Changing Times Week: One Size Does Not Fit All

This week on my guest blogs I thought we would tackle the latest gritty subject:- The Changing Face Of Estate & Lettings Agencies. Todays blog is from Danny Williams at onelondonproperty, who has had considerable press coverage on the new system he has set up.

Selling Time

When a property owner decides to sell, they should have free and easy access to a comprehensive range of resources provided by experienced industry professionals. The information provided should be honest, impartial advice with no cloak and dagger sales hooks and should enable the client to make informed decisions; those decisions will include which company, or companies, best suit their purpose, what level of service they require and how much of the process they wish to carry out themselves and, conversely, how much they want or need professional assistance with.

“The days of one size fits all estate agency are gone forever”

My opinion is that there are three fundamental reasons why the current system is flawed:

1. Firstly, it is the only business where the person spending hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of pounds is NOT the client and many estate agency personnel fail to realise this.
2. Secondly, the buyer pays the agent’s fees, it just happens to come out of the seller’s pocket, or bank account.
3. Thirdly, we are the only industry where the huge financial and emotional implications of a series of decisions and processes are not professionally handled with dual-representation for both parties.

“In the event of a transaction turning sour the middle-men have no alternative but to work for themselves, regardless of who the client is and/or who is paying the fees. Otherwise, they do not get paid. Don’t blame the people; blame the system that forces them to adopt whatever stance is required in their quest for survival.”

Internet marketing Power

With the marketing power of the internet, getting a property that is for sale into the public domain and in front of millions of eyeballs, despite only needing one buyer, is a very easy process and the rewards for doing so should reflect this.

Yes, there should be higher rewards for doing it better, providing higher quality services and products but this is still a relatively low-cost aspect of the business.

Adding Value

My belief is that the real value is added by the professionals on the buyer’s side, the property finders, property search consultants, relocation agents, call them what you will. They listen to their client, take on all the leg-work, fine tune the search, gather information on suitable properties, escort their clients on viewings, advise on various aspects of the process, negotiate on behalf of their client and then hold their hand right the way up to the point of handing over the keys. That, in my honest and perhaps not-so-humble opinion, is value. That, is a job well done that deserves its rewards

Once again, agents may cry ‘foul’ with a response along the lines of ‘people don’t understand how much it costs to run an estate agency office’ and they are right, most people don’t have a clue. That doesn’t mean they are a necessary expense so surely, knowing about them is, well… unnecessary.

Yes, running offices is expensive. That is not the clients fault so why should they be expected to foot the bill? Assuming we remember who the client is!

Nine out of ten buyers now find their property online

The major property portals only allow listings from companies that provide ‘conventional estate agency services’ including valuations, accompanied viewings and sales progression and so most online agents and private seller websites are not able to list properties for sale on them.

When you consider that 9 out of 10 buyers conduct their property search in this way the difficulties facing many alternative property sales businesses have become apparent, especially in terms of gaining sufficient exposure to the market for either themselves or the properties they have listed with them.

Some properties will always be better sold through an estate agent, however, the estate agency industry will not be able to maintain its vice-like grip on the marketing aspect of the property selling process forever (and exert the same level of Draconian leverage over sellers) as there are a few and increasing number of businesses, offering genuine and effective alternative methods to selling, getting our hands on the stop-cock to the proverbial flood-gates; some will inevitably go with the flow.

Consumers Win In The End

Given all of the above, everything looks very rosy for the all-important consumer and that can only be in the best long-term interest of the industry as a whole.

Danny has been in the estate agency field running his own offices in London for many years and has recently launched a new innovative service based in London which aims to bridge the gap between a complete online sale or a pure agent sale.

You can find Danny on Twitter here or over at his web site here.

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