Emoov
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Latest property news
Liquidator of old Emoov says ‘pay up front’ customers are owed £1.5m
Legal firm James Cowper Kreston also says former staff are to be paid £800 each, although this is much less than many are owed in back pay and bonuses.
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Latest property news
Trustpilot reveals how its ‘star rating’ system really works for agents
It has been revealed that estate agents who use Trustpilot to promote their businesses can ‘game’ the platform because the reviews company gives newer customer reviews greater weight when awarding an overall ‘out of five’ score. The policy has been revealed by the Advertising Standards Authority during its investigation into the new eMoov, which has been using links to its Trustpilot page to promote the business. Out of the 2,179 reviews on its Trustpilot page, only 80 have come from clients dealt with by the new incarnation of the online agent, while the rest were generated while it was operated by eMoov Ltd, which is currently in administration. The ASA has told a complainant about the use of old reviews that it has held ‘detailed talks’ with both Trustpilot and the agency. Aggregate score During these talks over the past six weeks, the ASA was told that the overall aggregate score award by Trustpilot was influenced unduly by the most recent reviews, rather than older ones. ”We are therefore satisfied that there is not a source of concern here at the moment and so we are not investigating this further,” the ASA has said. But the complainant, Andrew Stanton, has…
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Latest property news
Why do so few online agents make any profit?
A traditional cold-start agency can attain profit within two years, so why has only a handful of online agencies done it many years after starting up?
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Latest property news
‘It’s time to stop estate agents over-valuing homes to gain instructions’
Former eMoov boss and now PR man Russell Quirk has called for property valuations to be regulated to stop the practice of over pricing homes to win instructions. In an incendiary blog published yesterday that will no doubt infuriate many agents, Quirk argues that too many are being lazy or revealing their lack of experience when deliberately or mistakenly over-valuing properties to gain an instruction. When done knowingly, this tactic should be considered ‘tantamount to fraud’, he claims. “The definition of fraud is the act of attempting to gain through deception and via deliberate trickery,” he says. “Therefore, telling a prospective property seller that they should expect to achieve £450,000 when £400,000 is the real number, is as dodgy as a timeshare salesman on a beach in Tenerife.” Quirk (left) says that, because most vendors sign sole agency agreements of up to four months, agents feel they can over-value a property and then persuade the vendor to reduce their price to a more realistic figure as time goes by, safe in the knowledge they have only one option as the weeks tick by; to agree to a lower asking price. Quirk is not alone in calling for property valuations to…
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Latest property news
Winding up of company behind old eMoov to take another year
The appointed administrator of the failed company behind the original Emoov business has submitted documents to Companies House revealing that it will take a further 12 months to complete the task. London and Southampton-based legal firm James Cowper Kreston has gained the agreement of Emoov Ltd’s creditors to extend the period of administration to the 2nd December 2020. Emoov Limited went into administration on 20th December last year after the business failed to find a backer to keep it trading following mounting losses. Earlier this year James Cowper Kreston revealed that it has £465,777 to distribute to the company’s creditors including £232,500 paid for the Emoov name, website and technology platform by proptech firm Mashroom Ltd. It has subsequently relaunched the business with a new logo, website and fees structure. The extra time needed by Emoov Ltd’s administrators reflects the complicate nature of its descent into receivership; as well as shareholders, trade creditors and institutional investors, it also raised money from hundreds of small investors via crowdfunding platform Crowdcube. This includes £2.62 million raised in 2015 from 780 people and a further £1.9 million raised in July 2018 from 1,119 investors. Emoov also signed an equity-for-media deal with both Sky…
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Agencies & People
ASA and Emoov ‘in discussions’ over website amendments following complaint
Original complainant about the agency's website has asked the watchdog to revisit his original point that Emoov is incorrectly using Trustpilot reviews.
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Latest property news
Were you there for the industry’s greatest talking shop?
The Negotiator Conference last Friday saw some 600 agents sign up to attend but if you weren’t there, here a round-up of the key debates that took place.
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Latest property news
Online estate agency buys referencing firm off retiring founder
99 homes, which currently lists 471 properties for sale, says the purchase is part of its plan to become a 'one stop shop' for house sales and renting services.
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Latest property news
Reborn eMoov insists it is co-operating with advertising watchdog over out-of-date reviews
Relaunched hybrid estate agency eMoov says it is complying with a request from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to remove Trustpilot and Google reviews relating to its previous incarnation.
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Latest property news
US hybrid estate agency signs up leading industry figure as consultant for UK launch
eXP Realty has also announced that it has bagged Mark Bentley as both a consultant to the fledgling business and also one of its local representatives.
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