Design your dream Estate Agency.

Estate_Agent

Thanks vigilant. I am now used to buyers saying 'my maximum is...but if something special is out there tell me about it'. I also have vendors who say 'market it at x, but I will accept less for a quick sale or to give the impression that the buyer has got a bargain'. Simple human nature implies that you want the best for yourself. It comes down to clarification. Actually asking what either side wants. ie, Is that your max budget, or can you stretch an etc £10k for your dream home? If they can't stretch further because they want money for retirement, or they simply don't have the finance, I would be a fool to show them properties they have told me they don't want to see.

Vendors will also tell me they will accept a lower offer on their property simply to keep things moving. We had a sale fall through recently where the buyer had lost his job. Fair enough, these things happen and if every sale completed through us, we would have no competition. The vendor was buying his dream house so told us he would take a lower offer so that he didn't lose out on his purchase. We rang it out, and resold it the same day. Happy vendor and an intact chain.

It is down to us to try and work out what someone really wants - asking the right questions helps, building a good working relationship with them, even thinking outside the box.

Thanks Claire. We already do a lot of what you suggest, but actually putting it on a checksheet and diarising is something I know we can get a lot better at.

Estate_Agent

googler wrote: »

Any agent who can prove they get more traffic than others has the advantage.

The problem here is that RM etc do not allow us to show how well we do compared to the other EA's. Most buyers do not use an EA's website either. Why would you with all the property portals available? The EA website is there because it needs to be, but in all honesty most are dated and clunky.

googler

Estate_Agent wrote: »

The problem here is that RM etc do not allow us to show how well we do compared to the other EA's. Most buyers do not use an EA's website either. Why would you with all the property portals available? The EA website is there because it needs to be, but in all honesty most are dated and clunky.

The other problem is I'm not referring to RM, and I'm not RM-centric.

In my neck of the woods, it's the agents sites that the buying public primarily look at, sometimes other portals, but RM doesn't hold dominance here.

'Dated and Clunky' they are not.

(Hint - if you're quoting someone, leave the /QUOTE tag at the end of the quote, and it'll show up properly)

Estate_Agent

Thanks for the hint googler.

The vast majority of our leads come from the property portals. I've reviewed the competitions websites and found two distinctions:the national chains are nice, the locals are horrendous.

My thought now is, do the nationals have the same experience as me? If we update our own site - which is reasonable but nothing is perfect - will I get more calls from the site? Will I get the same volume overall despite having improved the site? Are people in our area focussed more on the portals rather than the individual EA sites?

Doshwaster

clairehi wrote: »

Now that we have the internet, I think the role of the estate agent in advertising properties to buyers or steering buyers to specific properties is marginal. Yes floorplans are really helpful though.

Talking of the internet, one thing which has surprised me about EAs (and solicitors) is how many of them refuse to use email - even if they have a flashy website. There are several agents who I have emailed, not got a reply and phone them a few days later: "Oh, we don't use email. You should have faxed us."

I would have thought that email would be an essential tool for estate agents yet many seem to be stuck in the dark ages.

mbga9pgf

Three words. Fixed rate service.

MissMotivation

Personally I find that a lot of the 'leads' that come from RM are very weak! The enquiries that come from our own website (which is very good IMO) often turn into viewings/instructions.

Ive no idea why some EA's don't use email, afterall, its much more expensive to post things, not to mention how long it takes to reach the destination!

clairehi

Doshwaster wrote: »

You should have faxed us.

Hilarious! I can't remember the last time I sent a business fax, it must be 10 years or so ago.

MissMotivation

clairehi wrote: »

Hilarious! I can't remember the last time I sent a business fax, it must be 10 years or so ago.

The 80's have just called... they want their fax back :rotfl::rotfl:

googler

clairehi wrote: »

Hilarious! I can't remember the last time I sent a business fax, it must be 10 years or so ago.

Standard practice in much of Scotland, since the offer letter forms part of the contract to purchase, is to fax an offer to the selling agent, prior to sending the offer via post.

The first stage is to type it up, on letterhead of course, then fax it, then post it.

What else would you do?

Scan it as a picture, save it, compose e-mail, attach it to e-mail, send e-mail? I'd rather just fax it.