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Simon Greaves

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Simon's Recent Activity

I fear Paul S (above )is right. Despite an assumption on sharing the overall portal costs I found it interesting to read that the established agent has withdrawn from Rightmove and OTM, letting his "partner", as a new entrant, provide that exposure. I'm not sure I agree with the description of the "big Four" as described but anything that serves to undermine any portal's total dominance and frankly abusive pricing structure is worth close scrutiny in my book.

From: Simon Greaves 01 November 2018 09:14 AM

I am surprised that Jared hasn't considered his real position, assuming he is a willing participant in contributing to Rightmove's profit margins. 10% + increases in RM subscriptions year on year for 10 years. Have his fees or house price matched that ? It makes every sense to join OTM at an initial discounted rate to feel the water and to then decide, even at OTM's full rate, which offers better value for money

From: Simon Greaves 23 October 2018 12:17 PM

While sympathy for the top end may be muted, the London market has been hit by the triple whammy of Stamp Duty, the reduction in demand from foreign buyers (Brexit), and reduced demand from investment purchasers (Stamp Duty and tax changes). The additional effect of the Stamp Duty changes and Brexit for certain areas in the regions and the coastal market, has been the collapse in second home and retirement purchase demand, partly due to sentiment in worrying times. The reduction in interest from Londoners who, having previously been considered as almost cash buyers due to the earlier strength of the London Market, has resulted in them now being considered like everyone else. The Help to Buy measures and Stamp Duty adjustments to the lower and middle sector have generally been welcomed, except for the effect on the investment market. Higher Stamp Duty should not, in my view, be applied to would-be second home owners. Local taxes for second home owners should be the means by which extra revenue can be derived: these can provide specific benefit to the areas in which they are located. The bottom line is that the overall income from Stamp Duty from residential transactions has fallen, which can't have been the government's intent. Any changes suggested now should focus on the collapse in the volume of transactions.

From: Simon Greaves 03 August 2018 11:04 AM

It's confirmed. This is the silly season. Another earth-shattering news flash from OTM's favourite un-biased portal.

From: Simon Greaves 01 August 2018 09:10 AM

I may have queried your credentials/independence in the past and your continuous barracking of OTM, but it's good to see your appreciation of the bigger picture we face with Rightmove's (RM)behaviour. As on PIE, the reaction from agents to any topic relating to RM's costs and their blatant arrogance suggests to me that the party may be over for them. Can you think of any other supplier (apart from Madame Fifi you may occasionally visit) with a profit margin of 70% or more ? RM has an excellent offering, but that doesn't (or certainly shouldn't) entitle them to dictate to me how I run my business, where I advertise my clients' properties, or even whether I can justify retaining a smaller branch where, with such an overhead, its viability is distorted by such outrageous subscription fees. It seems to have taken a very long time for agents to realise they are being stitched up by RM and OTM offers a decent alternative. It shall be interesting to see how pricing evolves between the three players over the next year.

From: Simon Greaves 20 July 2018 16:27 PM

As a former Ombudsman Services: Property subscriber, I am intrigued to understand the pricing adopted by the other 2 schemes available. According to NTSEAT a business is regarded as "a person" whereas an employee does not need an individual membership, covered by the business's membership. That doesn't appear to apply to the 2 schemes who charge on a per office/branch basis even where 1. the business has subscribed or 2. the same staff work on a rota in smaller satellite branches, thus have to effectively pay twice for redress that will end up in the business owner's lap in any event. Faced with such a significant rise in redress fees, it would be good to see some justification from NTSEAT or the redress schemes involved. A 20 man branch pays the same as a 2 man branch -hardly fair or justifiable I would have thought.

From: Simon Greaves 19 July 2018 10:08 AM

And what was the price of Rightmove membership then ?

From: Simon Greaves 29 June 2018 09:03 AM

Not me. Anything that offers genuine competition in the long-running property portal battle and drives rates in the same direction as our fees has to be given serious consideration. Hands up all those who've been able to raise their fees by 10% each year for the last 10 years ? The party is over for RM and about time.

From: Simon Greaves 14 June 2018 09:36 AM

Perfect Storm is hardly the correct analogy.

From: Simon Greaves 24 May 2018 09:26 AM

As you so amply and exhaustively have written on this topic, Mr Shinerock, should we not expect an apology from you, now that in this 3 horse race, OTM are setting its sight on the leader, rather than ZPG.

From: Simon Greaves 10 May 2018 08:50 AM

Well I never. One can learn something new every day!

From: Simon Greaves 29 March 2018 09:23 AM

In other shocking news, an online agent fell off a log.

From: Simon Greaves 09 March 2018 08:25 AM

At the OTM presentation I attended, where we were asked to gauge how we would comply with the One Other Portal rule, all the London based firms resolved to abandon RM and the all the country agents resolved to abandon Zoopla. This spoke volumes about their respective effectiveness in those areas at the time. The subsequent strengthening of RM's position has come from our inability as a profession to coordinate our efforts to resist the remorseless raising of RM subscriptions and support an effort to offer an alternative.

From: Simon Greaves 23 February 2018 15:21 PM

Am I detecting a groundswell of support for more balanced "reporting" ? EAT's colours have been firmly nailed to the mast as regards OTM by comparison to its clients ZPG and this morning's headline story is a welcome, if long overdue effort to regain some credibility. However that won't stop Shinerock peddling his cynicism. Estate Agents need a disruptor to RM and most recognise this. ZPG have not made a good enough attempt to be that portal and OTM may or may not be, but it is currently the next best option. In a free market economy as we have, we have to compete to win business and tailor our fees accordingly. Due to that very competition, sadly, I can't make a c.76% margin on all we do (as does RM at our and our clients' expense). So forgive me for criticising such cynicism shown by EAT towards OTM but for goodness sake, we need an alternative.

From: Simon Greaves 16 February 2018 13:10 PM

Agree with first 2 paras James, but you go off the rails latterly. If there is no prejudice by EAT, explain why the more positive OTM "news items" I referred to were not reported at all ? The success or failure of competitors to RM and ZPG is certainly newsworthy to Estate Agents, who one would presume EAT regard as their target readership. But if such blatant bias and constant harping are to be their modus operandi in satisfying their client base (inc. ZPG), surely, we, as readers, we have the right to object ? Springett's assumed share package (from the AIM listing) was deemed newsworthy to EAT, while EAT was notably silent about Chesterman's, which as I recall, was slightly more at c. £62m. Nearly a third of shareholders are reported to have rebelled against this: was this newsworthy enough ? Apparently not to EAT. Not wishing to bite the hand that feeds them means that one can only expect "fake news" and I never thought I'd be saying that about a British media outlet now that NOTW has gone.

From: Simon Greaves 15 February 2018 10:40 AM

Hysterical! No mention of 100 branch member Arun Estates confirming their membership of OTM then or update in share price? EAT has made perfectly clear its prejudice (while claiming to be a “news” organisation) for long enough. Such unworthy and pitiful commentary from Norwood and Shinerock presented as journalism. Such a turnoff for those keen to read real news. Move on please!

From: Simon Greaves 15 February 2018 08:10 AM

"25,000 estate agencies among its customer base". Interesting to see no qualification/clarification from EAT about this. One would think that in the pursuit of accuracy EAT would be quick to point out that this figure relates to "partner members" rather than agency membership. These "partner members" include those agencies who have not subscribed to the Zoopla offering, or indeed have moved away from them. "Shame on them" you may think, but I feel if EAT is to be considered a reliable commentator on matters affecting our industry, which its selected correspondents rants regarding OTM have seriously undermined, it should re-consider its purpose.

From: Simon Greaves 30 January 2018 10:03 AM

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