiate their own Fee at profitable levels (which, if that is the case then why should any vendor instruct them in the first place?); and
b) those that cannot then achieve sales on the properties they are entrusted to do exactly that.
And that certainly ain’t “most” of us. Just “some”.
Say ‘Hi’ to Papa Bear from PeeBee, won’t you!
ducky – just so you can update your lists this post means I appear 402 times on a rummage4 search in conjunction with “countrywide” and http://www.propertyindustryeye.
I LIKE THIS GAME! Why didn’t you come up with it earlier – beats all your other unadulterated, blinkered and agenda-laden billshut hands down!
BY THE WAY, ducky-doos…
…when you rummage4 ‘PeeBee’, ‘Renshaw’ and site: www.propertyindustryeye.com, you get “About 1570” pages listed.
Do you think that our dear Landlady’s ‘Significant Other’ needs to start thinking hiring a Private Dick to keep a watch over us?
Or what about a Restraining Order to go up on the wall with all my others…
I left Countrywide years ago mainly due to the ridiculous layers of pen pushing job creating middle management sapping the life out of the company and its staff. Its simple get the right people running the branches giving them the right tools to run there business properly and subsequent rewards. Loose the middle management have the branch managed report to higher management but then need to be from an agency background not accountants or the Platts of this world.
top comment…. if you employ nice, polite motivated people thats all you can ask for.
I think its the marekting and direction that is at fault in big compnaies. You cant blame the staff all the time.
In this shit ev=nviroment you are lucky to find good staff..give them a break and start looking at why your valuations arent just walking through the door….its prob becuase you are crap at marekting.
I don’t understand why it would be so difficult to turn the corner when you have huge resources and money to hand. Think outside the box, intoduce new innovative systems and products and get the right people in to implement it all….especially experienced people from the ‘coal face’.
I would be simply looking at the the whole picture and thinking ….’with all this resource to hand, what can’t we do’.
Your right but I think it just needs to be taken private again. Estate agency isnt a growing a business..making £50 million a year for the next 10 years without pressure of growth should be the target.
Back to basics and set up portal that costs £100 and wipe out rightove….countrywide, connelsss and yourmove created the monstor…. sold their shares for some stupid reason and now they need to chop the head off the dragon they created .
sorry i ve been watching to much game of thrones…
Never understand how people put in charge of large companies can fail so completely miserably, yet still walk away with a golden handshake of 20 years worth of an average salary?
Countrywide offices plastered with sell your home for £ 995 – what message does that send to experienced staff with years of experience and skill – that your only good enough to sell at £995?
Unfortunately Alison Platt and those who hired her have done both the company and industry a massive disservice of the highest proportions.
“Unfortunately Alison Platt and those who hired her have done both the company and industry a massive disservice of the highest proportions.”
So pleased, agentspark, that you recognise the need to point blame at the feet of those that made the appointment.
It has galled me recently that Ms Platt has been the sole target of attack for the CW debacle.
Don’t get me wrong – she’s seemingly done a brilliant job of pushing the button of destruction of what was there – but who the chuff gave her control of the button?
No doubt you will remember that isn’t an isolated incident. 5 months prior to Ms Platt’s appointment at CW, the Damaging Destructor of Your Move quit after 18 months of apparent carnage of staff morale and goodness knows how many departures of good, loyal staff – you can see the similarities, can’t you?
Here’s what I said at the time – and you will see that the words “Woodhouse” and “Platt” are fairly easily interchangable; as are “CW” and “LSL”:
“I still stand by what I said then. Ms Woodhouse had NO CREDENTIALS for the job. Other than previously holding senior(ish) positions at various retail organisations – most of which seemed to slide into receivership either during of after her employment – there was nothing that indicated she was ‘right’ for the position. That being said – someone in LSL thought she was the person to take the job forward, so she got it.
As I said at the time: “I always wanted to be a brain surgeon. I have no relevant experience; no necessary skill as my hands shake like sheep 5h!tt!ng snowballs; and I’d probable lobotomise everyone I touch.
HOWEVER, if the board of recruitment at the hospital feel that I have what it takes when I apply for the job, then I will fulfill my dream – to the severe detriment of any patient I come within scalpel’s reach of.
In short – don’t knock the lady. She only applied for a job.
Those who hired her should live or die by their decision.”
It is THAT person who should now be looking back at the last eighteen months, and answering to the Board as to why their decision was right.
I just wonder if THAT person is now like a sheep 5h!tt!ng snowballs? ;o)”
I dunno – sometimes you just gotta ask – Why does history repeat itself…?
Simple, CWD’s future is linked to confidence of what’s to come as much as the results it’s been posting over the last few years. You can’t change the historic results but you can learn from the mistakes and try to stop the rot! There are only 2 options: a) sell off in parts and realise profits for shareholders or more favourably b) recreate some of the really good historic aspects that worked. Bring back Bob Scarff (I know some people won’t like that, probably people he dismissed!), merge FS and New Homes back in to sales because they are completely linked to one another, let Bob bring back real experience in the Divisional MD roles and then in turn bring back great MDs to run a region with autonomy. It’s not hard, it will need backing from the top and a lot of people will no doubt leave, but they could still be at CWD now because they enjoy the lack of scrutiny in the failed world of recently departed leaders.
Might not be that far away that appointment.
Let’s hope so for CWD’s sake, nothing is ever perfect in life, Bob himself would no doubt agree with that, but that appointment would make a huge amount of sense for the company and the future of staff & shareholders alike.
As i recall Bob got rid of half the MD,s who were running the successful businesses as well as the FSD,s.
The business has turnover but sadly it has high costs as well.
In the last years despite the profits and share price falling the turnover has increased since Bob left????
Thought that might get your attention.
Turnover is for egotists while profit is for realists.
Bob Scarff ? I would, at best , give him a regional’s job in the Midlands , he hasn’t the capacity to understand the complexity of the London market . I would take a punt on Vernon Harris to run London , not an easy bloke , but he knew that good quality branch managers were the key to success and rewarded them accordingly . Bring him back and he may be able to encourage some of the old stalwarts to come back . Experience can only save CWD now . Sack The Board !