The challenger portals are gearing up in their fight to win over estate agents.
Agents’ Mutual, Nethouseprices and Facebook’s Property Network are all staking their individual claims – while being united in their bid to topple the duopoly of Rightmove and Zoopla.
Catherine Lamond, of Nethouseprices, which says it can launch an agent-owned portal this autumn, said it has now received over 1,000 expressions of interest and is continuing to add between 80 and 100 a day.
She said: “It is great confirmation of agents’ appetite for change. We will be giving presentation meetings for agents in London and throughout the country very soon to allow agents to be fully informed of the opportunity and to answer any questions they may have.”
Lamond conceded that “a lot of agents” are probably registering with both Nethouseprices and Agents’ Mutual, but she said: “We can only reiterate what we have said before: we are ready to go, our costs are much lower than Agents’ Mutual, and there is low risk due to the escrow account.”
Meanwhile, both Property Network and Agents’ Mutual were at a recent meeting of the NAEA in Surrey.
Sohail Rashid, CEO of Property Network, said that signing up was the best way for agents to tap into the social media network.
He explained that Property Network recognises key words used by Facebook users to recognise a life event which may result in a property upgrade or downgrade, such as an engagement, pregnancy or marriage. It then targets relevant questions regarding that life event to generate appraisal leads for estate agents.
James Wyatt, regional chairman of the NAEA Surrey branch, said: “Barton Wyatt were early adopters of social media and have now also joined Property Network. This means that our homes are now advertised to over 30 million Facebook users, and we don’t have to lift a finger. We are also receiving valuation leads which otherwise would have gone to our competitors.
“All estate agents need a social media marketing strategy in addition to existing advertising offerings.”
Ian Springett spoke about the Agents’ Mutual proposition. He said it is aiming to disrupt the current duopoly by enforcing a strict members’ rule stipulating they may only use one of the two main portals in addition to the Agents’ Mutual portal.
He stressed that the portal will be completely agent-owned and added: “It is a chance [for estate agents] to reclaim the value of their property data and regain control of advertising costs.”
Meanwhile, Needaproperty, which launched last year, has introduced a ‘travel time’ feature which it claims is a first. It is aimed at allowing users to hunt for property by keying in “a place of interest” such as a school or place of work and to look for properties within, for example, a 15-minute drive.
https://www.agentsmutual.co.uk
Comments
In some cases the reason for anonymity is far deeper than it ought to be for a comments section of an industry news journal; given the sums of money involved with both the residential sales market; currently about £150 million commission fees per month and the letting industry at about £252 million commission fees per month there is naturally a desire, by some, to grab as much of that action as they can, seemingly at whatever cost.
It is not possible to oppose the unsavoury without ruffling a few well preened hackles and so for some anonymity is the only way to engage and promote discussion that might not be to everyone's liking. There is a fine line between encouraging thinking minds to think and vexation and how quickly that line is crossed is wholly dependant one’s predilection.
Happy Chappy - couple of points:
Firstly, you have not surprised me in the least with your 'revelation' I would suggest, however, that you have read more than enough comment on here relating to online Agency - and trust that you are a shrewd enough Chappy to pick the bones to your advantage.
Secondly - when you stated "Scott, I just want you to be clear on what you are now agreeing with Peebee on :
Some of the anonymous poster have sometimes have something constructive to and some of the other 9, who use their full names, are sometimes posting complete tripe" - that was NOT actually what I had said.
I actually stated that DOZENS of anonymous contributors to this site post positive and informative content. I did NOT state, however, that any of 'the named 9' posted MDT.
(The fact that some of them DO, is irrelevant.) It was those that choose to remain anonymous that I jumped to the defence of (and I don't include myself in the illustrious bunch, either!)
Take our 'new' contributor, 'Ampersat', as prime evidence. Or AceofSpades; CountryLass; Jonnie; Wardy; HD... the list goes on and on and I apologise to the many that I have not 'named' but whose contributions stand as proof that the Agency profession is alive and thriving.
I have always said that my reason for using a nickname is simple - that it doesn't matter who I am. I have no ego to massage - and nothing to gain (or lose, for that matter...) by flaunting my name over the internet. I guess the same goes for some if not all of the others.
Some of the most famous quotes ever published were first penned/spoken by the same person, apparently - who has proved to be a veritable fountain of wit and wisdom.
And to that person, I raise a glass.
To 'Anon'! ;o)
An attempt at punctuation, difficult to read, a few words missing, a very transparent message and insulting Agents.
What this Lion (the largest type of pussy known to man) lacks is the understanding that the price hike on Rightmove this year was controlled by a portal subscription that costs 65.33% of the proposed price rise.
£513 saving isn't going to buy a Porsche but it gives the staff in the office a few extra quid in their pocket.
The Agent’s mutual stipulation of 3 portals, choose two is a much better way of controlling costs.
Then again perhaps we should all wait for Lord Sugar’s new business venture; quite clearly last night Neil Clough indicated his competitor is Rightmove.
I can;t help notice how it is same small group of agents posting on here over and over again who clearly are not very good at their jobs and having better to do. Advertise where it works chaps - if Rightmove works for you then do that, if Zoopla works then do that, if print works for you then do that. But if you care about costs then signing up to another brand new portal that you have no idea if it will work or not is called madness. Wait and see. if it works, then do that. If it doesnt, you have lost nothing.
Peebee, I am considering helping to start a local online agency....shock horror
I think transactions may pick up a bit. (well at least for three years) Mainly due to the government underwriting deposits with Help to Buy.
Mind you since one of the contestants on The Apprentice has the same idea I may have to rethink. It might also annoy some friends who are traditional agents.
Ok maybe i will say I'm a possible agent of the future :0)
..he can spell!
Where is the line between a free story on EAT and posted comment? The cost is the same and the comments often counter spurious PR spin or fill in the negative bits that the marketers leave out.
The whole agent portal debate has been good to read, it shows up who is brave enough to post and who just hides. Any competitor to the subject has to have or believe they have a robust offering and well thought out points to raise.
If you don’t like shopping in a noisy market go the Waitrose
So far on this thread Dave has said.
"vendors want rightmove, forget all this lot."
"Scott Creasy- if your business was any good you would not on here all day! Go do something."
Please stop all adverts as posts.
"Go do some work, stop trying to get a free advert, anyone in the know on here will never use you as such a cheap shop means you are not worth dealing with. End"
Dave in your capacity as an account manage for Rightmove I can understand that you may feel a misguided loyalty that compels you to lash out at other companies that are working their arses off in what is a bit of a cut throat industry.
But as I said before this is me doing something that I am paid for I am the marketing manager and as I said before, I do the same on linkedin, pinterest, facebook, twitter, stumbleupon, google +, I also write and publish two blog posts a day on our site, and I correspond all over the world via email to agents who are listed with us.
Just signed up an agent in Bangladesh and have a call scheduled with an agent in Arizona this afternoon.
Isn't modern mobile communication technology amazing. I am writing this to you on my laptop, using a free wifi connection in a coffee shop in the Mirarmar shopping centre in Fuengirola, while waiting to meet a client. Later I will be back in the Spanish office and continue to write and communicate via the internet and at the end of August I'll be back in the UK doing the same thing....it's my job.
But Dave I am not an estate agent and I'm fairly new to the world of the agent, but if you are genuine estate agent who has an insight into the industry and is willing to share, then I am happy to listen.
Go do some work, stop trying to get a free advert, anyone in the know on here will never use you as such a cheap shop means you are not worth dealing with. End
"Scott - No i am not presently an estate agent..."
Hmmm... Happy Chappy adds to the mystery that is himself!
OI! pal - that used to be MY line - get one of your own! ;o)
Scott - No i am not presently an estate agent, I do act as an intermediary though, this seems to annoy one or two on here. Anyway, my comments were on your functinality and business plan thank you for your reply. I hope you get more from my feedback than the Spolier Alert post.
let me guess at Mr INEA :0
Great restraint Trev!
Happy is not an agent. His feedback means nout. Don't waste your time Scott. Hes just very very bored.
you now reckon "some of the other 9, who use their full names, are sometimes posting complete tripe " How about you give us an an example of complete tripe.
Happy Chappy
Yes you are correct that is what I am saying and I agree that is what forums are for. However even though my skin is getting thicker with age I like anybody else, if someone has a go, tend to bite back, now and then.
I’d like to answer you while trying to keep it as short as possible and not sounding like an ad.
We took note of your original feedback about the clunky site along with all the other agents who are registered with us and who we have asked for feedback etc. As we speak our web developers are completely redesigning the front end and the new look site will be launched in a few weeks.
And yes lead generation is a major issue for us and the other all portals out there and is what we are working toward. As I said earlier in this thread, our radio advertising campaign in Spain is paying off with dozens of our Spanish agents reporting leads coming in from buyers looking for holiday homes etc in the sun.
We hope that when we launch the UK radio campaign in September, the UK agents who are listing with us will experience the same results.
Keep in mind however, the agents who are using us don’t pay us a penny, we are not saying pay us 50, 100, 500 quid a month and we'll send you leads, we are saying we'll list your property for free and pay to advertise our site ourselves in an attempt to draw buyers to us and send those leads directly to you.
bugger not as short as I had hoped for, I think I'll leave it at that.
cheers
Scott, I just want you to be clear on what you are now agreeing with Peebee on :
Some of the anonymous poster have sometimes have something constructive to and some of the other 9, who use their full names, are sometimes posting complete tripe
In that case i completely agree because thats what forums are for.
As for Finders and Sellers i totally understand what you are trying to do.
So my feedback: I find the site clunky and many of the search features seem not to work (perhaps IE explorer issue).
I also think your problem from the EA side will be lead generation, why will buyers look at Finders and sellers, how are you going to drive traffic to your site rather than to the big two.
Without the traffic how will you secure revenue from advertising.
Peebee
You are 100% correct, it was erroneous, and totally unacceptable.
And maybe I could have worded it better, however the comment I made about the public impression of estate agents in general, does not reflect my own opinion, but is instead based not only on the comments I have read on dozens of other property related forums and chat rooms, many of them boarding on real aggression, but also on the comments of many agents themselves including those who post on the EAT.
You finished your reply with this.
"I guess I'm what you will perceive to be "...one of the 30..." and this will be water off your back also. That's fine - but I thought it worth mentioning as I believe it to be in your best interests."
On the contrary this is what a class as constructive criticism. As you say my original comment was erroneous, there are those who remain anonymous and yet still have a lot of experience to share. A number of those have emailed me privately in the past and I thank them for their honest input.
And I thank you for yours.
"Then there are the other 9, those who use their full names, like the Trevor Mealham's of the industry those that actually have something of interest to offer..."
Dangerous and erroneous summarisation, Mr Creasey. COMPLETELY erroneous.
There are dozens of posters on this site, past and present, who do not reveal identities - but their posts speak volumes about their knowledge and commitment to the industry.
And forgive the further criticism - but in a previous post you state "...you have just highlighted the attitude of some within the industry that has helped to fuel the less than honest reputation that estate agents have in the eyes of the public, who pay your wages. And if you are not aware what that reputation is, it's the belief that you are trying to fleece them for every penny you can make, while doing as little work as possible."
Sir - I appreciate that you get your fair share of stick on here... and that a fair bit of it appears unwarranted - but the above comment is hardly going to endear Agents to you or your company.
I guess I'm what you will perceive to be "...one of the 30..." and this will be water off your back also. That's fine - but I thought it worth mentioning as I believe it to be in your best interests.
Scott the word 'most' was the clue, no I am not saying everyone reading EAT is a service supplier, but the people who are trolling you into excessive (damaging) comment are.
Pete Henderson comes on here posts about Radar and leaves, he is doing the same thing as you but manged to keep himself out of Yawn's list of most feared competitors.
Someone said.
What Scott hasn't worked out is that he is not posting to an audience of Estate Agents, most everyone here is a service supplier from the advertisers that surround the stories.
So what you are telling me is that you know who everybody who visits this site is, and that of the 289 guests that are online as I speak, more or less none of them are estate agents?
You are telling me that the Estate Agent Today website is inhabited solely by service suppliers?
You're telling me that those agents who have contacted us via the feedback forms on our site, asking for more information after reading some of my comments on the EAT, weren't actually here in the first place.
That those agents who discuss how much they are paying per office to advertise, or the clients they have had in their office all morning, or how many leads they received last month via various portals etc aren't actually agents, they are a fabrication of my imagination.
Wow thanks for the heads up. Can you tell me did the moon landings actually happen or was it a hoax, because there are no stars in the background.
What I have noticed about this and many other forum type news spots, is that out of lets say the 289 users online at the moment, probably 250 of them are lurkers simply here to read, see what information they can gather and leave. Out of the remaining 39, 30 of them will be like yourself happy to provoke but with no insights, advice or information to offer, like our good friend yawn, and only willing to do post anonymously.
Then there are the other 9, those who use their full names, like the Trevor Mealham's of the industry those that actually have something of interest to offer in response to the various news broadcasts and who's websites you can visit to see if they actually know what they are talking about.
The 250 lurkers are good because they quietly pick the information they want and act on it. the 9 are good because I can learn from their experience, the remaining 30 and a rough ride, just water off a ducks back.
Onwards and upwards as they say.
Thank you for the mention Yawn, every time EAT mention me Linked In spikes, if it were not for you most people would have forgotten who I am. Other than helping Ros keep abreast of stuff that might pass her by you will be hard pressed to find another post from me on EAT. Although I will admit to posting far more on LAT where there is stuff I have views on.
Yes I am a strong supporter of Estate Agents and honestly believe they should do whatever they can to run profitable businesses. If that means helping them to control costs so be it. If the posts on here aren't to you liking just stick with the stories.
Yawn demonstrating how the portal minions try to stifle any discussion.
Try a site specific search for 'Yawn' and track all his posts.
All have the same subject and all are aimed at discrediting anyone who doesn't bang the tune the PR departments want to promote.
How ironic that Yawn itself is so obvious and so boring.
What Scott hasn't worked out is that he is not posting to an audience of Estate Agents, most everyone here is a service supplier from the advertisers that surround the stories. With a heap of portal providers succesful, failed and some in between the two Scott ought to expect a rough ride.
Like Trevor at INEA, Scot starts yapping on like a Scotty dog who's heard the word walkies everytime the subject gets near his home turf.
Portal, Yap yap yap
Rightmove, Yap yap yap
Zoopla, Zap yap yap yap
Agents mutual Zap yap yap yapZap yap yap yapZap yap y
nettheproperty Zap yap yap yap
Dave
Scott Creasey
Trevor Mealham
Robert May
You guys bore the ar*e off me and most likely everybody else on here. Your long winded rambling comments.
Very boring and all trying to reinvent the wheel, or polish a turd! Scott, David and Robert all seem to be using this to pitch for business.
And Dave...... Well enough said!
Agents biggest gripe is portal fees. Yet they pay them. Nothing wrong with that, it makes economic sense.
The biggest wish is lower portal fees. Yet when they are offered a free portal (Scott), they run a mile and ridicule the guy making the offer.
Just wait till Dave reads that. If he is Japan Dave we can look forward to the whole internet grinding to a halt while he and the other HP Canutes tear you to shreads.
es por eso,
Are you getting out of Spain while you can then Scot? If there are millions of Expats trying to get back here what will be left for you when they are gone?
I was just leaving to go do something. Dave told me I had to.
But I'll answer your question,
No - because there are also millions of Brits and other foreign buyers who can see major investment potential in the vast numbers of properties on the market in Spain, many of which to be quite frank are a steal at 40- 60% below what they were just a few years ago.
I would say at present a large percentage of visits to our site are those British and Foreign buyers searching for property in Spain, at least that is what our Spanish agents are reporting to us and they are the ones who are receiving the leads via the site.
"There are millions of expats in Spain wishing to relocate to the UK and we are already tapping in to that market, but without support from UK agents, tapping into the UK will be a harder slog, especially because we don't charge"
Are you getting out of Spain while you can then Scot? If there are millions of Expats trying to get back here what will be left for you when they are gone?
Dave said - Scott Creasey- if your business was any good you would not on here all day! Go do something.
Please stop all adverts as posts.
Dave, I obviously hit a raw nerve.
I am not on here all day, but when I am here, being here is me doing what I am paid to do.
I'll say it again I don't own Finders and Sellers, I am the marketing manager who is attempting to expand our business by getting agents to list with us.
To do that I need to try to get my head round how estate agents think and what they actually want, this is just one of the many places I visit day in day out in an attempt to do that.
If you have some constructive and I'll say again CONSTRUCTIVE criticism then please share your views as more than throw away one liners.
bye for now.
Corin Ashbee-Waugh - Said
Perhaps the solution to this ongoing complaint it to select just one of the main players to list on (for vendor pacification) plus a whole bunch of 'lesser known' portals for inexpensive leads.
Yes Corin, you could be right. We already have most of our Spanish agents feeding their listings to us via XML2U. 64,000 listings and it didn't cost them a penny.
There has been a lot of talk about no portal being able to compare to the present leaders without the same amount of advertising whether they be one of these new agency run portals or privately owned.
I agree there are no portals that rely on subscription fees etc that can compare or will be able to compete, because agents aren't willing, and quite rightly so, to spend more money on something that may not work.
What I can't understand is the opposition (in the UK at least) to supporting a portal that doesn't cost the agent anything and that whether you get leads from it or not is still of benefit to your branding and SEO etc. Ten minutes of your time and then sit back and enjoy the ride...Seems like a no brainer.
But I digress, so back to advertising issue.
No start up business can afford to sustain a TV advertising campaign without money. All businesses start with a basic campaign and work upwards towards TV etc. But without the support and following of your target audience why throw money away to begin with.
For example as you know our service is free, I may have mentioned it once or twice.
But because of this our Spanish office has gone from strength to strength in the last 10 months since we launched, and the support from British and Spanish agents operating in Spain has been overwhelming.
Because of that support we have already started our advertising campaign on the English speaking radio stations on the Costa del sol. We have a sponsored hour everyday Monday to Friday, ads playing 250 times a month during prime time and running through the night, we have web banners and links on the most popular radio station websites, the live commentary for all the August Malaga football games is sponsored by finders, and sellers, we are appearing on all the live road shows up and down the coast and we are at present running a competition for our users with a prize value of 5,000 euros for the winner.
This hasn't come cheap. The agents didn't pay for it but we feel it is justified because we have their support. The campaign so far has been a resounding success.
I am in Spain now until the end of August (lucky me) and have a conference call planned with a UK radio advertising company tomorrow. We intend to mirror the success of the Spanish radio campaign in the UK and in September will run a similar campaign nationally, even though the support from UK agents has been harder to get.
However we have now gained a level of support in the UK which we feel will justify spending some our marketing budget advertising there.
There are millions of expats in Spain wishing to relocate to the UK and we are already tapping in to that market, but without support from UK agents, tapping into the UK will be a harder slog, especially because we don't charge.
And finally Paul is right
This thread is becoming an advertising platform, boring!
So I'll stop now, I'm off to Tesco's to buy some burgers.
Scott Creasy- if your business was any good you would not on here all day! Go do something.
Please stop all adverts as posts.
Sorry Peebee this one escaped 'h' ( making were into where)
It is very easy got get wrapped up in the success of what is happening right now and stand in awe of those who seem to have it all and can do no wrong. It is easy to assume that nothing can change and that the millions of pounds spent on advertising are effective.
Yesterday I spent the day with a first time buyer; a young girl and her boyfriend who had spent since Christmas looking on-line for their first home, they confirmed Rightmove was were they have been looking but could not find a thing. I handed them 10 sets of details, got 2 viewings and an offer. The comment was "where do you get these [details] this is better than the internet everything is here, this is sooo [sic] so much easier than using the internet" All of the properties were available on the portals (I checked). Because the internet is effectively mute; it has all of the information but does not communicate with applicants and is incapable of understanding an applicant’s criteria outside the set field translations of the portal uploader. There is no understanding, no empathy and more importantly no overcoming objections. Essentially it is like having a great widow display having the office open, the phone on but having all of the negotiator staff out of the office (not doing anything useful, just not there)
Here is a home truth that will confuse and therefore annoy a large percentage of Agents but the enlightened ones will agree with; too many agents have delegated their work to the internet and are comfortable to pay £xxx to receive viewing requests directly to their desktop. It is a system that works for them and suits a reactive approach Agency. Rightmove and Zoopla can without doubt win the battle for Google rankings and SEO, no individual agent can compete with that and unless well orchestrated and well supported neither can any Agent owned portal. But the whole point of Agency is that that once an applicant has made contact with an Agent through whatever means, Internet, Newspaper, Sale board or word of mouth it is an Agent’s job to listen, understand and communicate with the applicant and not expect them to return to the internet to find other suitable properties. The internet should bee treated as an introduction to the Agency rather than a substitute for it, as such the value of any portal is the quantity of quality leads. Hits, page views and time on site are the smoke and mirrors used by internet showmen to wow their audience.
Quite frankly it is time for Agents to stop pretending to understand the internet and portals and how it interacts with Estate Agency, quite clearly the acceptance of the Status quo demonstrates either naivety or laziness. Once an Agent captures and qualifies an applicant there should be no reasonable explanation for them to ever return to the central portal.
The whole point of Agent owned portals is not necessarily to compete with the big two applicant introducers but to form collaborative lose fitting affinity groups of agents who can control the cost of the introducer portals and also pressure them to remove the added extra features that cause more harm to the industry than the benefit given to the applicant/vendor/lender [the misleading valuation tools that are so woefully and negligently wrong] (Trevor please respect this request and resist the temptation to plug INEA)
Every lazy agent and negotiator in the land will see the full value of the portals that allows them to kick back, deal with viewing requests and offers and generally avoid the work element of Estate Agency. Sadly such a system allows online agents and passive intermediaries to compete on equal terms but without the investment burden of staff or premises and thus they are able to massively undercut a traditional agent but still make excessive profits because of the very little they are having to fork out as fixed costs.
Radarhomes, nethouseprice and any other mutual, The one thing you are missing and nobody is talking about is "Brand Awarness"
How are the public going to find you? - RM' Zoopla spend hundreds of thousands if not millions each year promoting their brands.
Premiership advertising on WBA for Zoopla cant come cheap, TV adverts,
You talk about keeping costs down but how are the public going to find you?
Its going to be marketed by agents to push it??? - Hang on a min do we not all have our very own websites?!
Truth is you do not have the budget to compete!
In 12 months all the comments will be negative should this floored idea get off the ground as none of you will get the holly grail "Something for nothing!"
I really hope this mutual works as could be great as none of us like paying RM but the truth is they have an excellent business model which is why we all subscribe to it!
The other issue you have is there will always be a couple of agents in your town that are on RM / Zoopla, and looking to offer more then what you offer at present so they win the instruction which in turn will keep the major portals at the top of the pile.
Sorry to p*** on your fire but really cannot see how this would work!
Scott, you missed out..... whilst trying to make them believe it is far too technical and complicated for anyone as dumb as themselves to manage it. Local knowledge and all that.
B B Baracus on 2013-07-01 17:04:18
Scott...HHHaaahhhaaahhhhahhhahh not charge hhhaaaaaaahhhhhhhaaaaahhhhhhhh the client hhhahhahahahhhahhhhahahahhhah .
I need a tissue.
If I remember correctly, I think British Airways had the same reaction to EasyJet and Ryanair.
Haaaahhaaahhaaa! don't allocate seats, don't give them meals on board, every man for himself when boarding, don't provide any extras and don't charge for any thereby by halving the cost of a flight..
hahhhahhha! Please pass me a tissue, it think my sides are going to split...........OH! bugger the budget airlines have stolen all our customers while we were standing still sleeping in the past.
I think Mr Baracus you have just highlighted the attitude of some within the industry that has helped to fuel the less than honest reputation that estate agents have in the eyes of the public, who pay your wages. And if you are not aware what that reputation is, it's the belief that you are trying to fleece them for every penny you can make, while doing as little work as possible.
This thread is becoming an advertising platform, boring! By the way Tesco has 2 for 1 on their burgers.
How is it that the debate is forever around the two main UK portals? There are hundreds of portals out there, most of which either charge very little or nothing at all !
Perhaps the solution to this ongoing complaint it to select just one of the main players to list on (for vendor pacification) plus a whole bunch of 'lesser known' portals for inexpensive leads.
XML2U.com has compiled a list of more than 315 portals and provides feed services to them all to save you having to list manually or pay large amounts to your website or software people.
Scott...HHHaaahhhaaahhhhahhhahh not charge hhhaaaaaaahhhhhhhaaaaahhhhhhhh the client hhhahhahahahhhahhhhahahahhhah .
I need a tissue.
@Charlie Wright. Said
We're still waiting for a portal to offer something new to the consumer - that's the only chance a new portal has of getting the public to change their behaviour and stop using Rightmove.
Here's a thought, why not advertise with a portal that is free, then guarantee your clients the saving you make will be passed on to then and they won't get charged for advertising because the new portal doesn't charge you.
There's a new concept for the consumer, bet they'd like you for that.
Blue If I launch a new property portal and pay agents £10 for each property they list, will it be popular?
Yes but only if you guarantee 50 qualified leads per agent per month and that you won't pay the agent down the road £12 for each property because he has more than one office.
If I launch a new property portal and pay agents £10 for each property they list, will it be popular?
Dave, Rightmove account manager for..........
I'm not so sure any more portals is the way forward. The 'Big Two' have kind of got it sewn up. God knows, soon it could be just the 'Big One' (according to one of my EA mates in Birmingham). Consumers couldn't give two short sh*ts about how much portals charge agents. I think they need something different. I can vouch for PN too, fairly cheap and as it says in this article, quite a clever way of getting leads. Something Rightmove and Zoopla can't do...yet.
vendors want rightmove, forget all this lot.
It seems to me (as has been stated many times before) that if the majority of the public are searching and buying locally, why bother advertising on a huge portal in the first place.
Now that may seem like a strange thing to say seeing as I work for a portal. But all the moaning about portal costs seems strange if the above fact is correct.
If the average monthly fee agents pay out is £600 but they are selling locally, then why not withdraw all your properties form the biggest national/international portals and plough that money into your own websites and building brand awareness in your local area.
As we all know the public doesn't care where online they view the properties as long as it doesn't require any work on their part to do so.
The fact is yes, at the moment anybody doing a search for property simply types in Rightmove and searches their data base.
However it is just as easy to type in "property for sale in Peterborough" for example and then click on the estate agent at the top of the Google list, the agent who has fought their way to the top by optimising their company branding in Peterborough (in this case)
But this doesn't only apply to a local market. Think about it, if there were no portals and someone wanted to move from Glasgow to Peterborough that is how they would search anyway.
So which portals would survive if all agents took that route tomorrow? Well only the free ones that help with your brand awareness and and don't cost you anything, and the biggest free one out their at the moment is Finders and Sellers.
Oh buy the way if you are interested in free company branding and back links etc, maybe you should check out my latest blog. http://www.findersandsellers.com/wordpress/company-branding-free-for-you/
Paul - When people are looking to sell they do often google for Estate agents in the area they live. When people are looking to buy most go to the portals first.
This is why Trevor's model is flawed, i understand it but his claim that it helps consumers the (end-user) seems incorrect. Unless he can exaplin why?
The public like browsing in one place (an MLS makes this imposible) and without wasting an agents time or being hassled by an agent (whichever term you prefer.) It is the same across any shopping experience basically Brits dont like pushy sales.
As Peebee says though a new portal isnt going to happen soon, so you are either going to be paying 3 lots of subscriptions to market one property or choose which one you or your customer is backing.
I had typed a long and in depth reply for this thread but then deleted it and thought why bother.
I'll try to keep it short without making this an advert for Finders and Sellers.
As long as any portal relies on agency subscriptions and advertising income in order to run their business, that portal will inevitably need to increase it's prices and not just in line with inflation.
As a portal becomes more successful and grows, so it will need to employ more staff and pay higher technology related costs, not to mention paying through the nose to maintain brand awareness.
More staff, more technology, more branding means that you the agent pays more to cover those costs.
Add a few shareholders into the mix who feel the need to speculate to accumulate and before you know it, your agency run portal is just another RM, who has you by the short and curly's, especially if you allow them to dictate where else you can advertise.
@Rum - your dead right and the best way is B2B.
Portals use agents content to get traffic. Agent could use portal technology + and retain their listings to operate B2B and get sales and lets where agent A has the listing, agrees a higher fee for greater exposure. the higher fee pays a sub agent their intro fee.
People move locally, your best out and inlets are those with stock - other agents. Support yourselves. Whats the big concern to which portal owner you next make rich. Its time agents B2B get richer.
@Paul - Paul - I dissagree. When RM was new and ran heavy adverts they also where ceap (or free for agents to join) The wheels turned with Radio and TV adds to get Joe Punter to google RM. Agents were also RM's best salesmen. Now Joe Punter will often google the important bits like schools and golf courses, local surgeries, bus and tube routes. People research location then google agents in areas. King is ''properties for sale/to let'' followed by ''location'' RM - zippy and others may come up - but increasing agents OWN SEO on lifestyle searches and gaining more access to local stock would do agents tonnes of favours.
@Kevin - Kevin, Daily I see agents collaborate and offer listings that another agent will do a split on and vice versa. Its not positive to know the Titanic may be big, but is set for dissaster. A load of mini Titanics only replicate the problem ongoing of high portal costs and dependence.
Kevin, If you accept agents can work together and trade together, then this is a VERY positive thing for agents and helps consumers. People buy locally. Agents collaborating can access and offer more local listings.
Agents paying agents B2B means more money goes to agents. We now have technology that can break the rightmove data feed restraints and feed other agents listings directly back into fellow sub agents website property search. I can live demo how we can populate an agents website with another 100-200 sub listings.
Portals are needed but agents can also bulk out their websites with fellow agents listings. A % of something is better than 100% of nothing. Everyday I help agents network and bring listings to their websites to sub sell and let and earn revenue from.
Portals provide other outlets but don't give properties back.
Why don't all of us agents get together and buy a big forest and then we can control the price of wood and the price of the paper we use? Who's in?
Charlie Wright - "We're still waiting for a portal to offer something new to the consumer - that's the only chance a new portal has of getting the public to change their behaviour and stop using Rightmove"
No, Sir - the public would stop 'using' RM, Zoop etc THE SECOND that all the properties were removed and listed on yetanotherpropertyportal.com. They'd have no other choice.
But that's not gonna happen... is it?!
Trevor, we get it. Honestly. I think you have a point but can we maybe save repeating it daily?
I also can't help but note the irony of the duopoly style articles recently whilst a Zoopla banner ad runs alongside them.
Can I make a claim for positive articles and positive comments, might help the industry as a whole. If the general public need convincing things are on the up its going to be hard to do so when so many in the industry are negative.
Trevor - You said
When people move they Google Estate Agents - or Letting Agents in ....[location]......
This is incorrect, they type in 'Rightmove'.
I really cant see this happening, there needs to be a massive load of properties listed for the public to be interested, they will visit, then go to RM and not go back.
How's about this. People find a local agent and say were looking for this property type??
Agents offer what they have and when they dont have a match they talk to other local agents. One has the buyer the other the home.
Agents use the content that portals do (houses) to generate lead fees. Portals lose out as agents are then doing B2B
The RM data feed by design fails to allow agents to cross sub property data. Adopting A N Other portal that uses the restrictive RM data feed is simply a backward move.
Agents should pour their funds into local networking and optimizing their presence as local area go to house sellers and renters.
Its time to unite and for agents to trade locally together to supply public demand.
When people move they Google Estate Agents - or Letting Agents in ....[location]......
Ive never heard anyone say Im looking to move and must go to: twitter, FB or ebay.
RM and zippy have thrown £millions to gain brand awareness. All said if the listings werent there people would have to search else where. The problem is that buying into the next elsewhere being A N Other portal name don't relate without agents support to any new comer being king
Agents would be best to take control and unite weith other agents selling and letting other like listings. To do so they wouldnt need to duplicate portal costs.
King must be bringing more local property content to the agents own website.
I do hear people google [agents in ...area...) on finding agents its then that agents need more property content.
Hey I hear 'Iceland' might be doing a portal - apparently cheaper than ASDA and TESCO. From time to time they'll throw in buy one house get one free. Cool.
All that having many portals will dop is fragment Joe Publics anger to search many portals to find one house.
I think our industry leaders nknow little of portals and are somewhat in the dark. The blind leading the blind comes to mind.
Well said M.
It is important not to lose sight of a massive influencing factor agents have; and that is the advertising they themselves do FOR the portals (same effect as For Sale signs on properties). If the majority of agents stop advertising the current portals in their windows, offices and websites, and start advertising only a new portal, the public will pay attention.
Don't forget too that it's our data and if we shift it from, say, Rightmove, the public will have no choice but to use whatever portal holds the data.
As Nethousprices are ready to launch now and Agents' Mutual probably not for a year, it makes sense to try Nethouseprices now, and if that fails then Agents' Mutual will hopefully do better with their "only one other portal" policy, next year. Actually, I don't agree with the policy as it is, I think the restriction should only be "one other dominant portal". There are plenty of much smaller sites that we are also on - they don't produce much in the way of leads, but they still contribute to our market presence, which has its own worth.
@Charlie Wright - well said! its the philosophy of yourgaff.co.uk... the newest property portal to hit the market. Offer something different to the consumer in terms of a simple search process without distracting ads and side links. Speed and convenience are incredibly important.
''BREAKING NEWS''
'over 1,000 expressions of interest'
'launch an agent-owned portal this autumn'
This has been 'breaking news' for the last month, when does it change from 'breaking news' to old news.
Radarhomes is live and has been live for 3 years. Our new site design will be live within weeks.
Charlie says ''offer something new to the consumer'', what about an agent owned portal that can:
Build agents a highly functional new website,
Can provide a Social Media Re-Branding Package including property search app. for FB,
Has a mobile website already built for 90% of agencies nationwide ready to go live,
Will put staff profiles alongside listings,
WILL LINK BACK TO AGENTS OWN WEBSITES,
Will carry out an SEO (search engine optimisation) analysis for agencies across their whole web presence, Run a rolling platform of IT Marketing Seminars
All this included in membership of your own Portal?
We're in Redruth and Bodmin tomorrow and Wednesday running IT Marketing Seminars this is not ''will do soon'' we have lots of ''expressions of interest''. This is ALIVE AND KICKING!
Lets suppose Agents Mutual becomes successful. If they gain sizeable market share, will they be able to enforce their rule about only using one other portal? How does this impact on competition law? If this rule goes, you end up with 3 portals that everyone will think they have to be on and cost base is higher.
We're still waiting for a portal to offer something new to the consumer - that's the only chance a new portal has of getting the public to change their behaviour and stop using Rightmove.
The public are unaware of and do not care who owns the portals. They just want speed, convenience and choice. Every click that is removed from the search process makes them happier.