Property websites versus reality - Part One

Link Up Properties Group Director, Cherie Matthews gives us the REAL story about property websites.

So, Tesco is claiming to help sellers to sell their houses for £199.

Whatever next?  Estate Agents will be selling groceries.

Let me set the record straight. Estate Agency services are different to the service offered by Tesco and most other private sales websites. They assume that driving huge amounts of traffic to their website will sell more houses.  They think selling houses is easy and anyone can be an Estate Agent and sell houses.

Wrong. 

In reality, every man thinks he can be an Estate Agent. But to succeed by offering a top class service and stay in business over a period of a few years takes hard work, persistence, determination and skills that only a few possess. You can train people to perform at an optimum level but you cannot instil the ‘will to win’ element in people.

So what effect have the websites had on an Estate Agents business?

Frankly not a lot.  Let me explain this.

Property websites are mainly just portals and have only helped a potential buyer source properties across the country at the click of a button.  Surely, I hear you say this is a benefit?

Yes it is a benefit, but how many buyers who register with an Estate Agent ends up completing on a purchase? Well, approximately 5%-&7%. What happens to the remaining 93%-95%? They realise that their dream home is unaffordable or their circumstances change or they had not intention of moving in the first place. The housing business traditionally has attracted a lot of nosey parkers who love to browse through Estate Agents property details and try and view some of these houses with no intention of buying the property. For years non-serious applicants hated calling Estate Agents and going onto their mailing lists because the good Estate Agent gave them the third degree and asked at least 15 probing questions. They were scared that the agent would soon realise that they were not serious and very politely place the applicant card in the "cold applicant” section in their applicant box".

The internet has made it easier for people to access property details even though the majority of them will not buy the property. It is common knowledge in our business that most applicants who purchase will have registered with an Estate Agent within 2 months of putting an offer on a property. The agent would rather service a serious applicant (with the Motivation, Ability and Need) and spend his time, effort and money selling them a house in order to get paid.

Remember this is a no sale no fee service. So an agent has to work for around 4 months from valuation to completion to get paid. If the deal does not complete he does not get paid. If you work smart your vendors are happy. On the other hand if you are a busy fool, you will end up with vendors who have lost faith in your ability to handle the sale of their most valuable asset. I know of some Estate Agents who do around 30 viewings before they get an offer. This is simply because they have let every Tom, Dick or Harry view their clients’ properties, with no special focus on allowing quality through their doors.