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T Y

Residential Property Sales

1482 Profile Views

About Me

Father, partner and home owner.
Experience in both high street and online agency models.

my expertise in the industry

Predominately sales over lettings - with everything in between.

T's Recent Activity

Thank you Jon. There tends to be the few usual suspects who love to comment on online agency based news and do exactly as you say. Of course I can see both sides of the coin, as much of the time there are not a lot of facts to support the claims of some of the online agents. End of the day, a person selling their property today is so much better informed that a lot were not so long ago. They are making decisions based on their interactions with high street and online agents and in my experience they choose based on which agent is best for them. What they are looking for is value for money and the fee that they paid to be justified, not a slagging match between the different types of agents out there.

From: T Y 29 July 2016 16:06 PM

as opposed to physically letting them and showing the property...?

From: T Y 29 July 2016 15:18 PM

I've said for a while. Instead of bad mouthing the competition, justify your fee. Online or not.

From: T Y 23 June 2016 13:50 PM

Did always find it ironic that a big factor in all of this, was to combat online agents. So they did this by creating an online portal.. Regardless of which model you are, the best way to win in this competitive market, is give good service and offer real value/justification for your fee.

From: T Y 07 May 2016 10:00 AM

There always seems to be a lot of posturing and arguing when it comes to online agencies - it's nice to see that you've not been struck down by this bug Matt! It's interesting to see how you taken on a very competitive market place and are doing well, certainly congratulations! In my view Online Agents, with lower fees, have made the highstreet step up and justify/earn the higher fee. End of the day Online or Highstreet, any agent that provides proper service and good value for money/can properly justify their fee, can only go from strength to strength and should be applauded.

From: T Y 30 April 2016 11:47 AM

It's the usual battle between online v highstreet at this point Nick. In my experience it's the agent saying 'our cost is x amount', which although true, does not indicate the VAT. It may well say it on the contract, but I'm sure we've all dealt with many vendors who've not been through the contract at all and thus would be unaware of it.

From: T Y 14 April 2016 12:44 PM

You are correct that not 100% of buyers come from the portals alone, but a very very high percentage do. Your typical online agent costs between £500 to £900 upfront or I've seen nsnf deals for around the £1200 mark (inclusive of VAT). I would have to question the value to a vendor when they are paying an average 1% fee to help ensure they were in the local paper and in the EA's window (if it fits). Certainly in the SE region of the country that extra amount that the vendor pays is just not justified. Also for those not actively looking, online portals are perfect. As many are likely to be home, bored in the evening and play on the iPad, than be out and just happen across their perfect property in a window display. As mentioned not all Online agents use call centres, but I would be intrigued how someone could cut corners, in an industry which is regulated and word of mouth recommendations can be key. If RM offered it's own agency, I think it would be a huge level of competition for everyone and likely the growth of at least Zoopla.

From: T Y 14 April 2016 12:27 PM

1) The public now well aware of technology lowering costs throughout the lives, why is this not true of EA? If two agents can sell your property to your price (be they both online/highstreet/mix), vendors will tend to go for the cheaper option. 2) Vendors take the price that they are happy with, as mentioned if online agents couldn't get this, word would go out and no one would use them. 3) Not sure what you've seen, but having worked on both sides of the fence, there will always be properties that do well on the market and those that don't. Taking out the bigger highstreet fee, often leads to an increase of money in the vendors back pocket or at least the same. 4) I would agree that call centres, in what ever industry is frustrating. It's why most online agents don't use them, although some do. It's always down to the prospective vendor who they use and none of them are interested in hearing agents trying to put down competitors. What they want is the best value for money and results, which is why the online sector is growing. I won't be outlandish and say there is no place for highstreet agents, as for some they will always be needed, I just feel that they need to grow with the times and become more competitive in what they are doing.

From: T Y 14 April 2016 11:23 AM

Fact 1: Many Online Agents offer a NSNF option for clients, exactly as your highstreet agent would, but can offer a lower fixed fee, due to lower overheads. Fact 2: All agents work for the vendor. If no online agent was getting the price that the vendor was happy with, they wouldn't be being recommended. Fact 3: As with fact 2, it's all about achieving the price that the vendor is happy with. Combined with the lower fee, they often gain more. Fact 4: With any industry, any business that offers poor service quite quickly goes under. Many Highstreet AND online agents have gone the way of the dodo. There are 1000s of reviews available online that support the good work of both style of agencies.

From: T Y 14 April 2016 09:47 AM

I have to say I've only skimmed through this, but I would say any agent (online or high street) or any industry that tries to win business by bad mouthing it's competitors is not long for the world. Alex as you say there are some great agents out there, there are also some great ones online. There are also some not so good ones on both sides. End of the day customer's want to know why your service sets you apart and why you are the right one for them to work with. They want to know you will go the extra mile and that you really care. Yes we're in the business to make money, as everyone has bills to pay, but it's also a privilege because you're there to help a couple buy their first home to raise a family or help a grieving family sell a relatives home. Property may be an asset, but it's also where many memories are created and it's a very emotive thing to sell a home. If you ignore that fact, no one will ever provide a positive review and in this business recommendations are key!

From: T Y 07 April 2016 13:01 PM

In my experience it works well. An Agent knows that if the client's paid upfront, there's going to be a set amount of time they have before they make no profit on it at all. As it is most vendors are keen on a quick sale and online or not if you don't get them the best possible price, your reputation takes a battering and you loose any chance of a recommendation.

From: T Y 07 April 2016 10:38 AM

It's interesting seeing the change in customers. On it's first launch, I was often asked if we could market with OTM as well as the others. It's something I haven't been asked in months now.

From: T Y 07 April 2016 10:23 AM

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