I don’t know about you, but I’ve always had a mistrust ‘thing’ about estate agents… and I’ve been working in this industry for over 10 years.
Sure, there’s some good people out there, people who always cut to the chase (in a good way), don’t waffle, tell you how the market really is and always return your calls and emails promptly. But, and it’s a big but, there are also agents out there who do the complete opposite – they revert to type – they revert to the generally held perception of estate agents.
When I set Proper Local up no one needed to tell me what the ethos should be, because for me it was obvious, and indeed natural: set up a company which just does the job properly, with no ego, no shiny suits, and only, and I really mean ONLY deal with a geographical area you actually know about.
So, that’s all well and good, and I don’t think anyone (in their right mind at least) wouldn’t want to deal with an estate agent like that, but how would an estate agency like that actually play out in reality, how would they actually be different?
Well, I think they’d charge a fixed fee to Landlords or Sellers, regardless of what the property was worth, because letting or selling is a marketing and process thing: it doesn’t actually matter what the value of the product is. And I think they’d put some kind of performance-related measure against their fixed fee, so the client would be assured that it mattered to the agent financially, and I think this performance-related element would factor in timing as well as money.
I also think this agency would treat tenants fairly and not as an income stream. They wouldn’t charge hundreds and hundreds of pounds to ‘administrate’ a tenancy agreement, they’d just have a look at what it actually costs and charge that.
I also think they’d actually really care about the job they’re doing too – does that sound a bit soft?
I also think this agency would truly realise and appreciate how important marketing is in the modern world. They’d realise that a few badly taken photos on the ‘office camera’ or an iPhone just doesn’t cut the mustard these days. They’d use a professional photographer, draw floor plans for every property, and of course their properties would be on Rightmove, but they’d be on Zoopla and Prime Location too.
We can but dream!
Best wishes
Christian
