Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 46 total)
  • Is it the end of estate agents…
  • unfitgeezer
    Free Member

    Whilst this concept isn’t new the big boy has got involved…

    Could this be the demise of high street estate agents just like travel agents on the high street…

    Greedy lot estate agent…

    Welcome to easy property

    scaredypants
    Full Member

    is disappoint

    Assumed this was a “first against the wall” scenario 🙁

    piemonster
    Full Member

    also dissapointed

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    nealglover
    Free Member

    Is everything charged as an extra to the list price.

    Like floors, and roof tiles.

    edhornby
    Full Member

    isn’t this question a bit like whether a bike shop still has a future ?

    answer is (for both) that the days of a shop on every corner isn’t going to last but the good ones* will survive

    *yes, yes but some people get good service from estate agents

    P-Jay
    Free Member

    Business is constantly evolving, Easy won’t put good High Street Agents out of business anymore than they put BA out of business, IMO they’ve already moved with the times with Right Move and Zoopla etc, and whilst there’s a few online Agents trying to change the market, I don’t see many of the signs around locally.

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    I see loads of the online only estate agent signs around locally…..for ages.

    Which leads me to think that mostly they are used by people with no clue to the value of their house……

    brooess
    Free Member

    One of the big consultancies did a piece of work on which industries would be impacted the most by automation. Real Estate Agents was scored something like 96% likely to disappear.
    Given how many industries which are essentially middlemen are being replaced by mobile apps and online it’s surely only a matter of time before human estate agents are gone. After all, they’re generally hated by both sellers and buyers so as soon as someone comes up with a half-decent automated proposition we’ll be heading there in droves

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    I cant wait for the day its not possible to deal with a human face to face when doing a house deal……

    Sounds like hell.

    Ime nothing motivates an unhelpful estate agent like sitting in their office till they do what you asked.

    Try that with a computer 🙂

    jonba
    Free Member

    I think it is worthwhile supporting local businesses like estate agents. You’ll miss them when they are gone if you do everything online just to save a few £££s.

    unfitgeezer
    Free Member

    jonba – Member
    I think it is worthwhile supporting local businesses like estate agents. You’ll miss them when they are gone if you do everything online just to save a few £££s.

    Just like the travel agents you mean ?

    Why would I want to pay £10000 to sell my house when it can be done at a fraction of a cost, if estate agents want to stay on the high street then they are going to have to lower their commission rates quite substantially.

    geoffj
    Full Member

    Next up will be solicitors for conveyancing once it can all be done online directly with the Land Registry and equivalents

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    Next up will be solicitors for conveyancing once it can all be done online directly with the Land Registry and equivalents

    My last transaction the solicitors costs where £350 – that’s an absolute bargain. Compare that to agents fees and stamp duty.

    OP IMO estate agents are a rip off, I see no reason why we pay a percentage we do however pay far less than in the US or France for example 😯 . Boats are hard to sell high priced slow moving items and the charges there are 8% + VAT

    BigDummy
    Free Member

    I think it is worthwhile supporting local businesses like estate agents. You’ll miss them when they are gone if you do everything online just to save a few £££s.

    I think this was probably a joke, and if it was then it was beautifully done. 🙂

    molgrips
    Free Member

    You think you’ve got it bad. I rented a flat in Germany off a website, the landlord talked to me on the phone, directed me to and met me at the property, handed over the keys, did the tour and inventory.

    Agent charged me 2,300 €. What the actual F?

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    Probably the only thing that is missing is somebody to do the viewings, in reality I don’t want to go and look at houses after work on a wet Thursday when you can’t really see the outside etc.

    Tried one of the early ones and that was the issue, if your working 9-5 Mon-Fri then it cuts out a lot of people.
    (I see their thrid package does 10 viewings…)

    As a business motivation the % Fee encourages the agent to try and get a better price as their earnings increase.

    Fixed fee encourages fast sales as every interaction reduces profit.

    Be interesting to see how it progresses though

    DrJ
    Full Member

    Oooh – now you’re talking!!

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    sounds like you need to try “countrywide” conveyancing via the HSBC …. its all done online and phone – and i know several folk who have lost the house purchase because they used them…..

    like everything – if you have a simple transaction – great idea.

    anything remotely deviated from the norm – your in for a world of hurt.

    scuttler
    Full Member

    Who’s going to let you into an unoccupied/midweek house and triumphantly announce that the room with the cooker, sink, units and worktops is ‘the kitchen’?

    It’ll be a sad day.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    sounds like you need to try “countrywide” conveyancing via the HSBC …. its all done online and phone – and i know several folk who have lost the house purchase because they used them…..

    This +1 (they do the mortgage valuation surveys for a lot of banks/BSs). Took a flipping age to get them to e-mail the survey to us.

    Having said that everything else was face to face with EA’s and they weren’t much better, top of the list is the Mortgage Adviser, who once everything else was in place turned around and said he hadn’t sorted the conveyancing on the flat because it wasn’t being done by the mortgage company (it was, but he’d phoned back with a better offer but neglected to say that the new offer didn’t include the conveyancing).

    Then the mortgage company phoned the solicitors on the day we were moving to say they were withdrawing the offer as they didn’t like their name (local firm). Our solicitors a friend who at the time was 8 months pregnant, not sure what was said but it seemed to get resolved promptly!

    jerseychaz
    Full Member

    The “on-line” agents only point of difference is price! Every High Street Agent is “on-line” on Rightmove/Zoopla etc but has the burden of premium rents etc. The Purple Bricks of this world still employ staff to come and value and write up the details. Difference is they stiff you for the £1k or so fees upfront and promptly have no further incentive to shift your property – the trad agent has risked their own cash to get you out on the market. Whether that’s worth the premium of several grand is debatable but having interviewed both recently we’ve gone High Street!

    mudshark
    Free Member

    The estate agents I’ve bought and sold through have all been fine and good ones do make life easier, people still walk along the high street looking in windows to see what’s on sale which is worth something. Not sure if I’ll move again but if I do I won’t be using cheap people to deal with something so important. Maybe I don’t mind their cost as it’s stamp duty I hate – that’s the biggest problem with moving house for above average properties.

    WorldClassAccident
    Free Member

    The estate agents I know complain that most of their work is actually chasing up other people to get them to do surveys, sign documents, turn up when and where they have agreed.

    The photo in the window is the easy bit and even the viewings aren’t too bad – if the viewer ever shows up

    deadkenny
    Free Member

    Countrywide are one of the worst. Massive estate agent group with fingers in all kinds of pies including online, and many of the “local” estate agents are actually owned by them.

    Got sucked into them with a local agent back when first buying a house many years ago and being generally clueless. Agent provided an “independent” financial adviser… CW with a selection of preferred mortgage providers and fees they earn for recommending them. Then all the “you need this insurance, that insurance, life cover, etc”… all provided by CW with lies that they were required for the mortgage. Conveyancing was by CW. Each was branded differently but all CW, and all both expensive and time consuming.

    I always liken estate agents to job agents. Most job agencies are also run mostly by a small number of very big agency groups and they are blood suckers. Getting you the job you want/need is the lowest of their priorities, and if someone more profitable for them can be exchanged for the job they’ll try it. Same with houses. Make an offer, accepted “subject to contract” and agent is posting ads asking for better offers! Scum.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    scuttler – Member

    Who’s going to let you into an unoccupied/midweek house and triumphantly announce that the room with the cooker, sink, units and worktops is ‘the kitchen’?

    Hah. Part of my job is meeting potential students and sometimes that includes a wee guided tour. My accomodation tour is exactly like every shit estate agent tour ever. “As you can see the bathroom has a toilet in it” It’s a gift.

    unovolo
    Free Member

    I work for a Inventory company and got asked to do some work for one of the Online Agencies recently,

    If there representatives are anything to go by they aren’t going to last long,
    Was supposed to meet there guy at a property as he was the key Holder, I’m on time after 15mins and no sign of him gave him a call, straight to answerphone, so leave a message.
    After 1hr he eventually gets back to me with some BS excuse says he will be there in 15mins, 45mins later still no sign, call him again and again straight to answerphone so leave another message, 30mins later he replies via text he’s 30mins away.
    Well sorry pal your over 2hours late now so I have run out of time and had to go to my next job.
    Thing is he couldn’t even lie consistently and story/excuses would change each time.

    Had other dealings with them where I had to meet reps to get keys and there MOTHER had to get them out of bed.

    poly
    Free Member

    As a business motivation the % Fee encourages the agent to try and get a better price as their earnings increase.

    I think it is Freakonomics which discusses that. It almost certainly doesn’t work as well as you think. Firstly, lets say the rate is 1% (for round numbers) or a “300k” property. Perhaps the difference between low and high offers is 20k. So £3k or £2.8k – its not a huge difference to the firm; its even less difference to the specific agent whos commission is a fraction of that. There are many other factors involved – time to close a higher deal, risk it doesn’t happen, market perception of being able to sell property fast, monthly/quarterly sales targets, etc.

    Just like the travel agents you mean ?

    Interestingly I hate travel agents, but I also hate almost all the online travel tools. Recently a new travel agent (not a chain) opened in my town. I’d consider paying for a good service; even if estate agency is disrupted by such a model I’m not sure it will be the end of the service forever. When I ask what I hate about old school travel agents – its package holidays, not the idea of someone to make the arrangements for me.

    Why would I want to pay £10000 to sell my house when it can be done at a fraction of a cost, if estate agents want to stay on the high street then they are going to have to lower their commission rates quite substantially.

    If your agency fees are £10k you presumably live in a specialist property – I suspect the easyJet Agent is not the best way to market that!

    Online searches work for people who are planning to move (presumably that is the “bulk” of the business). Interestingly I know a few people who have moved almost on impulse because they saw something really interesting / attractive in a shop window (one of those didn’t even buy that one – it just triggered the looking/buying process which hadn’t even been discussed). I know I look out of nosiness whenever I walk past – perhaps there really is value in that “shop window” – I can’t think of any other adverts I proactively view.

    Next up will be solicitors for conveyancing once it can all be done online directly with the Land Registry and equivalents

    Everyone grudges paying solicitors, but (1) I can’t imagine any lender being happy without one involved (2) its probably the highest value transaction you will make and things do go wrong – you really don’t want to screw that up for <0.5% of the price do you? Imagine the fees for fixing a mess if it turns out (a) the seller didn’t really own what you thought; (b) the extension didn’t have proper permission; (c) theres a planning application for a nightclub underneath the flat you just bought etc…, (d) or that someone several buyers ago was separated and forgot to tell their estranged wife about the sale – and she believes she still owns a %age of your house… Many of those things seem relatively mundane now because the property is being sold through a process that has historically kept those sort of headaches in order – but an automated tick box exercise isn’t going to do that.

    Many property solicitors in Scotland are also effectively estate agents. It may be that that sort of model, and the one stop shop offering mortgages, properties, legal advice etc. is going to be more successful – especially with “novice” buyers than old fashioned shiny suited agents.

    RustyNissanPrairie
    Full Member

    selling our house at the moment with an online agent but its not working, 5 viewings-no feedback left, and I dont think an incentive to chase as they’ve had their money. Can see me sacking them off and going with a high street agent. It was a £600 gamble.

    thebees
    Free Member

    RustyNissanPrarie, do you think that the five people who have viewed but not followed-up would have reacted differently with an estate agent present ? An honest question, as personally I would either want a property or not be interested, and having somebody in a suit and tie hanging about would not be a deciding factor :-).

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    how ever – would there have been feedback if someone had called them to recieve the feed back ?

    slowoldman
    Full Member

    Well a mate of mine who’s looking to move told me yesterday a local estate agent is giving him the nod when anything of possible interest pops up, well before they get anywhere near t’internet.

    deadkenny
    Free Member

    Thing with a high street agent is as much as we hate them, they are also good at lying to potential buyers when showing them round and convincing people it’s a good buy, and matching properties to what they think they’ll be convinced to buy or what they want to shift. That’s a different thing to what is the right property for the buyer though, but it sells the house. As a seller I’m not so fussed, but as a buyer I can’t stand them.

    I’ve not done online ones but sounds like either the owner does the viewing or they send a local Halfords trained monkey ?

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Well a mate of mine who’s looking to move told me yesterday a local estate agent is giving him the nod when anything of possible interest pops up, well before they get anywhere near t’internet.

    He would say that, wouldn’t he?

    simons_nicolai-uk
    Free Member

    As deadkenny says, they’re mostly lying baste wards BUT that does often result in a higher price and local knowledge does count for something – just how high can the asking price be pitched.

    the difference, even in cheaper areas of the U.K. Can be a lot more than the saving. I recon that’s why they’ve survived until now – this has been tried before and failed.

    More surprising to me is that letting agents remain in business – the Internet should have made it easy to cut them out, their cut of income is huge, the amount a landlord would lose in underpricing is small.

    slowoldman
    Full Member

    He would say that, wouldn’t he?

    Why? he’s not an estate agent.

    simons_nicolai-uk
    Free Member

    Well a mate of mine who’s looking to move told me yesterday a local estate agent is giving him the nod when anything of possible interest pops up, well before they get anywhere near t’internet.
    He would say that, wouldn’t he?

    It takes a few days for properties to filter through to Rightmove and Zoopla. When property was moving quickly in London the good stuff was all selling before it appeared. The same for rented – none of the properties we were shown when looking for a flat had got to the sites (and it was in the estate agents interests not to take down attractive well priced stuff as it guarateed the phones kept ringing – good old fashioned bait and switch)

    The agent wants his commission – if you look like an easy sale (first time or cash buyer) they’ll chase you.

    robdob
    Free Member

    I sold my house with an online agent and even though I’m a very very picky consumer (worked in retail a long time) I honestly could not fault them – £700 for everything including the EPC, I paid for the deluxe package and that saved me £1000+.

    As far as feedback goes, the company I used logged every time they tried to get feedback, they tried 3 or 4 times for each one – you could even write it online but some people just don’t bother. I don’t think most people’s feedback is very useful anyway.

    We had 4 viewings in a crowded but slow market and sold in 2 weeks. Every service the online EA gave us was way better than high street ones and in a lot of cases many many times better.

    bubs
    Full Member

    Interesting. My wife works for a small, independent estate agent. She spends most of her time on the negotiations and chasing solicitors. When the sale involves a chain things can get complicated and challenging – I can’t see an online estate agent doing all the follow up and support? Getting the initial sale is relatively easy but getting to completion takes time and a lot of behind the scenes work. Chains will always have a weak link that can mess up the whole arrangement.
    I think online will work for a proportion of the market but will never completely take-over as no algorithm could deal with all the eventualities.

    footflaps
    Full Member

    Local estate agent stuck a letter through the door offering to sell our house for 0.4% commission!

    Edit although still £2500 ish.

    robdob
    Free Member

    Bubs – it wasn’t run by computers! Normal qualified estate agents just working online and no high street shop. As far as I could tell that was the only major difference.

    I don’t personally like paying the rent for a business to have a fancy expensive building in town which hardly anyone looks into.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 46 total)

The topic ‘Is it the end of estate agents…’ is closed to new replies.