Who has sold a property using an online estate agent?

googler

There's always two sides to every property sale. The seller and the buyer.

I'll ask again - how does your scenario benefit the buyer?

lessonlearned

Lit_Up wrote: »

The online agent who I am instructing does fark all as well, the only thing I'm paying for is access to to the portals, an ability to upload my own photographs (I have pro equipment and know how to shoot interiors, most EA's use crapp also write my own description giving a nice indication of the area (most EAs just write like robots as they don't care). That I need to pay agents to access the 'portals', rather than just pay the portals a small fee direct to list the property, is what's a regressive scam.

EAs are depending on their existing monopoly over property advertising (ie the convention of going to an EA to sell rather than DIY online) in order to hold the portals (rightmove, zoopla) in check. However at some point the scales will tip in the favour of the seller, and the agent (whose role is largely superfluous) will decline and die as an industry.

The less dodgy middlemen who don't actually safeguard either party from fraud, but just bloat out the system and cost people money, the better.

If you intend to write your own description then I suggest you learn a few rules of grammar.

As - should be because
Less - should be fewer

As for style, readability and clarity - :rotfl::rotfl:

taxiphil

lessonlearned wrote: »

If you intend to write your own description then I suggest you learn a few rules of grammar.

As - should be because
Less - should be fewer

As for style, readability and clarity - :rotfl::rotfl:

Huh?

'As' is a perfectly valid synonym of 'because', and was correctly used in Lit Up's sentence, and you need to have another read of Lit Up's final sentence if you think 'less' should be replaced with 'fewer'.

"The fewer dodgy middlemen..." - I think not somehow.

Glass houses and stones.

googler

Lit_Up wrote: »

I should not need to go through an agent (either EA or online) to advertise my property online, on say on Zoopla/Rightmove. I should just pay a fee direct to the portals (like a classifieds, but for property).

The online agent who I am instructing does fark all as well, the only thing I'm paying for is access to to the portals. ... That I need to pay agents to access the 'portals', rather than just pay the portals a small fee direct to list the property, is what's a regressive scam.

Give us a good reason or two why the portals would want to do this your way.

googler

taxiphil wrote: »

Huh?
you need to have another read of Lit Up's final sentence if you think 'less' should be replaced with 'fewer'.

"The fewer dodgy middlemen..." - I think not somehow.

Glass houses and stones.

If you take out the clause between the commas, does the sentence read true as

"The less dodgy middlemen (there are) who don't actually safeguard either party from fraud the better."

Or

"The fewer dodgy middlemen (there are) who don't actually safeguard either party from fraud the better."


???

The bracketed phrase is implied.

Oxford dictionaries supports lessonlearned.
http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/less-or-fewer

lessonlearned

Thank you Googler.

I didn't bother to argue the toss. I know my fewers from my lessers.

The difference between "because" and "as" is not quite so clear cut. However, "because" is generally regarded as belonging to a more mature and sophisticated style of writing.....;)

Lit_Up

I think the EAs in here are demonstrating an absence of any persuasive counter point, if all they can do is indicate my incorrect use of "less" rather than "fewer".

googler wrote: »

There's always two sides to every property sale. The seller and the buyer.

I'll ask again - how does your scenario benefit the buyer?

There are several benefits to the buyer in a scenario where the seller just deals with the portals direct. These benefits are basically the same as using an online agent rather than a high street one.

1. They get a cheaper deal - there is less bloat in the transaction and the seller can afford to accept a lower offer, or just set a lower asking price. This will be especially the case where no agents are involved, at all.

2. Viewings are also conducted by the seller who can answer any specific questions about the property and immediate locality better than an estate agent can.

3. A more personal and informative description, which does not merely focus on the dimensions of the property, but also presents a brief outline of the local area and things to do, as well as any particular benefits to living in the property.

4. The buyer will have better and more accurate photographs to go off, as sellers take more time over them as they only have one property to shoot, rather than scores... in my case I took a good hour just taking photographs on a pro camera with wide angle lens, which gives an accurate indication of space. Compare this to your crappy kodak point and shoot, and your wham bam thank you ma'am approach to photography...

googler wrote: »

Give us a good reason or two why the portals would want to do this your way.

In the scenario where the portals deal direct with sellers: this overhaul of the industry, and your demise, will be a two step process. Firstly, online agents will start to present enough of a threat to established high street EAs like you, that you will start going out of business, as your man in the trade magazine site was moaning about. Once you start packing up, retaking your A levels etc, monopoly ceases to exist, the portals will think about how to replace the income they get from you. In the short term this will partially be with more online estate agents (the lesser evil as far as I'm concerned...) but they might realise that they will get more money by cutting out the online agents, and basically taking listing fees from sellers direct. Then hey presto, you see sellers dealing directly with online portals. This will be a cheaper service to the seller as again, you're cutting out a middle man, so more sellers will sign up. With more sellers going direct to the portal rather than trying it with an EA, it's the portal that holds the power, rather than relying on EA's listings. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen in the next ten years.

Feel free to scrutinise me for minor mistakes of grammar, it will help you practice for those A levels you never took :rotfl::T

sinbad182

Your misses definitely got ploughed by an estate agent.

Dan-Dan

well that was 15 minutes i`ll never get back!

googler

Lit_Up wrote: »

I think the EAs in here are demonstrating an absence of any persuasive counter point, if all they can do is indicate my incorrect use of "less" rather than "fewer".

I think anyone who resorts to petty insults to make their point has run out of 'persuasive counter point'.

In the scenario where the portals deal direct with sellers ... This will be a cheaper service to the seller as again, you're cutting out a middle man, so more sellers will sign up. With more sellers going direct to the portal rather than trying it with an EA, it's the portal that holds the power, rather than relying on EA's listings. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen in the next ten years.

This is your prediction of what will/should happen, not a reason for Rightmove and their ilk to go this way.

Again, why would they want to do this? What's the appeal to them to deal with every seller in the country, with all the extra admin and work that entails, when they're currently dealing with the agents who filter out the public dealings, and just send them an automated data feed for each property?

Remember, they're a listed company. When they stand up and tell the shareholders they're planning on spending £X million on hiring staff and setting up new systems to deal with the general public, as opposed to EAs, what do you think the shareholder's reaction will be?