EweMove
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Features
Business on the line
Traditional or online? Which agents will win the battle? The lines are blurring, says Andrea Kirkby and it’s service that is key in this changing, challenging market.
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Latest property news
Rising revenues at EweMove help TPFG boost profits by 29% this year
While many large estate agency firms are licking their wounds as the property market softens, Martin & Co parent company The Property Franchise Group (TPFG) has today released an extraordinarily upbeat set of figures including profits up by 29% to £2.3 million. This includes increased market share for the company’s hybrid agency EweMove which now has 114 territory franchisee holders, is the 5th largest in its sector and unlike many competitors is trading profitably. Ewemove’s franchisee income increase to £920,000 from £500,000 last year although the hybrid has been struggling to recruit new franchisees so far this year, signing up 12 compared to 18 during the first six months of 2017. Hybrid agency Figures from the hybrid agency also suggest why; experienced estate agents pay £2,000 to join while non-industry applicants are charge £20,000. EweMove has recruited fewer of the former so far this year. At TPFG, all the dials have been rising including both revenue and service fees from its franchisees, operating margin, profits, number of franchisees and lettings book. This includes turnover up by 17% to £5.5 million, franchisee royalties by 15% and the number of rental properties managed by 6% to 53,000. TPFG operates six property brands…
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Latest property news
‘Overcrowded hybrid and online agency sector will soon consolidate like portals did’
The current over-supply of online and hybrid agents will soon consolidate down from around 80 at the moment to a handful of main players, it has been claimed. Bob Scarff, the former MD of Countrywide’s Estate Agency Division and now MD of telephony technology firm Callwell, says the current position where many are jockeying for position behind Purplebricks is very similar to the mid-noughties. At that time a huge number of property portals vied to be No.2 in the market behind Rightmove. “I remember one day at Countrywide when we sat down and counted the number of places that were displaying our stock and it was nearly 100 or a similar ridiculous number,” he says. “So just like the portals, I believe the hybrids or ‘agents without branches’ as I prefer to call them will also go through a consolidation.” AllAgents.com currently lists 78 online and hybrid agencies operating in the UK and Bob says these agents will boil down to a key half a dozen including Hatched, Yopa, Purplebricks and Ewemove but who else survives through the process is up for debate. He says he can’t make up his mind about the recently enlarged Emoov and that he has…
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Latest property news
TPFG kicks off huge property portfolio land grab
The Property Franchise Group is acquired 3,000 properties via 16 property portfolio acquisitions it helped franchisees complete so far this year.
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Features
Buy into the brand
It’s a testing time for agents, with multiple pressures on agents. So, asks Sheila Manchester, if your business is more of a worry than a joy, could a franchise be the right route for you?
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Agencies & People
Now it’s Ewemove’s turn to adopt ‘local expert’ hybrid estate agent model
Franchise Property Group-owned hybrid agency Ewemove is offering experienced agents three-year contracts to become Local Property Partners and earn via commission.
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Latest property news
£250m pumped into online estate agents so far by investors, claims TPFG
Extraordinary claim is made by parent company of Martin & Co and Ewemove in its upbeat annual results for 2017.
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Latest property news
Hybrid estate agent who works from home takes over high street competitor
A glimpse of the industry’s future has been revealed after a Staffordshire estate agent who works from home with his two sons today announced he has bought a high street competitor. Chris Walthall (pictured, above), who set up a Ewemove franchise covering Leek and Hanley in Staffordshire four years ago, runs it with his son and fellow director Dan as well as another son, Conor. “I’ve operated the business from my home since 2014 and have a dedicated office space where I can have clients round and focus on my day-to-day work,” he says. The trio’s business, which Ewemove gathers together with other franchisees to create ‘Ewemove Staffordshire’ on Rightmove, offers both a sales and lettings service and, Ewemove claims, is now one of its most successful branches. Chris, like an increasing number of franchisees across the industry, had no experience of sales or lettings before acquiring the franchise, having previously been a salesperson in other sectors. But, although his family’s business is based from home, Chris has now bought a high street branch in Biddulph, to the north of Hanley, previously operated by a franchisee from Ewemove’s parent company Martin & Co (pictured, above). Its former owners will be…
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Latest property news
Ewemove poach senior Countrywide branch manager to lead its franchisee support team
Hybrid agency Ewemove has poached a senior member of the Countrywide team to help its existing network of franchisees grow their businesses, and also recruit more businesses to the brand. Chris Webb (pictured, right), who until last month was a Senior Branch Manager at Countrywide and before that worked at Winkworth, has a 14-year track record in the industry starting out as a negotiator at a Winchester independent aged just 18. Now 32 years old, he will hold the title of Performance Director at Ewemove and report to Head Shepherd Nick Neill (pictured, below). “What especially drew me to the brand was its effectiveness in bringing together the very best aspects of traditional and online estate agency,” says Chris. “Having come from a very traditional background, I’m looking forward to further establishing EweMove as a serious alternative, and the go-to estate agency.” Ewemove, which is part of the Property Franchise Group, is unusual within the industry because, although it originally launched as an online agent, the company is keen to position itself as a ‘high street but hybrid’ operator and in January revealed it had six high street offices. “With our unrivalled commitment to customer care and our use of…
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Latest property news
Exclusive: Ewemove reveals speed of its transformation into a high street operator
Countrywide take note – former online-only brand Ewemove has revealed the speed at which it is transforming into a high street-but-hybrid branch network. The company, which is now part of The Property Franchise Group (TPFG), has told The Negotiator that of its 120 franchisees, six are now branded high street branches while 24 are either operating out of existing franchisee’s businesses or are being operated within ‘serviced office’. This was revealed at its recent annual jamboree, at which 150 agents from Aberdeen to Barnstaple gathered at The Belfry conference centre on the outskirts of Birmingham to celebrate the hybrid agent’s fifth birthday. News of its genesis from the internet onto the high street was revealed by Managing Director Nick Neill. He is a former Ewemove franchisee who, after the company was bought by TPFG and its founders moved on, was appointed to the top job. The gathering also heard presentations from Peter Knight from The Property Academy, James Sinclair from Entrepreneurs Network, and Alex Rose from Hometrack. Later in the day Ewemove also held an internal awards ceremony during which Chris Walthall won Franchisee of the Year. He operates Ewemove’s Leek and Hanley franchise in Yorkshire. “Chris launched [his] business…
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