Did you Catch the Panorama Documentary on BBC earlier this month - Lets break it down! 📺🎥
Shocked but not surprised..👀😲
You’ve probably seen the BBC Panorama on earlier this month, read an article or seen others posting on social media.🫣
The truth is, this is no surprise to us. We have witnessed this ourselves first hand (and worse!) which was one of the main driving forces behind the creation of our own Estate Agency. We could see that the message was coming down from the top with managers and their managers driven by hitting targets as opposed to focusing on helping their clients achieve their goal of selling/ moving home.
Estate Agents have for a long time had a bad reputation in the UK.
That said, It’s clear to see that Independent Estate Agents are growing rapidly across England whilst the high street shrinks at incredible speed whereby smaller independents are taking the war to the larger corporate agencies, whereby the client has one point of contact from start to finish with a trusted professional who is a business owner.
It’s not every high street agency but here are your warning signs:
⚠️ Low selling fees to get you onboard - a BIG one
⚠️ No one single point of contact
⚠️ Long contracts - another BIG one across Yorkshire
⚠️ Only provides (and pushes) ‘in house’ Broker, Conveyancer or Surveyor
⚠️ Talks about how many listings they have/market share
⚠️ Doesn’t talk about SSTC % ratio vs those listed
⚠️ Doesn’t talk about % of listings reduced vs area averages
⚠️ They don’t actively show you which buyers within their system are looking for a home like yours (in accordance with GDPR).
Choosing your agent should feel like you’re going to interview someone you’ll be working closely with over the next 3-6 months, as essentially that’s what will be happening. A good Estate Agent is there to work on your behalf to help you navigate the home moving process. Don’t fall into the trap of interviewing the agent that once you’ve signed up, you’ll never see again 🚩
Our RedRoots brokerage model helps the public connect with a local business owner and specialist agent who they can trust and rely on and because a lot of business is passed from word of mouth, you know that your agent will have as much skin in the game as you will.
If you are interested in having a chat with one of our Local Partner Agents then please let us know and we’ll make sure we connect you to the right member of the team.
