Estate Agent Offices - Important These Days?

tempnam

Hi all,

I was hoping for some opinions here please.

I'm wondering whether you think it is still necessary for estate agents to have shops/offices in towns/on the high street etc.

As all property agents have their own websites and will undoubtedly use My Home, Daft, Property.ie etc. is there any need for an agent to actually have a 'Shopfront'?

Is much of their business won through people walking through the front door or browsing their window displays?

I'm assuming (based solely on personal experience) that most people will search for properties online as the first port of call - and then contact the agent to arrange viewings etc.

I'm just wondering how much of a purpose an estate agent's office actually serves (aside from housing staff of course).

I'd be interested to hear other people's opinions on this.

CreepingDeath

I imagine a lot of estate agents could get away without a public office.
Although you might get the odd buyer who wants to call in and browse as opposed to call.

It's probably more helpful for older people who don't use the internet as much, or it catches the odd person wandering past the office having a look what's there when they weren't particularly househunting at the time.

I think there's a big market to cut out the estate agents completely and help people sell their own home independantly.

Idbatterim

I think there's a big market to cut out the estate agents completely and help people sell their own home independantly.

the cut they take here was only 1-1.5% during the crash IIRC, its a fairly meagre amount for the hassle they save, the knowledge they have and the contacts that they may have...

Desmonddoyle

Idbatterim wrote: »

the cut they take here was only 1-1.5% during the crash IIRC, its a fairly meagre amount for the hassle they save, the knowledge they have and the contacts that they may have...

1.5% of 400,000 is 6,000 - not sure many people would agree that is a meagre amount.
You might do well to analyse what you get for your 6,000.
* Ad on Daft 200, assume myhome is similar.
* Arrange an open viewing once a month, so you need a body, any body, to stand in the hallway for an hour (exactly an hour) and hand out a paper leaflet of what is on the internet as a proxy for answering any questions.
* take and make a few calls
* small bit of admin

In all my years as a buyer or seller, I have to yet to avail of, or hear of anyone else that has availed of their 'knowledge' and 'contacts'.
I think their 'service' is extremely pricey for what you get.

A bit like recruitment consultants for me, if they were to all disappear tomorrow, people would just perform these functions themselves, and wonder why they needed them in the first place.
There will always be people willing to pay to save time and hassle, but how this has become the 'norm' is beyond me. There really has to be a better way.

Idbatterim

I did an internship during the height of the recession with SherryFitz, at this moment in time, it probably is a case of show up and open the door and thats it for many properties in many areas. A bit like the rental crisis at the moment, you put the ad up on daft as you say and thats it...

But SherryFitz, the branch I did my internship in at least, did have a large database of potential buyers, with all their wants and wont haves on it and were in touch with them when relevant properties came up...

I think most buyers would prefer to go through an EA... Its not black and white, there are a lot of factors...

* Ad on Daft 200, assume myhome is similar.

It might be as a private seller, but if you are an EA listing lots of properties, it is probably substantially less than E200 per property...

L1011

Desmonddoyle wrote: »

You might do well to analyse what you get for your 6,000.
* Ad on Daft 200, assume myhome is similar.

Rare for an EA not to charge for advertising on top of their fee.