Sixty-eight per cent of high street estate agents are willing to consider introducing a range of tailored services for home movers in addition to providing the traditional services, according to a new survey.
The research was carried out by Move with Us who polled more than 100 independent estate agents across Britain.
Of the estate agents prepared to diversify their services, 88% revealed that they would offer a bundle of services, allowing homeowners to pick their preferred option and to have greater control over the services they receive. These include a combination of listing a property for sale on Rightmove and/or Zoopla only, taking professional photos, writing the property description as well as handling viewings and negotiations if required.
Seventy per cent of estate agents have seen competition increase in their local area with a rise in the number of new offices opening in the last three months. Move With Us says estate agents offering this added level of flexibility are more likely to remain competitive in the face of increased high street competition.
Robin King, director at Move with Us, said: The property market is a long way behind many other industries in terms of providing customers with choice, flexibility and convenience.
The market is evolving quickly and high street estate agents are starting to look at providing a range of marketing packages for home movers. This approach will provide home movers with greater benefits and attempt to keep moving costs down. They'll receive flexibility and the security of face-to-face contact to support them through one of the biggest transactions of a lifetime.
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Comments
Ray, how is your new Tesco, does Sherringham proud
Ray, although I take your point, up to a point! I think its true to say property sections of newspapers only came about because agents supported them and perhaps similar thinking applied. The big similarity is that the Trad agents don't want interlopers invading their turf. The truth is that closed shops only work while they are closed, if we allowed them and monopolies, the economy would probably now consist of one company producing everything, employing everyone and being owed by one person!
@ Simon Shinerock
Point taken.
However, the portals got where they are with the overwhelming support of the 'trad' agents. OTM seems to be keeping 'innovators' off the portal because they (the 'trads') think why they should be able to just step in and take advantage of the expensively established web lead gained by the 'trads' over the years. Maybe the 'innovators' should start their own national portal!
Just a thought.
Back in 1983 The Property Shop in Crawley took exactly this approach, at the time it was so revolutionary it got them on national TV. However, the thing that got them on TV was not their innovatory approach but the fact that the local estate agents got together and had them banned from advertising in the estate agents section of the paper. There is a striking parallell between this and the contemporary attempt by OTM to exclude internet agents from their portal. There will always be a war of self interest between the establishment and the innovators who want to break into the market. If the innovators have a strong enough proposition they will eventually storm the ramparts and eventually become the new establishment and later face a similar revolution. This is actually Hegel's theory of dialectical change http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/05/dialectic.htm also favoured by Karl Marx. I think I'll go and lay down now.....
It is not possible to judge the 'worth' of a survey result unless one knows the actual wording of the questions asked.