Recently-launched agency bosses defend model as ‘right time for the UK’

International estate agency giant IAD has brushed aside concerns that this is the wrong time to be launching into the UK market and says that its own model could offer a lifeline for struggling agents in the coming months.

The Neg revealed last month how IAD had acquired self-employed agency platform David Lee estate agents for an undisclosed sum and was using the business to spearhead its launch into Britain.

FUTURE PLANS

Now in a series of interviews with popular broadcaster and property guru Cristo Foufas (main picture, left), bosses at the agency brush aside any concerns and outline the company’s robust plans for the future.

Talking to Foufas for an over an hour Clément Delpirou (main picture, middle), President of the IAD Group, Lee O’Brien (main piture, right), Managing Director of IAD UK and David Kirby, Head of Constellation at IAD UK admit it’s a ‘challenging market’.

But Kirby says: “Interest rates are the highest they’ve been in years. Some people will say this is the wrong time to be launching. But a good market is a challenging market.”

“A lot of high street agents are going to struggle with overheads now that costs are higher. We’re giving them the opportunity to come into the new model with a lower cost base and increase profits.

And he adds: “With IAD, agents can earn three times their current salary. Or they can earn the same but work fewer hours. Or just sell one house a month to subsidise their income or retirement. The model works for whatever your needs are.”

PIONEERS

The trio go on to further discuss what IAD has learned from self-employed ‘pioneers’ who came before and exactly why IAD gives its agents such high commission.

They also discuss why some agents in the UK struggle to gain the admiration of consumers and pledge to make estate agents loved again.

COVID and the closure of high street offices meant customer mindset completely changed.”

Lee O’Brien, Managing Director of IAD UK, says: “We have seen the pain points coming from trying to keep high street offices open when no one is walking in. COVID and the closure of high street offices meant customer mindset completely changed and agent minds are open to the new model.

“The level of care, attention, and commitment the self-employed agent gives you is over and above the traditional model where different people are incentivised for different reasons. Self-employed agents are there at every step and customers love it.”

Clément Delpirou, President of the IAD Group, adds: “I wouldn’t be reassured by an empty high street branch…[that] is not the future of agency.

“We’re confident our model will work in the UK in ways others haven’t…everyone will have their own view, but we have seen it work across multiple markets. In every case, agents were sceptical. But in every case, we are thriving and grabbing up market share.”

Watch the videos, HERE.

Main picxture: Broadcaster Cristo Foufas, IAD Group’s Clément Delpirou and IAD UK’s Lee O’Brien