The end of High Street Estate Agents?

kabayiri

wotsthat wrote: »

Remember when the internet was going to kill off newspapers?

Arguably, it has killed off quality journalism.

The journos who do remain are often paid the same but expected to do more work.

Cutting corners when investigating stories can be problematic.

kabayiri

HENRY78 wrote: »

LOL!!!! Most are absolutely useless!!!

My personal experiences of EAs haven't been great it has to be said. But I've had very little contact in truth.

How have they managed to stay in business then? Surely, the less useless amongst them would win out.

I think you need to define this useless point in more detail.

HENRY78

kabayiri wrote: »

My personal experiences of EAs haven't been great it has to be said. But I've had very little contact in truth.

How have they managed to stay in business then? Surely, the less useless amongst them would win out.

I think you need to define this useless point in more detail.

I was commenting on the EAs have a well honed sales competency statement.


Made me chuckle.


They have survived because of the lack of an alternative. The online model at a much cheaper rate seems to be the obvious way forward for me. I may be wrong just my opinion.

antrobus

wotsthat wrote: »

Remember when the internet was going to kill off newspapers?

It might not have killed them off. Yet.

But it's certainly crashed their business model. Pick almost any newspaper title you like and it's a tale of falling sales and advertising revenue, followed by cost cutting and redundancies.

kabayiri wrote: »

Arguably, it has killed off quality journalism.....

Very arguable, if you ask me.:)

kabayiri

HENRY78 wrote: »

I was commenting on the EAs have a well honed sales competency statement.

...

You see, my wife would argue that people skills are important in the EA business. But I'm more task focussed. I couldn't care less if I liked the EA or not.

I was trying to be polite too . I'm sure I can't condemn the whole profession!

[..but I'll have a go! My experience : Offering a period of sealed bids, and then *not* putting our bid forward which I found out later was the highest, is basically showing EAs up as a bunch of crooks]

westernpromise

HENRY78 wrote: »

Quite rightly Estate Agents have appalling reputations and I was wondering what the future holds for one of the most despised industries in the world.


Does anyone agree with me that the high street agency will be a thing of the past within 10 years? and will they be missed by anyone? Think we can all agree that Rightmove/Zoopla are the most powerful players in the property industry in 2016 so what of the traditional estate agent?


Where I live in Hertfordshire the prices have grown considerably however what we are seeing is real slow down in the volume of sales. All of the EA's who trade in the area (around 8) will all quite easily be negotiated down to a 1% fee. Last month only 30 sales went through for the whole of a very large town. Divi this up between the 8 EA's and that's only around 4 sales each. The average price in the area is around £450,000 so that only an income of £13,500 a month. After paying your talentless sales staff, business rates etc. I just cant see how they are making any money on the sales side at a time where house prices are at an all time high.


For me EA's add very little value and the likes of Emoov and Purple Bricks are the future. In fact if Rightmove or Zoopla allowed individuals to use their site to market their property I don't know many people who wouldn't choose to do this themselves and save a few thousand pounds.


I cant see any long term future for the industry. Times have changes and people are much more clued up than what they were.


Maybe I am missing something, but just cannot see what value they add in 2016.

They do three things. They ensure you see the highest bid, they filter out known timnewasters who can't proceed and they conduct viewings, so you don't have to.

Saving £5k on an estate agent is no saving at all if you never see the highest bid that would have been £50k higher.

The stuff on Rightmove is what's left after the preferred buyers have had a look and said No, and that applies to rentals too. In the last five years I have sold two properties and re-let my own a couple of times, and in every case the way to get the deal was to have contacted all the local agents first. When we bougth, and something suitable came up, we heard about it first and it didn't even go onto their own wesbite until it was under offer. It never made it to Rightmove at all.

Likewise when we sold. When I let a property the agents already know who's going to be interested and they see it first. Only if the handpicked buyers / tenants dont go for it does it need to be advertised.

There's a place for Rightmove, in that I need to see similar properties on there and what they go for to know that I'm getting fair value. But if I simply advertised it myself, a/ I'd have no idea what the real value was, b/ I'd have no idea whether the high bidder was in fact a penniless timewaster and c/ I'd have to use my holiday allowance showing buyers around.

PasturesNew

kabayiri wrote: »

I think we all need a bit of salespiel soft soaping, to make us believe that our beloved house is "really the pick of the crop on this road".

To be honest, when I viewed they didn't really say much. They seemed agitated, distracted and keen for me to finish so they could dash to the next one.

They also knew nothing. As I was standing in the front garden of the one I now own, I asked "does this garden come with the house?" and I was told "It's communal". No, it's not. It's clearly marked, without any doubt whatsoever, on the deeds, as entirely owned by this house and with no rights of way whatsoever either.

Re parking I was told "they park there at the moment", when the answer should've been "they park there at the moment; that's part of the freehold land of the property".

Both important/key factors that'd have made the house more attractive to people. Nothing communal whatsoever; everything is freehold.

My experience of the 2nd hand market is that you buy - you're not sold to. They make zero effort, except to turn up and let you in.

kabayiri wrote: »

It was telling that the Apprentice contestants who were good at selling naffly made sandwiches and salads didn't have the sensitive approach needed to sell high value property. Clearly, EAs have a well honed sales competency.

I think their main problem was that they were too young to have ever looked around houses and/or bought one, so were out of their depth due to lack of experience of questions one might like the answers to.... so therefore didn't have a clue about the subject.

lush_walrus

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays wrote: »

No - my point is that someone who is involved in high value transactions can't tell the difference between bought and brought. And people wonder by EA's are discredited!

How very clever you are. Absolutley right, I will ponder tonight whether my dreadful faux pas will end an industry prematurely.

Thrugelmir

HENRY78 wrote: »

Think we can all agree that Rightmove/Zoopla are the most powerful players in the property industry in 2016 so what of the traditional estate agent?

Rightmove is merely a hosting service.

Before the internet property was the mainstay of local newspapers in generating advertising revenue.

Technology moves on but the process hasn't.

Samsonite1

From recent experience - I tried a few options, but switched to a high street agent who did glossy marketing and good floorplans. They did the viewings for us 7 days a week up to 8pm and they sold the house for £15k over the asking price, so I would say that the estate agents earned their money based on my experience in the past few months. Rightmove is a tool that helps them according to their stats.