New portal lands firmly on agents' radar

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• 08 June 2010 19:36 PM

Chris - firstly can I just say that there are aspects of what you say that I admire; others that make me believe you are simply in it for a quick buck which I abhor in Estate Agents (and one of the reasons I left the profession).
There are, however, one or two of your statements which do not ring true and I would appreciate clarification (I will not be the only one to have noticed these...).
Firstly, your second comment on this thread stated "I used to manage a large city centre office... and have just decided to set up a business from home." yet in your previous post you said "to date we have probably sold around 300 properties that were also being marketed by other agents (I.e. Multi listings), yet over the same 5-years not one agent has sold one of our properties on a multi agency basis!" Which is is - 'just', or '5-years'?
Secondly, in more than one post you state that you are a two-man band (yourself and your wife). Then you go on to say " How many sales a month can you put completely against your name? 1 or 2?
Out of the 10, my wife and I can earn 4 each!"
So who clims the other 2??
By the way - those that scoff at 10 sales per month should realise that there are HUNDREDS of offices up and down the country who struggle to achieve 10 a month. They all count towards the national total - so show some respect for them all. And more's to the point, they probably work equally as hard - harder, even - to achieve those sales than the rest of you.

• 02 June 2010 10:36 AM

"First of all Staff. There are none, only my wife and I"

Which followed the earlier post.

"The people in our office are not sales types, but order takers. They arrange veiwings and submit offers, that's it."

So the second paragraph becomes; "me and the wife are not sales people, we take orders arrange viewings and submit offers, thats it.

Chris has outlined his staffing levels and his full range of services, I might be old fashioned but this cut priced, internet dependant property selling is not Estate Agency as I know it.

• 02 June 2010 09:20 AM

to Ray Sheringham, PeeBees gone mad... and others who give a shizzle - please note that the 'PeeBee' who posted here is NOT me! Can't understand why someone wants to hijack my chosen forum name - after all it is often ridiculed - and most of this individual's posts are deleted. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Reading this person's posts, I can confidently say it isn't - and I'm not flattered at all! Find a new name, please, 'PeeBee' - I ain't changing mine.

• 31 May 2010 10:42 AM

no need to spit your dummy out Chris. I know how much work comes our way by having a prominant office. well done by the way for having the moral high ground on fee's. by that I mean taking a hit in the pocket because your not greedy. are you sure you can't charge a higher fee because you simply couldn't justifie it? by that I mean your not worth it. Anyway good night and happy retirement Chris. Don't forget to set the alarm for 8.45 on Tuesday, up and at em for 9 o'clock! thanks for the last word

• 30 May 2010 01:18 AM

Wardy, your beginning to be a pain now. Please read all of my previous posts and stop taking the snippets that you like. NOT ONE AGENT HAS SOLD ONE OF OUR PROPERTIES UNDER MULTI AGENCY MARKETING, YET WE HAVE SOLD HUNDREDS OF OTHER AGENTS PROPERTIES ON A MULTI AGENCY BASIS!
Got it now. Let me enlighten you because you clearly have selective reading. WE SELL PROPERTY OVER OUR COMPETITORS! SAME PRICE, SAME HOUSE, SAME MARKET. We charge less because we are not greedy unlike most, but our ability to sell property is unquestionable. If I choose to take on only property that is NOT over priced, that is a luxury I can afford, unlike many agents that take what they can. Don't knock it mate, you would do the same if you could. Only a fool takes on a property they can't sell! Anyway, I'm off now. You can be big and have the last word if you want. This will show everyone else here how pathetic you really are, so go for it mate, how can you possibly resist?

• 29 May 2010 23:24 PM

ohhhh, I get it. So the trick is to only take on property that's keenly priced, the sort of property where you only need rightmove to get away with a sale, times that by 3 (so you get the same commision as an agent that sells 1) and hey presto your a succesfull agent. Brilliant!

• 29 May 2010 20:14 PM

Wardy, no we win instructions because we sell the properties we list. We don't rip vendors off charging megga bucks even though we could. Having the flexibilty to win the business on fees if we want to is a bonus and why should I feel guilty about it. Lower your fees and you will probably win more. Of course you can do like the rest and over-value everything you see if it will help, but then you can't shift them. I can cherry pick my stock. Value at the right price using comparables and if they don't like it, they can go elsewhere and sit on the market for a long time!
Thanks for the agent of the year award by the way.
The way property is sold in this country is evolving. Keep up of get left behind! ;-)
I don't make the rules, I just use them to my advantage. That's what being in business is all about!

• 29 May 2010 18:10 PM

Chris, you win instructions because you undercut, very inovative!
Johnno is right, you are estate agent of the year! you can collect your award in your dressing gown if you like while the wife gets the kettle on.

• 29 May 2010 14:17 PM

We need a national portal to be a contender to RM. Maybe EAT should set up an agent owned portal. I'd be up for that.

• 29 May 2010 13:19 PM

Chris - I've put your name forward to Estate Agent of the Year.

• 29 May 2010 12:41 PM

Johno, 10-sales a month is sufficeint to earn a good wage. Remember there are only two of us. We have no staff to pay, no employer NI contributions, no separate heating bills, don't need a weekender as we are home anyway to catch the calls that come in, only need one company car etc. etc. How many sales a month can you put completely against your name? 1 or 2?
Out of the 10, my wife and I can earn 4 each!
Now that's a boast! ;-)

• 29 May 2010 11:28 AM

Wardy, how can we be offering a sub-standard service when we sell virtually everything we list and are recommended by vendors/ buyers to other potential customers? The business model works otherwise we wouldn't still be trading through a recession. The only people that do not like our business model are other agents as we can always undercut them on fees if we want the property badly enough.
I have seen agency work on both sides of the fence. I have managed a number of traditional agencies and if we wanted an office/ shop, we could rent one or even buy one outright, but it's not required! I was once told that most of the London based estate agencies operate as we do, so this is nothing new.
In 2009, YourMove closed their large branch in the City and moved everyone into an office block with no shop front! Earlier this year they moved back to the high street, but into a tiny office/ shop. It kept their costs down and they are still trading as a result. I am not trying to tell anyone to do as we do, in fact I would prefer it if you didn't. My point was simply to illustrate that Rightmove/ the internet is slowly taking over our main marketing stream, making having a shop on the high street much less important. Put your heads in the sand if you want to, but please don't slag us off just because we are making it work, and don't make judgments on the quality of our service when you know nothing about us or our excellent reputation.

• 29 May 2010 11:22 AM

Chris....This is an open blog not Free Ads..10 sales in the month? Was that a boast or the worst month of the year? If I had only achieved 10 unit sales in a month I would be extremely concerned!!

• 29 May 2010 09:46 AM

so to sum up, the model chris has adopted is to pay a subscription to rightmove, undercut agents fee's, work from home with the wife with all the distractions that involves, grab the money and shut the thing down after two years of giving people a sub-standard service. I like it Chris, estate agency really is that easy.

• 29 May 2010 09:33 AM

Wow, a lively debate.

First of all Staff. There are none, only my wife and I, plus a self employed mortgage advisor that works for another firm and pops over once or twice a week The only people likely to lose their jobs are my wife and I when we retire! :-)

Second, location.
Our 2500 square foot house has two dedicated offices to work from. We are located on a main road in a small village two miles from a city centre. We even have a sign up on the wall in front of our property. We pay an extra £80 a month towards council rates for working from home. Buyers or sellers know where we are and they often pop in to pick up a brochure or drop off keys!

We have never touted for business, never leaflet drop as 100% of our instructions come from recommendations and word of mouth, so we must be doing something right!
We are one of the smallest agents in the area, yet we have just sold one of the largest value sales in the area at 3.5 million pounds! So far this month we are on 8-sales. Last month we did 10, so it's been okay so far I guess.

We are invited to fresh property and second hand stuff too and sell across the whole price range. £60k to £3.5million.

My point is that an office on the high street is not necessary now that the internet plays such a major role. Lets face it, what are you holding in your offices? Paper and photos of property, that's it. Ask your vendors how often they walk into estate agencies? Most will say never, so why mess about having one.
Our business model is identical to most of yours minus the shop/office.

Finally, I reiterate my earlier point. How to test whether an agent is any good? Gave a number of agents the same property at the same price in the same market at the same time and if one agent continually sells these properties, they must be the better agent! Would you not agree? Since we started this business in 2004/ 2005, not one agent has sold one of our properties, yet we have sold hundreds of theirs. I am pretty sure we will still be here in many years to come if we decided to hang around!
Don't think you can survive easily if Rightmove opened the doors to Joe Public. I'm not complacent enough to thing we will be and your business model offers little else other than higher running and staffing costs.

• 29 May 2010 01:02 AM

"Read the whole of each post"

EASY TIGER!!!!

• 28 May 2010 17:25 PM

I did....

"In two more years, my wife and I will be retiring and we are still in our 40's."

Chris might have other plans for his business when he retires in two years time, but without explanation neither you I or his staff know what they are. If I knew my boss was planning to retire in two years time I would be concerned.

You haven't understood the second item you have quoted either. That is advice not critism. If Chris is smart and it sounds as if he is. He will be able to see the reverse motivator. It will only be those who don't understand character types and tailored motivation who can only see it as critisism.

With regard to manners I am not the one who had to resort to obioquy.
(If you have still got the dictionary open from spelling obnoxious that should be the word above it)

• 28 May 2010 13:53 PM

" I am sure all his staff are delighted with the news they will be out of work within 2 years." and.... "
If Chris is as good as he claims, he is either a coward or stupid for not having prominent office presence and charging Joe Public full whack for his excellent service. " ..... These are two of my personal favourite quotes and are also reasons, why after this post I will no longer entertain you and your lack of manners. The customer is paying for the service and the property. As long as an all round excellent service is provided, who cares where the agent works from? An office does not make you a good EA and operating as an online EA helps you to deliver that flexibility that clients need. Chris states that his fees are lower because his overheads are, passing on the saving to his clients, so its a win-win for all involved. Online EAs will increase because the good ones have proved that the concept definitelt works.

• 28 May 2010 13:03 PM

It is all right to have an opinion as long as it fits with yours?

My opinions might not fit with yours and I might not be a regular poster here but EAT is not an exclusive club where only regulars can post.

There have always been folk offering cheap deals, fixed fees and low commissions in order to win business, that has been going on far longer than Chris's 15 years in the business so don't worry there is very little for me to get over.
I will go back to my original point that Rightmove and Google are more of a threat to his current style of business than if he were to have a traditional Agency set up, with half a dozen young negotiators, all learning how to do the job properly and well from someone who has been there and done it before.

P.S. I would far rather be called obnoxious than tolerate the "Local Shop for Local People" censorship by a handful of regulars who prevent full discussion of most subjects

• 28 May 2010 12:20 PM

Obnoxious toad! Give it a rest mate. He stressed an opinion, that's all. Get over it.

• 28 May 2010 10:17 AM

A bloke comes on here and boasts figures that a negotiator ought to be averaging! then predicts that we are all doomed by the threat of Rightmove opening up to J Public and I am the one accused of bad manners and lacking sense.

If Chris is as good as he claims, he is either a coward or stupid for not having prominent office presence and charging Joe Public full whack for his excellent service.

• 27 May 2010 20:57 PM

Changing names every time you post.

Chris may be wrong when he says RM allowing the great unwashed to list their own homes would kill agency. But it would certainly have a severe negative effect.

Calling his a "no tangible asset" business shows a lack of manners and sense. Would he be OK if he rented premises, or used to loan to purchase. Or would he then be simply in debt.

• 27 May 2010 15:17 PM

Chris's original post and you will be able to follow the thread rather than just getting confused.

Chris has boasted how well his business model is doing and that all traditional agents will die when Rightmove and presumably Google, (despite their hungover Adwords salesman denying any knowledge of their plans last week) open their doors to Mr and Mrs J Public.

I simply disagree with Chris's opinion and am explaining why. His, no tangible asset, business is a as permanent as a Hip provider. I am sure all his staff are delighted with the news they will be out of work within 2 years.

Dignity can only flourish when the boasting stops!

I remember being told that Devon Team would be closed up and gone by 1989, I was told that Prudential, Royal Life Halifax etc would finish us independant agents off. This is just another over hyped, ego driven prophesy of doom that sounds like Jesse James' former wife.

• 27 May 2010 14:58 PM

The original story line by EAT does have a point. Good luck to Radar they deserve a shot and are at least being new politically correct by having it's members have the control, something RM failed miserably with.

Yep big portals only exist because the agents made them so big and they now consider they can't do without them, nonsense. The very sucessful agent is the one who works at his job and not sits back waiting for the cleint to come to him.

40% of the nation is still without a PC. Now there is a point as to how effective web sites are!

• 27 May 2010 13:50 PM

How does not having a High Street office translate into "piggy backing off other folks instructions and professional knowledge".

• 27 May 2010 13:33 PM

If you don't think there will be an increase in online EA's, you need a reality check. Nobody is saying that traditional EAs with offices will be run out of business...nobody. The point is that online EAs can more than hold their own in the modern world. Look at Woolies - all of their tat was sold for cheaper online and they were forced to go bust. Not quite the same risk for traditional agents, just the issue that online EAs will continue to get a slice of the pie and stay well fed. PS - Good on you, Chris :)

• 27 May 2010 13:04 PM

selling property does not make anyone an Estate Agent.
Working from home, piggy backing off other folks instructions and professional knowledge will certainly give one the ability to offer cheap fees. But just as Pound shops haven't shut down M&S, I doubt very much whether property bucket shops based on Rightmove marketing are going to dent the true Estate Agency Industry.

• 27 May 2010 12:31 PM

"Theres a big difference" what are you going on about?
I used to manage a large city centre office after progressing through the roles "Neg, valuer, assistant manager etc." and have just decided to set up a business from home. We have two offices in our home, with all the neccessary desks computers, photo copiers etc. We carry out exactly the same job as the bigger agents and because of my 15-year experience, can probably value property more accuratley than the new boys that often haven't got a clue. More often than not, we will increase the price of a listing because the other agent got the price and marketing compltely wrong. (I.e valuing a 3-bed chalet bungalow as a 2-bed because two of the three beds are upstairs and the vendor was using bed three as a study)
From every other angle we are the same, VAT registerd, part of the Property Ombudsman, have full indemnity insurance etc.
If your profit margins are tight and you have an expensive shop/ office, when the market cools as it did in 2008, you could lose everything. This month alone, we have made £30k in sales, yet our running costs are less than £4k a month! You do the maths. We are still here, yet 50% of the normal agents in the area went to the wall in 08/09! In two more years, my wife and I will be retiring and we are still in our 40's.

• 27 May 2010 12:26 PM

@there is a big property difference - I too, fail to see your point that you raise - what was your actual point? I know of people who have bought from an EA and there very FIRST VISIT to the office, was to pick up the keys when they moved in. That summarises how essential an office actually is. People will buy from any agent (with or without an office) who have the property they want, at the right price and at the right time. Good customer service skills do not grow in an office either, that is for sure.

• 27 May 2010 12:10 PM

Sorry Tim, time to disagree with you. At least 30 percent of our sales are down to office walk in's. More than covers the cost of the office.

• 27 May 2010 10:27 AM

Why on earth are NAEA members still happy to see millions (££s) of their subs spent on PropertyLive? Maybe it needs SPLINTA to campaign (Scrap PropertyLive In No Time At all). Or is everyone hoping to win a cuddly toy or training course in Arbon House's latest marketing campaign to flog this deceased duck?

• 27 May 2010 10:23 AM

Because often the multiple valuations are being done by valuers who have got the same level of insight as the vendors(limited)
I sit here and look at the portals and local paers on a weekly basis and each week can find at least 6 seriously under valued properties.
within 10 miles of here.

Theres is an almost identical property to the one I am watching which has obviously been valued according to first one. In both cases the proprerties have been valued without regard to their immediate income or development potential. The bricks and Mortar value is about right. but the £42,000/annum income possible from them is simply being ignored.
How about those ransom properties that no-one spots.Recent local example; £300,000 bungalow blocking access to 7 acres of land within the development plan. The £3000 the Exceutors saved in agency fees acutally cost them at least £428,000. Well within the 6 years limitations perion there is now about £14,000,000 of property in the field.

• 27 May 2010 10:03 AM

Just because the guy chooses not to work from an office does not mean that his ability to value property accurately has also been removed.

Why would a vendor agree to sell at so far below market value and how on earth could you persuade them to do so ?

The only difference between an online agent and a High Street one is an (expensive to run) office. Not much else.

• 27 May 2010 09:23 AM

A property retailer and an Estate Agent. I predict there will be Estate Agents long after Google and Tescos have dispatched or swallowed nill asset Property selling companies like yours. The professional cut cost retailers are more of a threat to your business model than they will ever be to a traditional Agent.
Professional Agents will always get work once the litigation phase kicks in. Selling their expertise to Litigation Lawyers when claims for under selling start to come in.
I would guess that your "agency" agreement doesn't cover you for not having done a proper valuation. I would guess you have no defence evidence if any vendor claims against you in the next 6 years.
You are seemingly offering the same service as an Estate Agent but without the wit or substance to realise what a very weak position you are in.
You might have a fair wad in the bank but you might need that to defend a single claim for professional negligence.
I am just waiting for one 20% undervalued property to exchange locally before offering my services (£200/hour) to a disgruntled vendor who is being taken for a £113,000 shortfall in their sale price. It won't be the local p155 poor valuer/agent who get sued it will the succesful "effective cause of sale"
It might be worth nipping down to see Cut price Colin the Conveyancer to see if he knows if your terms of business hold water.

• 27 May 2010 08:45 AM

good luck radar......

• 27 May 2010 07:43 AM

I run what many describe as an internet estate agency. We work from home and have no office on the high street. Appart from that, we do the same as the other agents. Use the papers, have boards, use Rightmove, have our own website, send out brochures, photograph our properties etc. yet to date we have probably sold around 300 properties that were also being marketed by other agents (I.e. Multi listings), yet over the same 5-years not one agent has sold one of our properties on a multi agency basis! We are quite proud of this and because our overheads are lower, we can afford to undercut on fees and spend more on things like the papers etc. Okay, so what's my point? My point is that the internet is the major driving force behind our marketing. In fact around 85% of our sales come through Rightmove alone! Rightmove is on the side of the agents. As soon as they open the doors to Mr Joe Public, most of the UK agents will die, I am fairly convinced of this. The people in our office are not sales types, but order takers. They arrange veiwings and submit offers, that's it. It's not rocket science. If you want to get the best price for your car, you don't go to a dealer, you sell it on autotrader/ ebay. When Rightmove allow vendors to use their site, most vendors will avoid agents completely. Don't be too quick to kick Rightmove. The man that killed the golden goose and all that.

• 27 May 2010 00:05 AM

Peebee is right (again) and no, I'm not his dad.

Agents want it all their own way. Zero trading costs and maximum fees.

No stock to buy, no raw materials to buy, no transport infrastructure to maintain, no machinery to lease etc.Punters GIVE us our stock, all we do is promote it. Most do so badly because they are either too tight to pay for good marketing material themselves or too s41t scared to ask the vendor to pay in case they are rumbled.

Cann't market, cann't sell, cann't negotiate, not even their own fees or expenses ! Mmmm why do the public think we are t0055ers ?

The only good thing in our favour is that we know where 82%+ of our customers are looking. So, most moan that it is not free.

Any other industry, insurance, white goods, cars, rag trade, etc. would be fighting for top space not moaning about the cost. Cost is only cost if there is no return. When there is return, it is called investment.

Business, and no I don't work for RM.

• 26 May 2010 19:48 PM

I'm sure they're a great bunch of guys and all that but they have 15298 properties vs Rightmove's 800,000+. And I'll wager most of Radar's are also on Rightmove so that's not even a measure of market share. The agent shareholding idea isn't new and it didn't work for those that have tried it before. As I'm sure we all know, 2% of nothing is still nothing. The reason Rightmove is dominant is that every time a new amateur portal pops up, we all kid ourselves that they are players, until they fold. Look4aProperty was probably the best funded portal startup (remember their alleged £10m TV campaign?) and it's still barely known despite the best efforts of it's owners. Until there is a major challenge from a lender, media company and/or Google, these guys are just fragmenting the small area of the market that isn't loyal to RM. Painful to watch.

• 26 May 2010 19:08 PM

I just had a look at the site,Well done guys a great idea. If the agents in the South West are building this we should all help them. Imagine if in te future we all owned a site that we had control over.By the way DishHome I had no problem finding Your Move, I typed in Your Move under 'Find Agents' and hey presto! they appeared.

• 26 May 2010 17:48 PM

Anyone who follows this site will know that is not actually "Peebee" who is posting.

• 26 May 2010 16:36 PM

Just ask for a copy of there contractsd to look over intresting reading some of the terms used.
And i can not find a single property of yourmove on the site any one else care to correct me feel free.

• 26 May 2010 16:22 PM

I remember Mark Flynn from my conveyancing days in the South West. A very good agent and businessman. If anyone can make this work it is likely to be Mark and his colleagues. I wish them the best of luck.

• 26 May 2010 15:34 PM

With Agent support very obvious down here in the South West, the Purchasing Public is very aware of RadarHomes.
As a portal it doesn't need to make a profit so long as the investment is covered by a single sale.

• 26 May 2010 14:56 PM

Well I think its all a breath of freshair, Good luck Radarhomes Im behind you 100%

• 26 May 2010 14:51 PM

I think a little "In my opnion" wouldn't go amiss in most people's comments. Peebee, please speak for yourself. What a nob.

• 26 May 2010 14:50 PM

Until it starts appearing on the publics RADAR i dont care..

How many shareholders does it take to make a profit

• 26 May 2010 14:04 PM

PeeBee is always banging on about the public's perception of estate agents re spelling and grammar, then he goes and then posts that?

• 26 May 2010 13:14 PM

PeeBee: ...."Agents are (and I admit as I am one) the most money grabbing bend the rules people you can meet....."

If that is you, I wish you were not.

• 26 May 2010 11:09 AM

Portals are an important part of agents marketing, but to the best agents they are secondary to their own website, and this is how it should be. Radar Homes sounds like a serious contender (anyone who gets the UKs biggest single brand agent as a shareholder is clearly serious) but without the annual profits of £30m+ that Rightmove has, it will at best become another strong "also ran" and there's nothing wrong with that. Some agents not on Rightmove will use it as a point of difference. But Radar Homes must be in this to make money as well, otherwise the scheme will fail. So presumably members will also have to pay an additional subscription to cover running costs and a serious marketing campaign, if and when the site has enough listings to compete with the other portals, because that is the biggest reason applicants return to portals - because the more properties on a portal, the less sites they have to search. No matter how good any new portal's marketing is, and even if they can bring a meaningful point of difference to the consumer, without enough listings its going to be very, very difficult to compete. Haven't PropertyLive tried a similar thing? It took Rightmove 10 years to get where it has today, even with huge budgets and resources and major brands all listing. No amount of luck or money will leapfrog that, even with listings. Globrix has more listings than Rightmove, and is a great site, but still hasn't managed to shift Rightmove from the public's awareness as the place to go. Best of luck to Radar Homes, but all agents joining should be realistic about its prospects.

• 26 May 2010 11:00 AM

We can rule out hypothermia; the weather is quite clement. Real word use rules out Tongues, so one has to suspect this Garrulous Babble is down to mix up with his medication.

• 26 May 2010 10:48 AM

I agree with Simon. The site seems to be very poorly ranked. It is at around 91,000 in the UK whilst my own site created about six weeks ago is at 92,000. They have had six months to get ahead. I predict that in another six weeks (when Google releases my site from the SEO sandbox) I will move ahead of them.

What kind of major threat to Rightmove fails to smash the stat's of a brand new site of a small local independent agent?

I have a Blog on the paranormal ranked 53,000 in the UK. I wager they will never beat my ranking for that one and will likely close down or be absorbed by a competitor long before coming close.

• 26 May 2010 10:43 AM

Doesn't seem to get much traffic. Alexa world ranking of only 1,700,000. A decent agency website with SEO can do better than that. Mine just sells leaflets and estate agency marketing ideas and scores load higher on traffic with a current ranking of 493,067. I know whats comming to mine, theres going to be lots less going to Radar

• 26 May 2010 10:18 AM

Anna - WELL SAID!

So what's next? are agents all setting up radar newspaper so agents can own their own newspaper rather than pay their local papers?

Following this....will agents club together and become a Britsih Land and own all their own property to prevent landlords from dictating rents.

Next will be agents owning a telephone company to get free calls, then an internet company to get free web access.

Following this agents will buy DELL so that they need not have to pay for their PC's. oOh of course, i forget next will be owning Microsoft so that all their software is free along with Vebra and DezRez.

What a load of rubbish. Agents are (and I admit as I am one) the most money grabbing bend the rules people you can meet.

If agents think portals will take this lying down they are thick.

Rightmove, look4aproperty, findaproperty, primelocation and others will simply sell direct to the public by allowing them to list their homes for £299 and with their combined VAST traffic they will KILL estate agents.

Portals will retaliate to hit agents in the same way as agents are trying to hit portals.

Rightmove already alows private listings for overseas. If agents don't continue to pay portals they will hurt agents - SIMPLE!

• 26 May 2010 10:11 AM

For goodness sake, portals are no more money grabbing than estate agents. It's a business. Portals give you clients and enquiries and therefore sales, so stop moaning....If you seo'd your estate agents websites better you wouldn't need the portals.

• 26 May 2010 09:21 AM

We are members and are right behind it - it's about time we ascerted a little control back. The only thing that is a little disappointing is that a lot of the member agents don't seem to publicise the site as much as they could.

• 26 May 2010 09:17 AM