An estate agent has taken advantage of remarkably generous terms to convert to the EweMove franchise model.
EweMove, part of The Property Franchise Group, gives agents £10,000 towards the costs of rebranding or £90 per fully managed property.
EweMove managing director Nick Neill said the incentives make it one of the best, if not the best, franchise propositions in the UK.
EweMove’s latest joiners are James Hillier and Rob Bearsby, who have operated Apex Residential in Bexleyheath, Kent, for the past 14 years.
Hillier said: “We’re proud to have built up a hugely successful business which has a reputation for delivering outstanding service, but after 14 years we simply weren’t sure how to move further forward – and so the transition to EweMove was a natural next step.
“We have embraced wholeheartedly everything that EweMove offers, from the software and marketing systems right the way through to the green AstroTurf which has made for a striking shopfront.
“There is no other agency like us in the area, with every other one looking and feeling exactly the same – we’ve absolutely broken the mould and we’re getting so much attention because of it.
“The wealth of opportunities available to us as EweMove franchisees was hugely attractive and we’re already seeing immediate financial benefits.
“In fact, we’re doing so much more marketing than ever before, but are putting less time and money into it – and this is just the start, with many longer-term gains to come.”
The pair previously operated an agency under the Bairstow Eves brand before launching Apex Residential in 2003.
The EweMove Bexleyheath office is now open with the full lettings and sales portfolio transitioned over.
EweMove, acquired by The Property Franchise Group last year, has changed its recruitment model: it used to make a point of recruiting franchisees from outside the industry, but has more recently emphasised its desire to recruit experienced agents. Franchisees work from home, serviced offices or high street premises.
Comments (13)
These lot are a joke, how can any punter take them seriously.
Head Shepherd lol!!!
I thought they were banned from using ‘Branches’?? as that was misleading the public to think they were actual/physical high street branches. They not going to pull the wool over my eyes 🙂
…..we’ve absolutely broken the mould and we’re getting so much attention because of it……
That’s because people are laughing at you! When they stop laughing, you’ll just have become high street wallpaper (flock perhaps) like the rest. Meantime, you’ll be coughing up 10%+ of your gross revenues; I hope your net margins are good!
As for Head Shepherd; you don’t half spout a load of sheep poo. Do you really believe this nonsense or is it what you’re paid to dribble out?
And if you’ve had all these high tec flash bang systems for years, how come you’re not dominating any of the market places in which you operate?
Seems to me that you’re just a quadrupedal ruminant version of PB, only with much weaker public recognition but even more gimmicky marketing (if that’s possible)
They haven’t run it in Bexleyheath for 14 years, they were in Northumberland Heath for 13 years, moving to Bexleyheath little more than a year ago. They didn’t expand in to a second office, but relocated. I won’t say why for fear of libel or similar, but it wasn’t for a good reason.
Seems pointless to me to re-brand a well known name with 14 years worth of advertising and word of mouth, unless perhaps things aren’t going as well as you’d be led to believe.
Yes a person who lives in India and knows nothing about the property answering your phone. A ‘small’ completion fee on each sale or letting property. Hope all the ‘ewemove’ franchisees realise they are paying a far higher percentage on each sale and let than any of the other Property Franchise Group franchisee’s.
Not all it is cracked up to be. If I was advising anyone on starting their own estate agency, I would say the last thing they should be doing is giving a company that they have barely heard of, who will spend very little to promote your business, but expect you to pay plenty and will dictate how you run it, any money and especially not to give them money for the rest of their time being an estate agent, forever!
Hi flockfollower102
Why do you say they’re in India? They’re in the UK. If you call any of our numbers you can easily experience that for yourself!
Hi Folks
Here’s the thing……you run your own business and you have to pay for admin staff to run your client account and answer the phone, you pay portal costs to Rightmove and Zoopla (maybe you only use one portal to keep costs down even though you know you’ll get less exposure than your competitors), you pay for your property management software, you have to develop new marketing initiatives to remain competitive, you pay a management fee for your PPC and Facebook campaigns – and even if you’re happy doing this, it takes time away from actually delivering the front-line sales annd service your business needs to grow and be profitable.
It doesn’t really matter how mature your business is, as a business owner, you’ll know these are the issues that create noise and take up your time.
So – some enlightened independent agents look at this challenge and then compare how their business would operate under a EweMove franchise. For a fixed (low) monthly licence fee and a small completion fee for each property Sold or Let, they have all of these issues covered by EweMove – including access to both Rightmove AND Zoopla. All they need to do is focus their time on building new sales volumes and delivering an exceptional service to their local vendors and landlords, buyers and tenants.
And here’s another upside – and it’s innovation. I’m sure you’re all aware of the PropTech firms out there selling technology to allow your viewers to book viewings online, or sellers to book appraisal appointments online. Well, this may sound new – but we’ve had this technology for years and making fantastic use of it to capture more leads and opportunities – something our converted agents are now able to capitalise on – which they could never have done as independents (unless they spent lots more cash!)
So yes, whilst we share the benefits of growth with our franchisees, they still make more money with a EweMove franchise than they ever could have as an independent.
And which independent out there can have a fully trained member of staff answer the phone 24/7 to ensure not a single opportunity is lost?
Just out of interest, does the monthly fee cover the portals cost at a lower rate than if you have your own branch membership costs?
Sometimes I think I’ve been transported to a different planet, why would you even consider this! And I’m not sure about Mr Neil’s claim that it is the best franchise in the country, would you really want all that ridiculous sheep stuff?
I believe it is – I ran a franchise for 3.5 years and I know from coal face experience it is!
As it’s that time of year, I’ll contain myself to 2 words, baaaaa humbug.
Just had a look at the branch, disappointed they don’t have any blow up sheep in their pen!
So just to confirm, their business was doing so well, like nothing else in the area, the voluntarily decided to start giving over some of their future profit to EweMove?
Lol. This is exactly what I was thinking.