A former lettings agent and an app developer have teamed up to give agents software to go head-to-head with online brands.
Matthew Whatt, a former negotiator for Romans, and Olly Lawson, an app developer, have launched an app called Muves.
Muves offers agents a branded app that landlords or vendors who are uncomfortable paying commission for a full agency service can download as an alternative.
Instead, agents can let clients use the app to cherry-pick their own service such as taking their own pictures or managing viewing themselves.
The property is then placed on portals in the same way.
Lawson told EYE: “Some people walk into an estate agent and are put off by commission compared with a one-off fixed fee from someone like Purplebricks.
“We are giving the agent a tool to fight back. They can let landlords or vendors download the app and cherry-pick their own service at a fixed cost.
“As the agent you would still list the property in the same way. Viewing feedback and offers can also be relayed in the app.
“We are not trying to replace traditional estate agency, we are trying to complement it.”
Three agents have signed up so far, My Property Box, Ark and Zenko Properties.
The app costs agents £250 upfront and then £250 per month.
Comments (6)
Surely these guys have missed the point about the online revolution. It’s not about whether traditional agents can build software to offer an online service (anyone could pay a developer to come up with an app) Its about being able to consistently offer this service at a fraction of the cost. Traditional agents wont be able to do this, as for this to work, you need the numbers, and only the large online agencies with million pound advertising budgets will be able to get the numbers through the site.
All this app does, is offer the prospective client, a much cheaper service to actually what your business does. It’s like committing business suicide.
Anyone considering using this app, should ask themselves this question ‘Can I afford for every single valuation I get, to chose the online service, instead of my traditional one?’. If the answer is no, then why would you do it.
Crazy!
The only way our industry will survive this online revolution is by providing superior customer service.
I think the basic idea could work, but not at £250 per month.
Congratulations – you have developed a product to assist agents with the every increasing threat to fees, by allowing vendors and landlords to pick a much reduced service, and therefore I assume at a much reduced fee, by adding an ongoing cost of £250 to the expenses of the business…….
How does allowing a vendor or landlord to spend less for a lessor service assist and agent in combating the assault on their fees??
£250 a month is a joke, also I believed that photos had to be taken by the agent and not by vendors as they could be misleading/photoshopped etc, don’t the images have to be approved by the agent so a visit is still required?
A lot of money each month to help you lose more off your average fee.
£250 Set up, £250per month, for an app?
If I downloaded all these apps, ‘movebubble’, ‘letproof’, ‘pad’, ‘muves’ etc. etc.. not sure if i will have enough memory on my phone for the important apps in my life, ‘Facebook’ and ‘Youtube’… another failure in the waiting… I have booked marked this and will track its downfall. Good luck and good bye.