So, what is it that a property owner actually wants from their estate or letting agent?
I was speaking with someone the other day who had worked at Purplebricks for 2 years. His experience from being there was that property owners DIDN’T want to use an online agent, they actually wanted to use a traditional estate agent, they just didn’t want to pay through the nose for it.
Jayne Dowle, who was kind enough to mention Proper Local a few weeks back in The Times, published this blog Money for old rope: take care when choosing an estate agent in The Spectator recently.
Jayne picks up on some interesting points.
Some agencies employ a specialist valuer or “lister” to get their instructions on. As she says, does it not feel inherently strange that someone is perhaps being paid to get instructions rather than sell the property? Isn’t the ‘service’ in estate agency the sale and not the patter.
And also this on the subject of agents’ contract periods and fees, which I can’t say any better so I’ll just copy it in verbatim:
“Aim for a month, two at the most. If the agent bridles, take your business elsewhere. The high street – and the internet – are full of them fighting for our custom, and some will do it for a very competitive fixed fee these days. You wouldn’t engage a divorce lawyer or a doctor who didn’t have your interests at heart, so why choose an estate agent who doesn’t care?”
So Jayne is obviously of the mind that using a traditional estate agent - or would that be more correctly a hybrid, or of-the-moment-not-the-past agent – is the way to go for her.
Did I mention that Proper Local sells (or lets) for a fixed fee and our sales contract period is 4 weeks?
To be continued…
Did you miss Parts 1,2 or 3 ? Read more about The Future OF Estate Agency in my previous Blogs
What is the future of estate agency? Part 1
What is the future of estate agency? Part 2
What is the future of estate agency? Part 3
