A traditional estate agency model and an online agent can sit perfectly happily together in the same business, says an independent that has been successfully running both in tandem for two and a half years.
Ross Jezzard, director of Jezzards which has branches in Hampton, south-west London, and Surbiton, Surrey, said that the Purplebricks mega-marketing campaign has really helped its online agency, whose business has grown particularly in the last year.
He said that his firm has run both online and traditional models since launch in January 2014.
As an online agent, Jezzards has been instructed on 27 sales properties since launch. Of these, 20 sold online and four were upgraded to the firm’s full service and later sold. The remainder are currently on the market. It has also taken on 11 lettings properties online.
Jezzards, which charges £995 online, has many of the features that Countrywide is now trialling at three of its brands.
Users can switch to the full service, and buy optional add-ons such as accompanied viewings. All the online instructions are advertised on the firm’s website as well as on Rightmove and Zoopla.
If sellers do switch to the traditional full-service, the money they have already paid for the online service is automatically credited against the final fee.
Jezzard, whose firm won the best newcomer award at the Estate Agency of the Year, said he has not felt the need to tweak the business model since launch.
He added that offsetting the online fee against the final charge was important, as it incentivised the client to stay with the business.
He said: “Also our clients often underestimate the work involved with a sale and like to switch up.
“Admittedly we have sometimes gone above and beyond for online clients because we would like the repeat or recommendation business.”
While Jezzards’ longevity is greater than that of some online and hybrid agents, including Purplebricks and YOPA, and while the model is very similar to Countrywide’s new pilot, one crucial difference is that both Jezzards’ services are largely local.
However, the online offering is less local than the full-service offering and there seems no reason why it should not expand further. Mainly taken up by sellers across London and the home counties, the firm has also taken on a property in Didcot, Oxfordshire.
Jezzards’ experiences of running traditional and online offerings side by side do appear to refute suggestions from Purplebricks that traditional agents who venture into online risk “cannibalising” their full-service model. See next story.
Comments (9)
£20k in 18 months (excluding the 4 “full service” sales) doesn’t sound like the best business model I’ve ever encountered. Especially if you’re running two premises to achieve it.
Some agents are just SO short sighted …..
“Admittedly we have sometimes gone above and beyond for online clients because we would like the repeat or recommendation business.”
Says it all.
Rush to the bottom. Busy fool making no money.
Whilst I accept in 5 years we may all have to go hybrid, I cant help thinking at some point someone is gonna say.
Help! I cant put petrol in my car & food on my table but I have got 160 on line instructions and market share.
Or will we be an agency that lives off property management fees to subsidise our sales business ?
It’s called Purblebricks, PP, and it lives off investors money only.
In principle, what Jezzards are doing is great for their business. To diversify is to survive, those that are burying their heads in the sand will soon become extinct. But, as I said, it’s great for them, not the fee paying customer!! Running the two side by side with the option to upgrade lacks transparency! It is very easy for them to take the name and number of buyers that are interested but tell said buyer the property is sold – “we’ll add you to the list in case that property becomes re-available”. The seller decides that online doesn’t work as they’ve had no viewings (shock) and subsequently upgrade to full service… All of sudden, buyers appear out of nowhere!
I think that’s more than a little far fetched. It’s still a buyers market round here and you will lose those buyers to another agent’s properties.
More than a little far fetched…. Leaving aside the unfortunate assumption that an agent would knowingly break fundamental laws governing estate agency, exactly how do you continue marketing a property that you have told Mr Keen buyer, you have sold? Take it off the market? Oh the vendor wont notice?. Engagebrain.
It is this story and those about other firms, such as Countrywide, that signal long term structural changes afoot in the estate agency industry. The hybrid model of traditional with online, all under the same roof will gather pace and in five years time all agencies will offer both.
If this becomes universal then the likes of Purplebricks, Tepilo, e-moov etc will lose their USP and simply become A.N. Other agency competing with a massive volume of competition. Undoubtedly not all of these ‘pioneers’ will survive.
The Purplebrick pyramid scheme is vulnerable to anyone who can offer the local ground troops a better deal, better support, better awareness, better tech. Those that stick by the Purplebrick pioneers will immediately lose out to reps who have better tech, better awareness better everything, reps who are more local, covering a smaller area, better known, better respected better liked, reps who have a regular full time income dealing with 97.3% of vendors who don’t want to shell out £500 on the chance of saving errr, in reality, nothing.
WANTED– 10480 local property experts (preferably qualified) must have own business, car etc, local knowledge and exemplary track record of success, good rates of pay, looks not important, apply within.