A new online service that acts as an add-on to Rightmove is to add new features by the end of the year, including the highlighting of “mis-priced” properties on the portal.
The new add-on is not an in-house offering run by Rightmove but an external service called Propcision.
Propcision already shows much of a home’s selling history, including the number of sales that have fallen through.
Users of Propcision can add it via internet browsers Firefox and Chrome – and, shortly, Internet Explorer – enabling them to see pricing and other information on Rightmove.
Currently the information is only available for London properties, but the service is due to roll out nationally.
When the property seeker browses properties on Rightmove, Propcision automatically displays information including: price adjustments; number of times price adjusted; time on the market; number of failed sales; estimated rental income and yield; and Stamp Duty Land Tax costs.
Also displayed may be a “flag” for motivated sellers, based on the property’s history.
There is also an advanced search tool, allowing users to search by – for example – price reductions, scope for improvement and ex-council houses.
For instance, users can search for the sharpest price reductions among the 75,000 homes currently listed in London.
Features to be added between now and the end of December include flags for a property that is undervalued as well as the highlighting of “mis-priced” properties.
Propcision is also promising a “host of other features to empower the buyer with knowledge”.
Currently, Rightmove shows when a property was “added” and when its price was changed.
Zoopla goes further, showing the changes in original asking price by percentage.
OnTheMarket does not show listing history or price changes, arguing that this does not help the agent actually to sell the property, and therefore does not help the vendor.
While Propcision’s offering may be seen as consumer friendly from the buyer perspective, it would be interesting to know what agents and vendors make of it.
Propcision is the brainchild of Michelle Ricci, a former credit derivatives analyst, and Julien Zak, a financial services developer.
Comments (42)
The Portals….. apparently supplying potential buyers with useful stats, land registry purchase price, time on market, any price changes etc etc
The Homeseller….. a switched on seller seeks a Real Estate Agent who will deliver the best result for them – it’s an old fashioned concept to the Intel Chip Folk who post on here, however trust me….. it delivers monumentally…… perhaps not large scale/corporate!….. however the evidence is there for all to see as to the motives behind large scale/corporate estate agency.
The Real Estate Agent….. I’ve said enough about them, I am one, as are so many others!
The Homebuyer….. often armed with all these stats & info which ultimately are virtually irrelevant to the Real Estate Agent……
How much the owner paid for it when they bought it?….. irrelevant!
How long the property has been on the market?….. irrelevant if it is priced properly at the outset…… if you’ve got it right you don’t drop the price to find the buyer…..like life, Patience brings its rewards!
Has the price been changed?…… relevant?….. if adjusted as a result of real feedback from real buyers and taking into account the developing local & general market conditions etc…. then pretty much irrelevant! If done because the estate agent overvalued the property to get the business then has relevance.
I could go on…… however the most important part of the whole estate agency process, in my humble view?……surprise, surprise!….. NOT The Technology, The Brand, The Portals, The Premium Listing etc etc etc….. it’s the foundation of any well managed property sale which is conducted by a Real Estate Agent….. the right purchaser and the best negotiation which you must do solely in the best interests of your Homeseller…..
……and there we have it in terms of The Portals …they act for the buyer (we pay them for this service!) and real estate agents act for the sellers!…… and as long as those cards are face up on the table then we know where we stand!
Those that enjoy my ramblings on here….. here’s another!……when I was unfortunate enough to work for Countrywide they had an October Property Sale Promorion with an outline of a Hooded Axeman purporting to axe prices and a tagline as I recall along the lines of The Axeman Cometh! Managers/Valuers & Staff were tasked to go to their Homesellers and obtain price reductions as this was a certain Mr Hill’s way of accessing all those fees locked in his property inventory…… each week we assembled to report how many price reductions we achieved pre-The Big Sale and each week I reported none!…..because I valued the properties correctly at the outset and worked for the Homeseller……it was just my employer wanted me to now waffle owners into price reductions…..solely to increase the corporate sagging income! I was last in the Final Score!…..No Price Reductions ……and I won a case of Vinegar for being last and echoing my sour grapes at this Nonsense Promotion! As I walked past each table at the venue back to my table I proudly left a bottle of vinegar….. because I wanted to share my success!
So, Rightmove, Zoopla and the historic corporates are firmly rooting for themselves and have little regard for The Homeseller……likewise the arriving New Online Property Listers…… in it for themselves!
Real Estate Agents know they act for Homesellers first…..that’s your point of difference!!! …..smile please and others!……. by increasingly paying your favourite portals you are effectively acting for Homebuyers 1st and your Homeseller 2nd…… in my humble opinion.
Sarsons!….. in case you were wondering!
Highly entertaining though the almost obligatory ‘them and us OTM punch up’ is on most posts on PIE nowadays, let’s look at the reality of the situation actually mentioned in the story itself: Ever improving market information about a properties pricing and sale history.
Love them or loathe them, these property information sites are here to stay and, even if you only advertise on OTM, those statistics are most assuredly being scraped and fed into a database ready to be fed to an information hungry public. You can either rage against it or, embrace it. Either way, your data is public knowledge.
If you are good at your job, these statistics will highlight that. Use that data to your advantage.
If you have a competitor who is constantly trying to con sellers and buyers about their performance, these sites and this data will (and already is!) providing hard evidence with which to hang them (watch this space…)
Some of us remember a time before all house sale prices were confidential. Many of us were horrified and predicted the end of the known estate agency world when HMLR data became public knowledge. Well, I, like many others were 100% wrong and it wasn’t…
In fact, became an incredibly useful tool when looking for comps’ instead of having to suck up to the local surveyor every-time you went out on a tricky valuation.
We can’t un-invent this transformation in the market and I, for one, wouldn’t if I could anyway. It offers agents a golden opportunity to independently show just how much value we add (or don’t add, as the case may be…)
Chri Wood – excellent post, full of commonsense and so true about HMLR data.
The bottom line is Joe Public wants as much information as they can get about, just about, everything … including buying houses.
Whether the information provided is accurate or not will NOT stop buyers viewing it and using it to their advantage when the opportunity presents itself. You are so right that agents should largely shut up and get on with it as they won’t stop companies (or RM or Z) from giving Joe Public what they want.
If OTM had given buyers and sellers what they really wanted, or established a want or need, they would have been infinitely more successful.
Harree?……are you still dreaming about OTM…….deal with it!
Ok…… is it true that OTM have sponsored the Non-OTM’rs to keep mentioning OTM in this non-OTM post? …….because I…….Mr OTM!….. never mentioned OTM in this post!
This story has nothing to do with OTM.
It’s about….. as BrandNew has neatly summed up…… Rightmove undermining Homesellers!
What’s the problem here? this has been around for ages and I can’t imagine many buyers/sellers are aware it’s there. All I’ve heard is that some agents use it to try and nick instructions which have been reduced.
Another out of date story to try and promote OTM………zzzzz
Brand New – Comment of the Week!
This clearly illustrates the problem with RM.
They seem to believe that the reason for their existence is to achieve the best possible price for the Buyer – the person the see as their ‘consumer’.
As a supplier to Estate Agents they seem to forget that we work for the Seller.
In fairness to RM, this is a widget offered by another company, not the portal itself.
A similar offering has been there for years already with propertybee so this is simply a 7urd-polishing exercise by yet another set of chancers thinking they can ‘disrupt’ or otherwise cause change.
HarryN…… I’ll bypass your attempted lecture on estate agency and send you on the egg sucking course!
However…..your “publishing the time to sell does two things……” comment? I wouldn’t employ you as an estate agent as you don’t grasp the most basic principle…… here to work in our seller’s best interests! …..urgency to sell?!….. sorry, unless your client has expressed an urgency to sell then you are the self serving agent who wants his/her fee at the expense of the homeseller – so, Fail there HarryN ….. secondly, time on the market means sod all if the property is priced correctly!….. you naturally assume that if a property isn’t sold then you as the estate agent keep reducing the price to find a buyer?! …..Doh! HarryN….. Fail again!!! I can fill your ego with countless examples of NOT taking that route and accepting that I need the right buyer…. NOT the desperate seller! On occasions I have increased prices to deter the Timewasting Bargain Hunters….. with considerable success!
My business is successful, I have been successful for nearly 3 decades….. and my desks are bursting with Thank You Cards from Homesellers who appreciate a Real Estate Agent performing Real Estate Agency!
Keep sucking those eggs HarryN!
……and OnTheMarket?….. I never mentioned them in either of my posts….. seems you Duopoly Posters are getting twitchy!
I think agents just need to accept RM / Z are what they are.
You have a choice to join OTM, For whatever reason OTM is struggling to recruit more members.
I would suggest instead of getting upset just concentrate on our own businesses. RM & Z have never paid attention to what agents want or need they are not going to start now.
Shout about your service on valuations, explain why we are better than onliners and increase your fee not reduce it. Pass the cost on.
If you are selling a 300k house for 1% at the moment try increasing fee to just 1.1 you will get £300 extra straight away.
RM will not change its offering, embrace it and adapt your offering. OTM has not done what was promised. instead of relying on portals take it into your own hands
Whoooooa there smile please….. who mentioned OTM in this post???
Me.
I agree as agents this “New idea” is harmful. I also recognize there is an alternative (OTM).
I also think there is another alternative which is probably more successful and more within our own destiny and that is our own commercial business decisions.
Instead of waiting for a portal that may or may not help the industry, if i fully embrace RM go for all the bells and whistles taking my average branch spend from £1000 to £2000 a month i just need to find extra 1k per branch per month. Over circa 10 exchanges per branch per month i just need to increase my fee by £100 per sale (probably more like £160 after negs comm, tax etc).
Long term its not right, yes the added expense sickens me. But what other realistic option is left to us?
smile please…. at those Rightmove rates, you and any other company willing to sever a limb and hand it to Rightmove should stay there whilst thousands of other RM Members switch portals….. you and your lush spending cohorts will keep RM in profit for many portal Moons!….. they may end up with much less stock however your RM spend will keep their shareholders happy!
……whilst I have your attention smile please….. I have Gold Coloured For Sale Boards at £500 each….. how many do you want to buy!? let’s say 20 per month so at £120k per year…..a small price to pay, I’m sure you will agree.
GPL,
Try and take the emotion out of it if you can.
I already pay circa 1k per branch. This will not change for the foreseeable. Instead of me moaning about fees or hoping another portal will lower the fees or abolish altogether, why not increase my fees and instead?
I agree its pandering to RM and only helping shareholders but it does make a difference to my business here and now.
Going into new year we will be looking for a moderate increase on fees and also offer lettings which we have not done before. I am also involved with another property related venture which looks to capitilse on the rise of online agents.
RM, Z and online agents have really hit home how business owners need to adapt.
Hoping a portal will save us a few hundred pounds a month and that it will stop the rise of the online agent / hybrid is unfortunately swimming against the tide.
Those that stand still will be swallowed up. Look at connells and countrywide. that should be a wake up call in itself.
I am not saying do not support OTM i am just saying fight the battle on all fronts.
A portal isn’t capable of stopping the rise of online agency, the affinity group can; that’s the real power of AM.
In respect of swimming against the stream I present the Salmon; as an old dry devonian client told me once “Salmon – determined ba5tard5!”
I hear you Robert but with the greatest respect i think that over simplifies the problem.
I have not said it will not work just do not put all your eggs in one basket.
Yes in theory it can sort the problem tomorrow, in practise it may never happen.
By all means agents should sign up to AM /OTM – But agents should be doing a lot more.
The majority of stories on here that get the greatest views and comments are online agent or portals. This is obviously a concern or bone of contention for many (including I).
As industry we seem to have got into a trap of just looking at an alternative to RM – Why not look at something else as well?
I really do wish I could show you what I have built Smile. I want to explain how the solution you are desperate for is already in beta testing.
It is a system designed by Agents like you, Chris Wood, Ric Pickford, Paul House, ‘the industry’ through all of the debate and discussion I have been inciting on almost a daliy basis for over 6 years.
I am not gong or trying to take credit for Hatched but re reading EAT from Autumn 2013, Adam has built the hybrid he fought so strongly against.
“instead of relying on portals take it into your own hands”
Erm… isn’t that pretty much exactly what every Member of OTM is doing, smile please?
Yes and No.
Yes the agents that have signed up are looking at changing the dynamic but as figures hit home last week it is not doing so on a big enough scale.
Why sign up to OTM now? It will not change your business overnight. Lets say if OTM does acheive 15,000 members are they then all going to drop RM?
Z Have/Had circa 15,000 members but agents did not them drop RM despite Z being 1/3 of the cost.
OTM was an example of reactive / passive changed in the market.
My main point is you and i today can change the fortunes within our business by a number of things, the quickest is increasing fee passing the cost on to sellers.
If you are a jeweler selling a a gold ring and price of gold goes up you do not start your own gold mine you pass the cost onto the buyer.
Smile….I still cant understand why you are on with two portals, let alone saying you now feel you should “embrace them”…….RM are so strong at the moment that you don’t need Zoopla at all…..We are all carrying the RM security blanket at the moment but you don’t need 2 security blankets. ….Save yourself almost £5,000 per branch per annum and you’ll see no dip in business……because you are a true pro agent.
I get what you are saying 100% and a large part of me agrees with it.
The reason i keep with 2 portals as opposed to 1 (second being Z) is as a company we use it in marketing. We push the fact vendors properties are advertised on Daily Mail, The Times etc – a lot of agents do not do this. The public have no idea it is powered by Z when you are sitting in their living room. I can honestly say this helps win instructions, at less than 3.5k per annum per branch i feel its worth the money (for the moment).
How many of your sellers go on the market with you because you advertise online with Daily Mail/Telegraph, Times etc. Instead of telling them about that why not ask your vendors which is the “must be on website” as far as they are concerned. See if any of them say Z or their off-shoots. When they all say they are happy and will instruct you for just being on RM , would you then consider dropping Zoopla?
I respect what you are saying and again i agree to an extent.
Possibly we work in different markets, or our agencies differ.
We use Z and the additional websites to differ us from the crowd (well one of many things we use).
All my competitors say they are on RM they all say they are on OTM or Z. None mention Times, telegraph the mail etc.
Does that in itself win us an instruction? No. But is yet another thing of separating ourselves from the competition.
Lets be honest your agency and my agency are probably not run that much differently. I may do some things better, you may do some things better but in the main we probably do the same.
And thats where the problem is. The public see that as well. This is why fees are dropping because agents are not showing the difference they make. They are competing on fee.
This is the big worry with onliners, the public do not know the difference.
Sorry, getting back on track with Z for circa £250 pm per branch its a great advertising tool.
Same can be said for the likes of NAEA. What do they really add? you are buying a logo.
Unlike NAEA which the public have little or no knowledge of at least The Times, Telegraph, Daily Mail etc they have hears of.
The other point is some of us do not want a level playing field, some of us want to stand out from the crowd, sometimes paying that extra helps (not always).
smile please – believe me you are preaching to the wrong person about Fee increases. I wrote the training course on it (literally… one of them at least!).
With regard to your last sentence however although I appreciate where you are coming from I cannot agree with you entirely.
What about those jewellers who buy in bulk at pre-increase prices to be able to offer ‘discount’ deals?
Among others, a certain Mr Ratner had it off to a fine art… but of course we all know what happened next!
Of the 5500 or whatever OTM branches, there are many ‘reasons’ behind their joining as you well know. Each company has their own ‘set of reasons’ – and not all will be identical.
I’m not even sure if the MAIN reason – that of proving that the ‘duopoly’ (credit: Robert May) DO NOT have the stranglehold on the market, and therefore the ability to charge more and more year on year, they believe they possess – is the principle driver behind even 50% of the Membership.
What IS clear, however – and what turned me from staunch doubter to ‘on-the-fence’ Member is that it is the ONLY way that Agents can put up any kind of meaningful opposition.
Will Agents eventually drop their other portal? Maybe – maybe not. I would in a heartbeat because I firmly believe that RM and Z DO NOT ‘work’ in the vendors’ best interests – but I know others simply won’t. But as you know I said that over 2 years ago and so far I haven’t been proven wrong.
I would say though that dropping ONE was for many a monumental step in the right direction – and proof that it can be done.
That said – you’ve gotta believe in it, sp – and you are without doubt a dyed-in-the-wool agnostic in that respect.
BUT… miracles can and do happen. When you’re ready for yours – we will be there to welcome you in! ;o)
That is the problem with analogies they can be spun, but you get my point.
I am not saying OTM will not work. All i am saying is there is more we can do here and now to battle the increases.
There really seems little point moaning about the portals,nothing will change from RM especially so may as well look to soften the blow.
smile please – I had a big speech all typed up about you being prepared to bend over and whistle Moon River while RM did their worst – but I decided not to post it because it would have no doubt wazzed you off and I don’t want to do that.
But I certainly don’t agree with your idea of how to “soften the blow” – in fact I see it as you simply champing down on your jumper sleeve and waiting for the inevitable.
So £1K becomes £2k – then what? Are you saying you will simply raise your fees every year to counteract the RM effect? What if you lose 10% of your yearly listings as a result? 5%? 20%? What then?
Are you REALY going to feel the benefit… or just bear the pain and convince yourself that things would have been worse if you’d done anything else?
I’ve said this before and I promised myself I wouldn’t say it again – but I’m gonna say it again. Last gasp effort.
You need to speak to Robert May. Surely you owe it to your business to explore EVERY avenue before committing to a designated path – and forgive me if I’m wrong but it seems to me that you’re avoiding that particular path for some reason.
He won’t rat your identity out – his entire reputation would be 5cr£wed if he did… not that he would anyway.
But hey – if you don’t ‘buy’ into his thought process at the end then its cost you a good hour of your life and nothing more, surely… and the bonus is that you get to slag me off for ‘pushing’ you into it!
I’ll risk that potential consequence if you will… ;o)
Besides all the good point made above, can’t help wondering if the longer term plan is an attempt to bypass agents completely. I’ve never felt so “un-valued” as a customer before. We definitely need OTM to succeed.
Mis priced and under valued properties from end of December…..Maybe the next new feature will be the link to an agent review site on a property page perhaps it can give a rating based on how many under valued properties you have and how often that agent has mis priced a property.
So I have a buyer for a property, after a positive survey I mark it STC at the buyers request and the vendors agreement, then the buyer has to withdraw due to personal circumstances and the property is back on the market. Except new buyers can see a ‘failed sale’. Is this really in the best interests of vendors, the people who decide where they would like their property advertised? Another reason I fully support OTM.
And you still insist on not supporting OnTheMarket… tell me why again..?
Let’s see Portals introduce a system to provide estate agents and homesellers with information on the quality of potential homebuyers and rate their financial ability to purchase etc….. and show these separately from the millions and millions of hits/clicks that are statistically shown when they are no more than the result of a giant portal fishing net that fails to qualify in any way the qualiity of those clicking!
Yet another reason to Dump the Duopoly.
A shotgun approach with statistical information and the impact including errors is clearly detrimental to sellers!
I already have homesellers astounded that Duopoly Portal Marketing can unfairly affect the outcome of their property sale.
Goodbye Duopoly!
GPL – I understand that you cannot resist grabbing this to fuel your increasingly isolated position on Agents Mutual, however, let me offer you an alternative view:
– online agents take money up front and then – according to many of the posters on this website – do a less effective job of helping the seller actually sell the property
– traditional agents get payment upon success, and the longer a property is on the market, the more cost they incur and therefore less profit they make
– publishing the time to sell does two things: it creates urgency with the seller, as they don’t want their property to get old, and helps the traditional agent save on cost as in theory it should be easier to get price reductions etc. Second, it would highlight that online agents take longer to sell their customer’s properties.
As such, traditional agents have the most to gain from this information being public.
Is there any logic here that you don’t follow or – with rational argument rather than maniacal ranting – can dispute?
15,000 agents, 5,500 OTM members, I think you will find you seem to be the isolated ones
Probably should of read that better, i need coffee
Don’t follow your logic? 5,500 OTM members, about 20 prepared to speak up for the thing.
Pretty much everyone else sees it for the dead duck that it is.
Oh, and any offer of sensible argument against my comments above, or just more ranting?
Any particular part of “Probably should of read that better, i need coffee” you didn’t grasp?
It has been well established that ‘HarryN’ has issues with understanding plain common sense, Gump! ;o)
I deal with school leavers all the time at interviews, so I’ve become quite tolerant of them 😛
Just ranting then?
Oh, dear – scraps breaking out in the anti-OTM ranks…
…they’re dooooomed, I tell ye! ;o)