YOPA changed the meaning of its initials from Your Online Property Agent in the summer when it altered its business model.
It has dropped the ‘online’ and says the initials now simply stand for Your Property Agent.
A spokesperson for the site told EYE: “They changed it in August when they changed their model to include local property managers.”
An interview with one of the four founders – two of whom are sons of the super-rich Telegraph owners – in EYE at the weekend discusses the firm’s hybrid model, and is scathing about online-only models.
YOPA is now rolling out nationally across England and Wales after trials in two areas, charging vendors a flat fee.
Daniel Attia said consumer response had been overwhelmingly positive.
He said: “Vendors who have used YOPA tell us they like the combination of experienced local property managers who know their territories and the powerful technology that supports their activity.
“There are plenty of high street agents and online agents but YOPA is genuinely revolutionising the way people buy and sell homes by giving consumers a complete service fit for the 21st century.”
In the Telegraph last June a piece was published under the headline ‘Is this the end of the road for high-street estate agents’, with a sub-head claiming ‘The internet has revolutionised the way we buy and sell property with disastrous consequences for traditional agents’.
The article asserted that “everyone loves to hate estate agents” (it meant the high street variety) and included the wording: “The new arrival is YOPA (Your Online Property Agent).”
The article also said that there were three cost options, at £425, £525, and £725.
However, prices appear to have gone up.
A spokesperson told Eye that the cost is now £1,140 in London, and elsewhere £780.
The piece on EYE, by Marc Shoffman, is here
Comments (14)
I have a question that I would like to post openly here on EYE, to someone from this YOPA outfit.
Manchester Evening News recently (the online version was published last Tuesday) ran an article entitled YOPA proves a hit in Greater Manchester.
The piece states, among other things
One of the company’s Local Property Managers… sold three properties in three days before Christmas. They had been marketing all three for less than two weeks and two of them had previously been on the market with traditional high street agents.
Now this is the bit I need some help with. Quite a lot of help, actually. I HAVE managed to find three properties on their register that a) could have been sold within three days of each other; b) are within one Light Year of “Greater Manchester” (apparently that is acceptable to ASA to be deemed ‘Local’ in Call-Centre Estate Agency terminology…); I even found ONE of them that had c) been previously on the market with another ‘High Street’ agent
HOWEVER… in order for these properties to fit the “less than two weeks” bit of the above, they would have all needed to have been Sale Agreed on or before 28 NOVEMBER.
Surely – even by ‘The Call-Centre Agents’ Bible of Alternative Truths’ – describing THAT as “before Christmas” is stretching the bounds of billshuttery to absolutely new boundaries, is it not?
Oh – by the way – I have other questions. Plenty, in fact.
But let’s get the less embarrassing ones out of the way first, yeah?
In duelling terms, rather a case of ‘easing you in gently’ than slicing your ‘nads off with the first thrust of the sabre.
En garde!
Yet even more reasons why residential agents should be considering the “profit centre” called commercial. Do any of your existing/past clients have shops, industrial buildings or any premises from which business is transacted? If you do know, are you making the most of it and if you don’t know…….why not?
David Broschomb
National Chair ICBA
Ah, the Arrogance of Youth. How nice to see that it is still alive and well and living in cloud cuckoo land.
So we are no longer just online, we now have a local presence. Oh and because our guys need somewhere to work from we are taking a local base. We’ve found that change deals centrally is a little awkward without some local involvement so we are basing some move managers in that office as well.
Gosh we look a little like a high street estate agent now don’t we…..only we are losing money because our low fees don’t pay the wages or the bills!
So what does the O stand for now? YPA
Perhaps it stands for oooh!
If everybody does, in fact, hate estate agents (and they don’t), then it must surely include online by association.
YOPA seem to have picked up some disillusioned PurpleBricks agents! Wonder what caused them to move?