Countrywide closes 33 branches

meanmachine_2

Not only that, but profits are down 86%, as reported in most places.

Now I'm not gloating here, or trying to raise the hackles of EAs on this site.

I'm just asking those in the know whether it's the start of a trend, or in fact it's really just a specific problem with a particular company.

It's maybe not a good idea to discuss how good/crap a particular firm is, but maybe EAs or experts could talk generally about why some EAs are doing very badly, but others might not be.

Do those who work in the profession have views on which type of EA is more respected by agents than others, for example?

kevinyork

Not had experience of Countrywide, however have done quite a few buys and sells over last few years so had a fair bit of experience of estate agents generally.

In the bouyant, almost frantic, market we had up to about a year ago a monkey could have sold a property. As soon as they hit they websites or local papers they were being snapped up, if not before.

Now however, the cheaper, local agents who have relied on volume sales of properties are struggling. Its the more professional quality agents who put the legwork in by recommending properties that match a prospective buyers needs and by being honest about the current value of houses they take on that will withstand this lull. In my area many agents are vastly overpricing properties. This is giving sellers unrealistic expectations and putting buyers off. A couple of the more longstanding agents that really understand the market and local area are being much more upfront with sellers and advising them to keep their price realistic. Sure they want their commission but the seller also wants a sale.

Ive been looking over that last few weeks again in my area and properties that need some updating or modernising are still being put up by agents at inflated prices which when done up will have cost more than a property not requiring any work. It doesnt make sense and the cocksure attitude of those agents will be their downfall. On the other side of the coin spoke to a more professional agent today who was very upfront about the price drops recently and the need for sellers to readjust their expectations. If the price of their house needs to come down then the price of one they may be interested in will do too. However it seems many buyers exoect to get the absolute max for their property and pay the minumum for their next dream home.

Its a shame if some agents go to the wall in this cool market but nothing like a famine to eliminate the weaker species......

$$$_12

meanmachine wrote:

Not only that, but profits are down 86%, as reported in most places.

Actually it's worse than that:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1547534,00.html

"Countrywide said its UK estate agency division made losses of £6.4m in the first six months of this year - down 129% on the £22m operating profit notched up a year earlier."

bunking_off

To be honest, it's not exactly surprising in a stagnant market. I'd imagine that the economics of running an estate agency is a bit like my game - telecoms - huge relatively fixed capital investment (network, or in their case shops + website server + advertising space + to a large degree staff) followed by relatively small variable costs. If sales slow down, it doesn't take much to turn a huge profit into a huge loss. In that situation, it's very sensible to cut down on your variable costs, which is that part of your sales staff which is there because of volumes. From what I read, apart from a few outright branch closures, they've not actually been cutting staff - more not replacing those who leave. There's not many businesses that haven't done that over the last 5 years or so, so this is hardly headline news.

On closures, I believe that Countrywide grew by acquisition. I know in some locations there are both Bairstow Eves and Mann branches, so logically it'd make sense to get rid of one and halve the cost base.

Around here, Bairstow Eves have a reputation for over-pricing. They also have a reputation for having too many houses on the books so that e.g. you can't count on your house being in the property press every week.

theGrinch

yep profits significantly down for last reported period.

at the same time chris sporborg a director was reported in the times on friday saying sales for the current quarter are up on last year and he expected profits to be up.

as ever, the stats and figures can be taken any which way.

frugal_dougal_3

kevinyork wrote:

Ive been looking over that last few weeks again in my area and properties that need some updating or modernising are still being put up by agents at inflated prices which when done up will have cost more than a property not requiring any work. It doesnt make sense and the cocksure attitude of those agents will be their downfall.

Agree entirely. The housing market needs property developers as well as FTB's and ladder risers and downsizers. It's all a bit like an ecosystem.

You could be forgiven for thinking that estate agents think that they are the only people who are entitled to make a profit out of buying and selling property.

nelly_2

meanmachine wrote:

Now I'm not gloating here, or trying to raise the hackles of EAs on this site.

Your not but I am and I couldnt give a toss neither.

:j :j :j :j :j :j :j :j :j :j :j :j :j :j :j :j :j :j


I just hope that at least one listened to their own greedy advise and bought recently.

Doozergirl

Don't coutrywide own a lot of estate agents? I have a feeling that they may even have enough agencys to be in direct competition with each other in one high street. In boom time it's great - spread the net wide and catch more fish (so to speak) but as the property market slows down, it makes perfect sense to consolidate, they obviously haven't done it soon enough though!

In the Midlands, Dixons operate under the Countrywide umbrella and they are totally inflexible on their 2% commission - stupid when everyone else takes 1% and they can't offer any better service. I wouldn't use them!

Felixradge

I have only had dealings with countrywide as a tennant in a flat which is leased through countrywide by a private landlord.

Personally i have never witnessed nor hope to do so in the future incompetance of such monumental proportions i did not think were possible.

If you own a flat and are considering looking for an agent dont use these guys.

Basically every single dealing with them they have messed something up.

Initially on the day i was due to get my keys i arrived only to be told there was a 'small' issue with the lease. Basically im a student and my father had agreed to guarantee my share of the rent. I had obviously asked them previously and confirmed that i would £233 roughly a third guaranteed (3 bedroom flat).

However the 'small issue' transpired to be that my father would have to take on full liability for the lease £695 along with the other 2 parties involved doing the same thing. My father is a lawyer and he was told he had to drop everything that day to sign new documents that were to be faxed through as the keys would not be supplied until that was taken care of. Basically he hit the roof, because we were being held to ransom because of their sheer incompetance. The woman who he was speaking to got an earfull and promptly told me she had never been spoken to in such a way before and that she would definately not recommend anyone she knows to use him.

My reply to that was that he is a lawyer and is supposed to spot peoples mistakes and would be a pretty crap lawyer if he did not.

Just cant understand how they managed to mess that up, then it transpired that another office takes care of the leases. My responce to that was well what do u do then?

That was the first instance, ive had to phone them about a leaking roof that required no less than 8 or 9 different phone calls to get it attended too.

The plumber was called out to install a new shower, the previous one was not that old but was installed in such a way that the water intake ran over the top of the unit and condesation sripped down into the unit causing the electrics to ark inside and burn out the unit. Their plumber hastily installed a new unit in the same way after i pointed out the problem.

I got a guy out to fix the tv ariel after a number of quotes. I got a deal for 60 quid for a new ariel and fly lead. It took them 60 days and 3 phone calls to re-emberse me.

I could go on and on. It doesn't surprise me at all that they are losing so much money. I have had dealings with other agencies in the past that were A1 and im not one of these people that moans about everything, but my experiance with these guys is shocking to say the least. Ive even thought about leaving sly notes somewhere hidden so the guy who owns the flat might one day find out how bad they are.

They are tottally inflexable about signing leases too. I signed initially for 9 months, 2 months before that time was up i got a letter saying if you want to continue the lease fill in this paper and get it back to us within 5 days. Basically 5 days notice to sign for a predefined amount of time. 5 days notice highlighted with a marker so we can give them 2 months notice. We signed for a further 6 months as there was no option to go month to month. The new lease was printed and cost us 40 pounds basically to reprint the lease and change some dates.

Sorry i could go on and on but rant over me thinks for the time being.

GreenB_2

We had a house for sale with Countrywide (not for more than 6 weeks I can add). I can echo what has been said they were inflexible and pathetic! They do have too many branches close together.

I can't help but think that the main problem with EA's is there are too many of them!
(about 8 within 2 miles of our house).

They all probably waste so much money sending marketing material to you that don't match your specs so it all goes in the bin.

Countrywide were still sending us property information after they new we had found the house we wanted. They did little to check up on previous viewers and always rang my mobile number rather than the home line on send an email..... perhaps they are just spending too much due to lack of organisational structure?