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Maurice Kilbride

Owner

2765 Profile Views

About Me

Allow me to introduce myself - I am Maurice, Cheadle super agent with a creative bias, passion to raise industry standards and an innovative approach to estate agency marketing. I have helped over 5000 families sell or let their homes in Cheadle over the last 20 years. Ask me anything to do with buying, selling or letting your home.

my expertise in the industry

30 years experience in residential sales and lettings including director of Countrywide before setting up my own business in 2000, which now has two of my sons working in the business alongside me.

Maurice's Recent Activity

I agree with a lot of what you say and echo much of the sentiment, however how many times have we been here before? how many false dawns have there been? The biggest barrier to change and breaking the monopoly Rightmove has over the Portal market is two fold. Firstly agents believing there is a credible alternative and getting behind it, when all the have known is Rightmove and secondly, convincing the public that Rightmove isn't the be all and end all for selling or buying a home. Most agents are petrified to come off Rightmove, because of worry that other agents will use it against them in the battle for instructions. Maybe, if agents can pick up sufficient instructions via other mediums, they will be bolder. Win the hearts and mind of the public and then there is a conversation to be had. Until then I don't see how things will change? Hope I am wrong of course.

From: Maurice Kilbride 21 October 2023 09:52 AM

Whilst I am all in favour of raising the standards of our profession, I don't believe licencing will change anything much. A rogue will always be a rogue. There are measures in place now to deal with undesirable agents, the issue is implementation and Trading Standards having the manpower to police it properly.

From: Maurice Kilbride 23 June 2023 12:22 PM

Hardly a surprise a former senior employee is defending PB. The reality is PB tried to mislead the public and basically infer that agents didn't do anything much for their money and they could do the same job for a lot cheaper. The advertising was slick, but lets remember they were in trouble on at least 19 occasions with the ASA for their misleading adverts. They also didn't do the same job. If they had been honest about what their alternative model was, people could have made up their own mind, but they tried to convince me they were getting the same level of service for a fraction of the cost, which was simply not true. Eventually the public started to see through them and look how it has ended for them.

From: Maurice Kilbride 26 May 2023 09:21 AM

Hardly a surprise a former senior employee is defending PB. The reality is PB tried to mislead the public and basically infer that agents didn't do anything much for their money and they could do the same job for a lot cheaper. The advertising was slick, but lets remember they were in trouble on at least 19 occasions with the ASA for their misleading adverts. They also didn't do the same job. If they had been honest about what their alternative model was, people could have made up their own mind, but they tried to convince me they were getting the same level of service for a fraction of the cost, which was simply not true. Eventually the public started to see through them and look how it has ended for them.

From: Maurice Kilbride 26 May 2023 09:20 AM

Clearly a slow news day and who made this guy the Gok Wan of estate agency fashion? Wear whatever makes you feel comfortable. It's that simple. If the customer is assessing your chino's, jeans or three piece suit, you are clearly not providing them with an engaging enough reason to do business with you!

From: Maurice Kilbride 01 March 2023 16:00 PM

Purple Bricks never learn, hence why they are in such a predicament. With the market having turned so quickly, less sellers than ever will want to pay upfront.

From: Maurice Kilbride 14 December 2022 09:45 AM

An excellent piece Graham. Lets be honest, most of the original online agencies have gone, despite the big boasts, Strike offers a model that doesn't charge sellers an agency fee - easy to do when it's not your own money and never makes a profit and you only have to look at the performance of PB over the last 2/3 years to see it isn't being run as a great business. That aside, the bigger issue I see now as we head into a severely challenging market is as an agent, you are going to need a much wider marketing mix and not just be reliant on the Portals, as both listings and buyer enquiries drop off significantly, at least for the time being and lets be honest, nobody really knows how long this down turn in the economy and cost of living crisis is going to last. So, good established agents with fluid and well managed databases, social media marketing, face book groups of pre qualified buyers, good old fashioned agency - picking up a phone and talking to people is going to be so important. There will always be those who lured in by the promise of a cheap fee, but they could be throwing good money after bad and ultimately losing more money on their selling price than they need too. Interesting times ahead, but I definitely do not see the rise of online agents in this climate.

From: Maurice Kilbride 26 November 2022 09:33 AM

Not sure returning to the good old days of business lunches will improve colllaboration! I mean, who has the time for starters? I agree on the trust and suspicion issue, but from an agents perspective, I find the majority of solicitors/conveyancers are not particularly good communicators, they don't seem to like or perhaps want to be othered by agents and sadly many still see us as something they scrape of the bottom of their shoe. Improving the technology in a sales transaction will help, better education for both agents and solicitors of what the other does would also be a benefit and in defence of solicitors, alot are under paid and have huge case loads, so I get they are swamped. However, we have found one, who is brilliant, a great communicator, very proactive, works closely with us and the clients, asks for our help and where she is acting, on average the transaction time is 6 weeks shorter! so perhaps there is a lesson there?

From: Maurice Kilbride 18 May 2022 09:19 AM

It is a tough ask for Helen Marston that's for sure! I worry that another appointment with no agency experience at a time when the market is getting tougher and PB's stock levels are already reducing and their Letting inventory is extremely poor, plus dealing with a masisve drop in the share value which will be having investors demanding answers, the lawsuits from employees and the potential cost of the none registration of deposits is alot to deal with for anyone, let alone someone who isn't really a property person. I wish her well and will be watching with interest to see what happens next.

From: Maurice Kilbride 21 April 2022 09:43 AM

Looking forward to seeing their figures when they are published! This lot annoy me more than PB, it is an unsustainable model and offering to sell someone's home for free and still only have 1% of the sales market says a lot for the public's opinion too. There is is clearly a conflict of interest when pushing one firm of solicitors. They are constantly being propped up by investors, but how long before these investors wake up and smell the coffee? There is not a single EA business that can survive purely on referral fees. Watch this space .....

From: Maurice Kilbride 29 December 2021 13:39 PM

Paying very similar rates on Rightmove to everybody else, but definitely coming off as with less than 10 available properties currently available , it makes no commercial sense whatsoever. I totally understand the fear of other agents using it against us with potential vendors, but with the low levels we do anyway it is less of an issue than it might be for others. I believe with having a fantastic website of our own, Google ad words and SEO, social media including a significant FB following and maybe using Zoopla, OTM and potentially Boomin if I see any real traction, we can still compete and demonstrate that we can put more money in the clients pocket at the end of the transaction with RM. It is time for agents to be more creative and less reliant on the Portals.

From: Maurice Kilbride 15 November 2021 13:20 PM

Michael Bruce’s letter highlights the eye watering profiteering Rightmove achieves at Agents expense, whilst investing precious little in the technology. The problem is that RM have firmly entrenched themselves in the public mind, due to the lack of credible competition over the years and contrary to what Simon Bradbury says above, I am not sure agents see real value in their proposition, but rather are petrified of the consequences of not being on RM in their market place. Not that it would ever happen, but if agents came of RM in huge numbers, RM wouldn’t have a product and the public would soon go elsewhere in the thirst for property! I really hope Boomin becomes a genuine challenger in the portal space, although I fear because of the ownership it may not attract sufficient support from agents and without sufficient stock, I wonder how the public will perceive the portal. Interesting times ahead!

From: Maurice Kilbride 26 February 2021 07:15 AM

I have met Georgina and Mark and feel they have a great chance of success, especially now with the added backing. They have modest aspirations not ridiculous pie in the Sky ideas that are totally unrealistic and as they are already high street agents have created a model that understands the differences and synergies between high street agency and online agency. I think this definitely has legs!

From: Maurice Kilbride 15 April 2019 08:16 AM

Regular comedian you are Tony! Now here's a story to make you laugh. 2 weeks ago, I went to value a property in my village, after a local property expert from a low cost budget agent. The property concerned is on a particularly popular road which nearly always attracts a price premium. The LPE valued the property at £250,000. I went in at £265,000 and offered the client a fee of 1% plus VAT. The client chose to use us for our local knowledge and we sold the property for the full asking price inside a week. So even with my "empty head" I can work out the maths, that we are putting a good £11/12,000 more in the clients pocket, so surely that makes us the cheapest agent? This isn't the first time that has happened and I can guarantee it won't be the last.

From: Maurice Kilbride 06 September 2018 09:27 AM

Regular comedian you are Tony! Now here's a story to make you laugh. 2 weeks ago, I went to value a property in my village, after a local property expert from a low cost budget agent. The property concerned is on a particularly popular road which nearly always attracts a price premium. The LPE valued the property at £250,000. I went in at £265,000 and offered the client a fee of 1% plus VAT. The client chose to use us for our local knowledge and we sold the property for the full asking price inside a week. So even with my "empty head" I can work out the maths, that we are putting a good £11/12,000 more in the clients pocket, so surely that makes us the cheapest agent? This isn't the first time that has happened and I can guarantee it won't be the last.

From: Maurice Kilbride 05 September 2018 16:12 PM

Fella, most low cost budget agents wouldn't know good service if it walked up and slapped them in the face! They are simply vehicles to list a property on the portals, offer a cheap listing fee and if it sells, great - if it doesn't, who cares, we have your money anyway! so please don't come on here giving it the large one about High Street agents being driven by greed. Most do a very good job, for a modest fee, that is not much more than the likes of EMOOV's no sale no fee option and provide an awful lot more than just a listing facility.

From: Maurice Kilbride 05 September 2018 10:03 AM

Oh Russell! Just when you and I were becoming friends!! Here's a fact for you. Our average sales commission is under £2000, your own "no sale no fee" option is just under £2000 including VAT, not really that much difference! Trying to you use an "average fee" by factoring in London fees is very naughty and you aren't kidding the public, who are far more educated and savvy than you are giving them credit for. It is the constant misleading claims by online agents, hybrids or low cost budget listing tools as I prefer to see them, that actually holds you back, but I guess if you compared your offering to any good, well established high street agent around most of the country, your product wouldn't stand the scrutiny.

From: Maurice Kilbride 05 September 2018 09:58 AM

I find it all rather amusing that anybody is surprised, angered or anything else by Russell's regular outbursts, that are clearly designed for effect and to hog the headlines. I have learnt rather like a petulant child it is best to ignore them and eventually they give up when nobody is paying attention!

From: Maurice Kilbride 21 March 2016 13:03 PM

You have to admire Russell's blind ambition - value's his company extortionately, has hardly made significant in roads into the High Street agents domination of the UK market and now despite the differences in selling Real Estate in the US thinks he can crack it over there!!

From: Maurice Kilbride 15 September 2015 10:30 AM

I have never been an advocate of the exclusivity rule, one of the main reasons I didn't join OTM at its conception. I agree with much of what Simon says, although not the ridiculous scare mongering about how this may play out. At this stage there is potentially to be a meeting, until that has taken place and any decisions rolled out I doubt OTM are going to panic and react in a knee jerk manner. As for online agents, I don't have a problem with them advertising if they choose too, although I would be surprised if Quirke's e-moov did given what he has said about OTM! Portals are hugely important, but any good high street agent will know there are many other ways to source buyers, hence why 95% of the public still choose HS agents despite the difference in fees. This is all a bit of a storm in a tea cup if you ask me!

From: Maurice Kilbride 04 June 2015 10:55 AM

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