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Mark Scobey

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About Me

my expertise in the industry

Mark's Recent Activity

Bracknell. Prospects Estate Agents. 1992. £350 + VAT. We should be celebrating 25 years of a fixed fee service...

From: Mark Scobey 15 June 2017 09:56 AM

Is this really news? A complaint is made. It gets investigated. A conclusion is made. It's the final result that matters, not the probing.

From: Mark Scobey 05 May 2017 09:02 AM

It has nothing to do with the good of estate agents. It's a pure-play revenue generator by a founder who refers to estate agents as "lazy and inept". (end quote) The NAEA claims to have 10,500 members. If CIELA had those kinds of numbers, it’s annual turnover from membership alone would be £4,410,000! That’s an 18 fold increase on the founder’s property software business! Put another way, CIELA needs only 596 members to replace its other revenue interests! There’s around 18,000 estate agency businesses in the UK, so if I say there are two directors for each company, there are at least 38,000 potential people that meet CIELA’s criteria of being either a shareholder or director. To match the revenues of the founder’s property software business, only 1.56% of their potential audience need to become paid members. Not looking to burst anybody's bubble but when you know and understand the personalities involved, you see CIELA for what it really is...

From: Mark Scobey 04 April 2017 10:48 AM

So CIELA have a problem with some of the wording and claims of PB, but the very independents they represent have been fined for running a cartel (https://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2017/3/four-estate-agents-pay-370-000-after-admitting-price-fixing). PB don't fit the criteria for membership when it comes to CIELA so why is there the continued need to attack them? Surely you'd focus on the positives of the agents you represent rather than the negatives of those you don't. And don't for one moment think that independents don't make misleading claims. Local to me, Marriots claim 30% of the local market and Rightmove says it's 5%!

From: Mark Scobey 03 March 2017 12:33 PM

CIELA has nothing to do with standing up for the independence and everything to do with revenue generation. The annualised cost for joining CIELA is £420. (ARLA/NAEA is £260). Total market size is around 38,000 in terms of independent estate agents who are registered directors at Companies House. If CIELA was ti reach NAEA membership numbers, is annual revenue would be £4,410,000. An estimate of Easymatch’s revenue is around the £300,000 mark and declining. CIELA is an opportunity to replace Easymatch’s revenue. CIELA only needs 714 members to replace its existing revenue or 1.87% of the 38,000 total market. I’ve written quite an extensive piece on the whole CIELA premise that I’ll be publishing soon…

From: Mark Scobey 03 March 2017 12:26 PM

Interesting article. Taking the ZPG acquisition of Hometrack, have you considered that ZPG could be lining up to go direct? Other proptech investments by ZPG (Vieweet 360 being one) seems to indicate more consumer based products rather than agent focused. Both MoveIT and uSwitch provide additional consumer data that marries well with Hometrack. Doing some very quick and dirty maths, ZPG only needs around 5% of the UK residential sales market to cover all the revenue lost by no longer being a portal. I've been watching Trussle for a while and I suspect they will have a greater impact on the housing market than all the other proptech gadgets and gizmos put together. I actually think there's already enough products and services for the high street agent to successfully leverage technology for commercial advantage. There's a raft of CRM's, valuation, messaging and marketing options to piece together a coherent and connected property experience. But, the agent is only one pillar of the property process. Finance and legal are the other two. Trussle could be the start of an emerging market that simplifies the financial side of buying and selling. Legal is a bigger challenge as it's an industry stooped in tradition having been pretty much the same for hundreds of years. There's a company called Juro who are using artificial intelligence to create employment contracts. It's not too much of a stretch to see this extended to conveyancing. Digital house contracts created in seconds is a real possibility. Why is this relevant? One of the investors in Juro is also an investor in ZPG! So with a strong property website, CRM technology, price comparison software, self-instructing technology and an interest in AI contracts, ZPG only needs finance to over a complete instruction to completion model with or without estate agents. What's the betting that Alex Chesterman's already got Ishaan Malhi on speed dial...?

From: Mark Scobey 08 February 2017 11:07 AM

This has more to do with revenue generation than improved standards in the industry. I have a firm recollection of my meeting with Charlie in March 2015 where he eluded to his next big financial opportunity...

From: Mark Scobey 22 January 2017 18:27 PM

Morning Simon. I've just sent you a LinkedIn request as I have additional information and views on CIELA. Hopefully you'll accept.

From: Mark Scobey 21 January 2017 10:28 AM

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