Traditional applicants have vanished from estate agents’ offices, with nine out of ten prospective buyers now booking viewings online only when they want to see a specific property.
Instead of registering with agents when they want to start looking in a particular area, house buyers now wait to see a particular property pop up online, and only then contact the agent.
Yet apparently very few first spot their next home on Rightmove.
The extraordinary claims appear factual and are based on statistics gathered by software supplier Expert Agent from its 1,200 member branches.
The website has analysed the 209,000 applicant registrations made to its members since August 1.
Of these, just half (105,000) made one or more viewing appointments – but of that number, over 90% booked a viewing at the same time they registered.
Mike Griffiths, founder of Expert Agent, says: “That means that almost all of the viewings were made with applicants who didn’t bother to register until they saw something that interested them enough to book an appointment.”
Intrigued, Expert Agent looked at where applicants are finding the properties they decide to view, but admits that statistics are not particularly accurate nor that easy to analyse, as each member branch can change their inquiry and status prompts.
Nevertheless, the statistics it has come up with are startling: it found that just 4% of the total 209,000 applicants are recorded with Rightmove as the source.
A further 9% show the source as ‘our website’.
In dismaying news for other portals, only 2% show sources that include Zoopla, Prime Location, FindaProperty or ‘other national portals’.
But the most extraordinary statistic is that getting on for half of agents do not know where the applicant first spotted the property: 44% are ‘not known’ or ‘I forgot to ask’.
Nor do agents appear that keen to follow up on an applicant’s interest: 29% do not have an email address recorded and 36% do not have a mobile number.
Griffiths admits that it is difficult to draw conclusions, with a diverse number of member agents all operating differently.
However, he says: “We’re surprised that the inquiries from ‘own sites’ is so much higher than Rightmove.
“However, Rightmove visitors that request full details on an Expert Agent hosted property get redirected to the member’s own website, so maybe this skews the figures.
“Our members’ stats suggest that old-fashioned applicants have disappeared and that house buyers now sit on the virtual fence till they see something they like and then reveal themselves to the agent in question
“It is so significant that we’re making changes to Expert Agent to accommodate this.
“Currently, our product assumes that applicants register, are sent details and then make viewing appointments.
“However, our figures suggest that we need quicker and better ways to manage the sudden appearance of a potential buyer who just wants to make viewing appointments.”
EAT would be interested in your views: do you still get people ringing up to say, ‘We’ve just started to look for a property, please can you put us on your lists’? Or has the traditional applicant well and truly vanished?
Comments
Rightmove & the rest of the property portals are parasites destroying our business.
Will someone tell me exactly what they have added to our industry, we all know what they have taken away.
I must be missing the point here (as per usual).
Salesmanship is still a massive part of our job - the fees are less because agents dont try to sell.
My office is now number 1 in the area, by working with the portals, obtaining the enquireries (from real listings), and then servicing the applicants. It is very rare that an applicant chooses the rigtht property they really want, and thats where the agents comes in, as they ask and probe questions and can match them up from properties they may not have seen (this happens with alarming regularity, as people generally have a large area, and cant be bothered looking at 500 @ properties and shortlisting.
the biggest DIFFERENCE between all agents is sales progression and servcing applicants. my office is the most expensive in the area by 0.5%, not saying we are great here, but we actually go out and sell - it is amazing what can still be done, just re-programme the mind-set!
When I read this article my immediate thoughts were that EAs are reluctant to admit that most of their prospective customers come to them after first finding a house they are interested in via Rightmove.
Admitting this would involve admitting that the importance of the EA in the house buying/selling has declined massively.
If indeed the importance of the EA has declined, then the reduced fees that are currently such a bane of contention in the EA community have a rational justification.
And it also begs the question about how long the current EA business model can survive before it is replaced with a more innovative, lower cost, web centric sales model.
Al and @Al - There is a line to be met.
It's very common for a registered buyer to be called every day with properties that are usually over-budget and to be bombarded with brochures that still don't match what you want through the post...thats why people prefer the new approach - to search at their own pace.
If you're happy to make a sale behind closed doors, you're not giving it the maximum exposure and probably losing a few quid for you and the seller.
From experience and feedback from friends, the ability to surf the net and find local property online is a god send - a lot of people do not want to deal with an agent (pestering calls/excessive post etc) until they have found a good reason to hand over their details.
I could name a few who actually ring with nothing to say or every day without fail - There is doing 'a job' for the sake of it and 'doing a job well'. Unfortunately, they get this completely wrong, to the point that it can put potential buyers off.
@ @Al
Interesting point, and I daresay quite correct. I'm not averse to striking up a relationship with local agents at the moment, but I know it would ultimately be wasting their time and mine so I'll wait for the timebeing. As you say, perhaps that runs the risk of missing out of some properties that come along and shift before really being put up for sale 'officially', but I'm comfortable with that for the timebeing. When I do wish to buy, hopefully I'll be able to conduct a swift, hassle free transaction with the minimum of fuss for the agent and seller (famous last words.. :-))
My boss is mental. I want out.
This made me laugh:
"...but admits that statistics are not particularly accurate nor that easy to analyse"
How can you make a market comment if even the company that provides it admits it's not accurate
AL wrong advice you have been given. If you are a good buyer the best agents will put you ahead of the chaff that just surf, register and talk to the best if you want the best property. These will probaly never get on rightmove.
The ignorants that want the end of agency, no chance by the way, won't like this but you can't knock truth however biggoted you are.
Monkey Tennis - exactly. It allows people like me to get to know an area and the stock available without having to pretend that I'm interested in buying it there and then.
Seems like a win-win imo.
Al's comments should be welcome by estate agents, the internet is great at filtering for estate agents, where in the past people like Al would visit an estate agents to get an idea and basically waste their time, his curiosity can be fulfilled by Rightmove & co leaving agents to deal with just the serious buyers who are out viewing, and of course a good agent will register these buyers on their lean and mean mailing list
As someone who will be looking to buy in a couple of years, there's little chance that I'll register with EAs. It is much easier to browse online, maybe take a look from the outside before deciding whether or not to contact the agent to book a viewing.
Part of the problem at the moment is that much of the stock listed is (imo) hugely overpriced and therefore it is not worth wasting everyone's time arranging a viewing. It is a straightforward discourtesy to both the agent and the seller to view the property when I've no intention of coughing up what they are asking for it, so why bother going out of my way to offend people?
As for the fees situation outlined by AC, this is simply a symptom of the fag end of a boom. Fees will rise only when you get your pricing power back, and that will only happen when the number of agents is commensurate with the business available. It is a phenomenon seen in virtually every sphere of business.
The selling needs to be done at valuation. ALMOST EVERY AGENT will overvalue and do a cheap fee because that's all they are capable of. HARDLY ANY AGENT will demonstrate to the seller why they are the best agent, why the need to Market at a sensible price and justify why their fees are what they are (why should they anyway - most people wouldn't bother at all or just simply wouldn't get it) If the property is on rightmove at the right price it will sell!
From the original source:
"4% of the 209,000 applicants are recorded with source "Rightmove".
9% show source as "Our Web Site" or similar.
2% show sources that include Zoople, Prime Location, Find a Property or Other National Portals.
Amazingly, 44% are set to "Not Known" or "I forgot to ask" "
So... I guess the remaining 41% just materialised out of the ether...
Please note the extract from the leaked Minutes from the the last Bored (purposeful typo...) Meeting at ExpertAgent:
MG: "Right you horrible lot. I'm sick and tired of that Shipside bloke getting all the column inches.
I want you to come up with some statistics NOW - and they must portray rightmove in a poor light."
Statistics Director: Ermmm - what statistic would you like, MG?
MG: "ANY damn statistic. Doesn't even have to add up. Most people don't even bother to check them anyway.
Just make sure that 'Expert Agent' gets a mention at least once a paragraph..."
Meeting adjourned...
;o)
The selling needs to be done at valuation. A weak agent will overvalue and do a cheap fee because that's all they are capable of. A good agent will demonstrate to the seller why they are the best agent, why the need to Market at a sensible price and justify why their fees are what they are. If the property is on rightmove at the right price it will sell!
The selling needs to be done at valuation. A weak agent will overvalue and do a cheap fee because that's all they are capable of. A good agent will demonstrate to the seller why they are the best agent, why the need to Market at a sensible price and justify why their fees are what they are. If the property is on rightmove at the right price it will sell!
The selling needs to be done at valuation. A weak agent will overvalue and do a cheap fee because that's all they are capable of. A good agent will demonstrate to the seller why they are the best agent, why the need to Market at a sensible price and justify why their fees are what they are. If the property is on rightmove at the right price it will sell!
This is where estate agency has to become cheaper to run and estate agents have to look at all non-essential costs and eliminate them to survive. If you are on the High St with £20k base costs and require 10 sales a month to survive, you could struggle in these lean times. The trick is to get base costs down to around £5k a month and even during the leanest market you can still derive a handsome profit.
"All the Same", nothing new in that argument, we ran a campaign on exactly that in the 80s, just a different message. It was very, very effective, but you have to be better than the crowd.
Nothing has changed just the technology. Proper servicing of buyers will sell property and that takes effort to actually talk to them, to qualify them as a prospect, then sell to them, the net and any software package just a tool, it’s not the job, same today as it ever was.
Get a hot box on every negs desk......not a PC!
@Hawkeye
How about closing down the 'business' and finding a proper job?
Oh Hawkeye, if only
The average fee in my town is probably below 1%.
I lost an instruction the other day to 0.5% inc VAT on a £250k flat.
The problem is that that works out as £1,000 clear on completion - but it was a definite seller. The agent I lost it to is set up to be a volume agent and have over 100 properties on their books.
1 extra instruction for them is no real problem, but the fee is important.
But to me it would not have been worth it. It is cheaper for me to just let them have it.
Economies of scale it is called.
I remember, back in the day, that if you had to ask what my fee was, you couldn't afford me and I just got up and walked out (sort of joking - but only ish).
The problem is that I think that an average fee of 1%+VAT at current average values with a NORMAL volume level is probably right, but we have a few issues:
1. Agents going lower than 1%
2. Properties are overpriced by 20-30%
3. Volumes appear to be a third to half normal levels.
I am having the same problem in lettings too, having lost lettings instructions to agents who are buying market share at 5% commission rates. Which gives a total of £600+VAT for a whole year's letting which is insane business.
You are of course correct Ray.
But first, you need someone to sell to.
AC - very hard to argue with you. Your final quip about fees are dropping through the floor annoys me intensely as well.
Can we start a campaign to get fees up. Locally there are about 30 to 40% fewer instructions and fees are going down! Madness. Always a good idea to sell half as many houses for half the fee. Makes perfect sense to destroy a business.
As ES says '.....but most staff are hopeless. Thick, unresponsive, illiterate,......' I agree entirely and with falling fees and falling inteligence where might it end?
Get fees up and get to employ good people.
Come on AC I will start with 2% sole and 2.5% limited multi ie 2 only offering and 3% for full multi.
Over to you.
@Tim M on 2011-12-05 11:22:34
Selling and Salemanship is a major PART of Marketing.
"Marketing" is the complete concept of a product from start to finish.
Anonymous Coward drop me an email.
freebie@gmx.com
I will enlighten you.
Anyone else (who cares enough) for that matter.
Both Paul and Tim are right, but there is a problem.
It is almost impossible to differentiate your services from other agents.
RM & FAP make us all look the same.
We all do floorplans/ photos/ tours etc.
We all do descriptions & room sizes.
As one client recently commented at valuation "You're all the same aren't you?"
And that's also a huge problem because owners are now using RM & FAP to work out which agent to call for a valuation.
What else can we spend money on? The newspaper, Facebook & Twitter campaigns. All while fees are dropping through the floor.
Anonymous coward is right, in that the old fashion way of registering and then going through your database to sell a property is fading out.
I tend to value direct online enquiries over 'calling out the database' as you get spend less time viewing and therfore have less people trouncing through vendors proeprties.
The skill for many is now in the quality of your marketing and the ability to deal with an incoming enquiry appropriately!
Times are a changing.
The process of selling property has changed, as Anonymous Coward rightly points out, the actual selling role has diminished. As it has in many other industries.
A new skill set is now necessary. Marketing.
There is such a thing as a good listing and a poor listing. The new skill is in marketing the pants of your properties, not just listing them.
@Emma
The internet is just an updated newspaper advert.
BUT...
The race for agents to provide better advertising than their competitors means that we put more & more info on it which allows the customer to decide for themselves whether or not to call/ email for a viewing.
The problem with this is that if you sit at home and never call me, how can I tell you that because it is Wednesday today, the owner of that flat there will take a huge offer, but won't reduce their asking price.
The NUMBER of opportunities for me to use the skills that I have built up over 20 years is reducing rapidly.
It is quite sad, because the chances of me being able to actually do a good SALES job for my clients is approaching zero.
The rest I can still do well and of course making sure the presentation is 100% is now vital.
But it is a shame that all estate agency will quietly reduce down to a telephone answering service/ reception service.
The internet is a much better place to find properties than in an estate agent. I
The people that own estate agents are normally quite good, but most staff are hopeless. Thick, unresponsive, illiterate, lack of interest and hopeless at paperwork.
As "Anonymous Coward" rightly says, it's because over the years the craft of estate agency has disappeared and now it's just a refuge for any dumb 20-year-old who didn't qualify for a Saturday job in Miss Selfridge.
9% of applicants from our own websites? and how many of the 1,200 members use expertagent powered sites I wonder. Maybe you have inadvertently found an area of the membership that needs a big improvement Mike.
This is a nightmare.
Vendor asks "Why are there no viewings?"
The answer is obvious - "Your price is too high"
Buyers now sit at home trawling the internet and NOT calling agents unless they see something they like at a price they feel is reasonable.
Back in the day, it was me, a phone, a box of cards and a newspaper advert. Buyers HAD to register to find out what was available, which gave me the chance of SELLING to them.
Now, the internet does that, so all I do is book appointments and the only time any skill is involved is in tying up an offer or maybe dealing with a sale once solicitors are involved.
The wheeling and dealing that I used to really enjoy, the thing that made the job fun, is slowly disappearing.
Soon, Rightmove will be able to take over because there will be no need for us sad old dinosaurs.