IAD wants 500 agents in four years’ time

International estate agency giant IAD plans to have at least 100 self-employed agents operating in the UK in the next six to nine months and is eying five times that number in just four years’ time.

The Neg reported last week how IAD had snapped up self-employed agency platform David Lee estate agents for an undisclosed sum and is now using the business to spearhead its launch into England and Wales.

FEET ON THE GROUND

The new proposition covers sales, lettings and property management and the deal gives IAD immediate ‘feet on the ground’.

David Lee was founded by Lee O’Brien (main picture) and David Kirby in 2004 and the acquisition will see it re-brand to ‘iad’ with O’Brien taking the position of Managing Director of the expanding UK business and Kirby acting as ‘Head of Constellation’ and leading the existing team of 21 agents.

O’Brien told The Neg: “We sold the business entirely through a complete share sale to IAD.

“We have run a self-employed model here in the UK for three years so understand the break points and the problems that agents are having but we are also a complete believer that this is the future for great agents and it’s a good space to be.”

SIX MONTHS

The firm’s deal with Iad was six months in the making having met for the first-time last December.

Clement Delpirou, President of Iad, says: “The vision we share with David and Lee is that high street agency is not the future.

“We might operate in eight different markets globally – but we like to call it one network, one contract – but the commission split and the way that we share the value with the agent is the same in every market.

“That is the backbone of the company, the DNA of what we do. We add to this a huge level of service, support, training and top-notch tech tools.

Delpirou says commission levels in the UK market had initially put the brakes on any UK entry.

COMMISSION

He tells The Neg: “The size of the market has always been attractive to us – it’s the fourth biggest market in the world. At the beginning we were deterred by the commission level. In Southern Europe our commission level after VAT is around 4%!”

Delpirou wondered how it would be possible to make a living off “one point something” commission levels.

We didn’t realise that the number of transactions per agent per year was far superior.”

But he says: “We didn’t realise that the number of transactions per agent per year was far superior to what we have in Europe and with a 95% conversation rate. High Street agency is not dead but it’s not the future.

“I don’t think self-employed will ever be 100% but we are gaining ground fast everywhere. The beauty of the self-employed model is that you don’t need a physical branch – you can start anywhere.”

SUPPORT

O’Brien adds: “IAD can give us the support and funding that we need to grow the business. The network is a huge asset for us in terms of recruitment.

“Our first goal is to reach 100 agents and we plan to reach that target within six to nine months. In other countries this model has attracted 500 agents within four years of launch. That’s our first two milestones.”

Kirby says: “We’ll be sad to see the David Lee name go. It was a tough decision process to go through. However, we thought beyond our own identity and are fully invested in this as a model and this is the future of the agency.

“This is evolutionary change and part of that is losing the David Lee name.”