The Homebuyer Centre, which has been recruiting estate agents to buy into its proposition to offer services to represent home buyers as well as sellers, is ramping up its activity.
It is now looking to recruit five ‘applicant conversion managers’. These would be telesales people who phone people listed as applicants with estate agents on their behalf, and talk them through the advantages of hiring the agent as a buyer’s agent, signing them up and arranging a meeting with the agent.
They would be paid commission-only and work from home.
The Homebuyer Centre currently has 65 high street agencies on board but is looking to expand.
Tim Hammond, MD of HBC, said: “We are keen to help our estate agency clients convert their applicants into paying buyer clients.
“Indeed, around 25% of those applicants we currently approach on behalf of our licensed agents (excluding those who are no longer looking) want to take things further.
“We are now looking to ramp up this service so that agents can hit the ground running and develop this new revenue stream for their business.”
He said the new telesales people would be given full training, with expenses provided.
He added: “There is the possibility of a career opportunity to develop this into a full buyer’s agent role anywhere in the UK.”
Comments
@Hawkeye & Sparky
People who disagree are not 'moaning minnies' or 'argumentative types' - they are in the main business people who have a different opinion. (Please see the second para. of my last post)
Have a good weekend ;0)
Okay,
Apart from the fact it has more than a whiff of a press release on what appears to be a bit quiet news day on EAT being a retained agent isn’t new especially in land acquisitions which like many agents ive been doing for years with the best fee I charged being over £150,000. but around £15 – £20k is more ‘normal’
However, there is quite a difference in the skill and work required in putting a decent development site together for developers and finding an individual a house.
So, if you can attract either the stupid, lazy, more money than sense or genuinely busy types to pay you to look a web portals and phone agents on their behalf then nice, money for old rope and well done.
Looking for houses has never been easier – technology combined with the traditional estate agency stuff like it being free, most agents being open late and weekends and all that so im not sure it’s a runner
Might work for the big stuff though mate of mine works for an up market outfit that deal with famous people who like to buy confidentially…………..hang on, even they have people to do it for them…no, it’s a non starter
Jonnie
P.s – Sparky, you may of course prove me wrong as I am quite often but one fee of £5k isn’t a business, of course you might be an undercover chappie from this lot and be talking utter cobblers – who knows?
Could it be that Tim Hammond is a fan of the hit TV series M*A*S*H and also the national lampoons films with Chevy Chase?
sparky and hawkeye?
Hawkeye Challenge - Is it in or out?
It's definitely in for me.
Rather than join the moaning minnies I thought I'd try the model and see if it works.
Well here's my findings. I made 3 calls to applicants on my list where I don't have property listings matching their needs.
1 person did not answer, another has already bought and the 3rd call is moving for work, doesn't have the time to do the house-hunt himself and doesn't know the area - he's happy to pay us a 1.5% purchase commission to manage everything for him. Result !
Homebuyer Centre - bring it on !
I disagree. If we don't diversify then we don't grow our business. Just as agents have added lettings it makes sense to add buyer agency. We have found that one feeds another and all can co-exist within the same agency. Better to have an experienced local agent than a startup with no experience.
Anyway, I'll keep doing it and profit from it. Actions (and money) speak louder than words.
One can always produce the odd success story on this but I can see no real volume for average priced properties - high value - yes, but this is covered by experienced specialist firms such as Homesearch.
It could be that Home Buyer Centre is feeding off the concern of the low sales scene at the moment. Could possibly work in some areas but there is danger if the small/medium independent takes their eye off the sales side?.
We all know of independant companies representing buyers to find property. They indeed act on behalf of the buyer to find and negotiate deals. I also know one that acts on behalf of vendors (usually those with large BTL portfolios) to negotiate the best possible deals with Agents. I do see so that competition could get in the way of the Agents working in this way.
Wardy,
It could be good, could be bad.
Imagine you get involved with a purchase, from a competitor, for one of your buyer clients!
Imagine the sale falls through!
You have all the info you need if you turn a bit 'sharky'
I sit on the fence on this subject.
Hi Wardy. The property we sourced was just coming on with a local agent who emailed us (like they often email buyers agents) and we got in to view, placed an offer and secured it.
The selling agent made their fee and we made ours - happy days! It's a lot more than just looking on rightmove - our buyer bought into our knowledge and experience of the local area and he offloaded all the work to us. We just did everything we would for a vendor eg progressing sale, coordination etc but just on the side of the buyer rather than vendor.
The same client wants us to find a buy to let property now for him and then manage the lettings for him. Happy buyers could refer other buyers too. Seems we're onto a winner!
Sorry, prematurely posted that. The reason I asked is because of the problems I can foresee, not about conflicts, more to do with dealing with one of my competitors in this manner. Some times it’s hard enough to get a chain checked let alone all the things I just posted. Have my competitors a right to refuse to deal with me when I want to neg the offer for my client?
why have I just read an advert disguised as news?
Sparky,
Would be interested to know what work you had do for the £5000. Found the new property online? book viewing with rival? offer on behalf of your new client? Generally interested, some feed back would be appreciated. Thanks
Buyer representation makes a lot of sense to me. Why? Because I have just banked £5,000 completing a purchase for a buyer who is relocating to our area.
This is great new revenue for our agency and as our buying client didn't match any of our own stock it allowed us to extend our offering to him and help him acquire the property he wanted. We handled all the viewings and offer negotiations, surveys and conveyancor and coordinated this for him as he was moving back from overseas.
We expect to add £10k to £15k per month to our branch revenue by simply offering this service to applicants on our list that otherwise would drop off.
I can't see why any agency wouldn't offer this, as there is no conflict with my vendor clients as I offer all buyers my own stock first and I don't represent vendor and buyer in the same transaction.
Just signed another client this morning who is upsizing. I'm selling his current property and helping him buy his next one - I've agreed a combined fee for sale and purchase which he is more than happy with, as we can take the hassle of his whole move of his hands.
Two points - as below it would be a conflict of interest - hence the model as used in the USA which would mean that the vendor would be represented by many agents but at a set fee, as would a buyer.
Secondly the buyers get a service as we need to provide them with one as we can't sell anything without a buyer!
This is just another layer of cross selling that in realism isn't providing anything new to the buyer. What are you paying for - someone to search rightmove for you!
The problem with what estate agents can offer buyers as direct clients is this:
There are downsides to offering anything for FREE and estate agents can't charge anything to buyers because then they'd be in contravention with their vendor-clients' selling contracts.
With free services you end up getting what you pay for because if you think about it, free things have little or no current value. They are generally useless or there is a hidden catch somewhere, involving yes, you guessed it - money.
Estate agents need to know this and maybe, even consider the prospect of actually charging for the service they offer, if they are so confident it has true value.
Why not? It's worth considering.
@ Observer......I understand the concept...see Vossy comment...its called being retained and most Agents will have handles such applicants already. It may be a great idea but it isnt new and it wont make money.
The home buyer centre would like all our aplicants to cold call, sell property from other agencys, sell related products (mortgages and such) and for those reasons.....Im out
@Oh dear, the service means that they can search the whole market with all agents, private sellers etc from one point of contact.
Just like other Buying Agents who have retained buying clients but within an Estate Agency.
Great idea!
What? This is being done already BUT FOR FREE! A buyer registeres with an Agent and the Agent will try to find them a property which meets their needs. The Agent will not charge the buyer a penny for this service.
Whats new about this? Its called being retained and has been common place for decades?