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Work-from-home agency aims at national roll-out with industry novices

A firm calling itself the UK’s first 24/7 home-based agency says it wants to roll out nationally with a network of franchisees who need not have previous property experience. 

Dorset-based Meyers Estate Agents was set up seven years ago and says it now wants to expand its franchised network.

Principal Mark Meyer says: “Currently, many are reconsidering career choices or for those already in the sector, some are looking for a more modern model or are ready to take up the challenge and rewards of becoming self-employed.“

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He continues: “For many years, we have recognised how the benefits of reduced overheads achieved by moving away from the High Street and taking advantage of the latest technology can be passed onto our customers. 

”Our business is about how local agents build close relationships with communities and become the go-to property expert in their region for sales and lettings. They expand at their own pace by working with other self-employed staff as necessary to grow within their territory.”

He says the firm operates a family-friendly business model with the opportunity of a healthy work-life balance and “enriching the lives of those in the community.”  

All its franchisees are obliged to work with a local charity of their choice and a proportion of the network's profits go to mental health charity Mind.

Over recent months the firm has taken on three franchisees - all for local south west patches - plus a self-employed associate. Now it wants to expand its network nationally.

Meyer says: “Experience of the property market is not always necessary as our system is so easy to learn. However, our highly personalised approach is tailored to individual clients and so we are looking for ‘people people.’  

“Our team’s professionalism goes above and beyond to ensure our customers always come first and their transaction is as stress-free and speedy as possible.  For the right candidates, a low franchise fee, full support and training powered by our proven processes, means there has never been a better time to make the move.”

Poll: Does a self-employed agent need to have industry experience to succeed?

PLACE YOUR VOTE BELOW


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    Great idea. Working from home, or Living At Work which is a more accurate description, with all of the mental health issues that WFH is creating but is not really being discussed at the moment; trying to work with mostly unreliable and fragile IT with dodgy broadband reception etc (let’s be honest folks, IT is OK and has its place but it really is pretty useless a lot of the time isn’t it? .... then throw into the mix the fact that some of the “agents” will be complete novices. What could possibly go wrong?

    Mark Meyer

    Good evening John, we have piloted the model for 5 years and have been able to secure exchanged turnover over £500,000 in branches and also the brand has been voted in the Top 5% consistently for performance on the Best Estate Agency guide, plus we are market leaders in several locations.
    In one location, the agent not on the high street has been able to improve the service in their location by being the market leader in that location and 16 poor local agents have closed while trying to compete with the 24/7 back up and high selling prices.
    Not one agent has failed in our model. So... thats what we think... there isn't much that is going wrong... :D

     
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    I despair that these types of operations will inevitably lead to an erosion of standards in our industry. Treating a professional service like it’s a cottage industry, negging a deal whilst making dinner for the kids. I understand this concept in America works as the fees are far higher and thus you can deal with one or 2 sales and the MLS allows other agents to try and sell the property.

    Mark Meyer

    Hey Ronnie, thanks for your comment - thats what the local agents said when we started our first office 10 years ago, now they are copying us and in fact most of them today are doing that after having to work from home but with low levels of training on how and not much software support.
    Its not for everyone but having lower overheads and a better fee than high street agents has its perks too.

     
  • Trevor Cooper

    Of course, the many thousands of pounds they'll make out of franchising to the multitude who think estate agency is just like Location x 3 and Escape to the Country has nothing to do with this..(?)

    Mark Meyer

    Thanks for your comment Trevor ,
    You are right, we do need to get the right people who don't think that the estate agency business is like Location Location as with over 25 years of agency experience we know what makes up a great agent don't worry.
    Our strict onboarding process filters out the wrong type people. As for earnings, many of our franchisees make more money than we do in fact as we keep investing in the brand- they have given themselves targets of over £500,000 estate agency turnover for 2021 and with pipelines over £200K they are not doing too bad with no rent/ lights etc etc don't worry.
    We leave nearly 88% of income for them and their own agency expansion and the small management charge supports the digital network.
    We have a very high satisfaction rate too.

     
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    Another company making a mockery of our profession and lowering sellers expectations that there estate agents should have knowledge and experience when selling their biggest financial asset.

    Mark Meyer

    Meyers Estate Agents Wareham & Purbeck - 01929 503105.

    No previous experience agent - Top in sales in their region in 2020 - Top 5% UK estate agent 3 years running.- give them a call - i don't think they would agree with you Samantha ;-)

     
  • Mark Meyer

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    Mark, I am interested please. Who do I get in touch with? Thanks

    Mark Meyer

    Hey Suppu - please feel free to call me on 07709583044 and I’ll help you grab a pack from our franchise website -

    ✈️🙌🏻

     
  • Mark Meyer

    Hey Suppu - please feel free to call me on 07709583044 and I’ll help you grab a pack from our franchise website - meyersfranchisedotcodotuk

    ✈️🙌🏻

  • icon

    The change is inevitable and not everyone working from home is suffering MHI or trying to balance feeding their kids and work.

  • Mark Meyer

    I think Jess Bezos would agree Andrew - :D

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