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Latest property news
“We’re not an online agent” insists EweMove Head Shepherd
The ‘head shepherd’ of estate agent EweMove says his business is not an ‘online agency’ and that nearly 10% of his franchisees have now opened high street stores. The latest to open is in Bexleyheath in South London (pictured), which like many of the company’s 110 franchisees is a high street agent who has re-branded – in its case from Apex Residential. Nick Neill, who became Managing Director of EweMove in June and also used to hold a franchise in York, says he believes its model is one-off in the industry. “I don’t like it when we’re lumped in with the online agents – we’re just chalk and cheese. There is no comparison,” he says. “Online agents in my book charge up-front for their service and leave a lot of the rest to the vendor including viewings,” he says. “Although a lot of marketing is online to generate leads, we do all the viewings and also do face-to-face appraisals, valuations and photos and also pre-qualify viewers. No contract “Also, we don’t tie any seller into a contract term and they are free to walk away at any time, not having spent a single penny on bringing their property to market…
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How much bigger are Purplebricks’ catchment areas than high street agents?
How important is local knowledge to vendors? It’s a question that hybrid agents such as YOPA and Purplebricks are putting under the spotlight right now as they attempt to claim ‘local experts’ with large patches. But research just out suggests that local knowledge really is very important to vendors. So how local is local? Agent comparison site GetAgent looked at national data from 14,000 branches and over a million listings to find out. On average properties listed with traditional sales agents are 3km away from the high street branch they are listed with. But it’s the stark difference in catchment area size that sticks out from the GetAGent research – Purplebricks LPEs operate within an average catchment size of 10km while traditional agents’ areas are no more than 3.8km wide. “Being local is so important,” says Matthew Cousins of Surrey-based Inspire Estate Agents. “I don’t understand how an estate agent can add value if they don’t know the area, the people and the properties. “I know I can value a property accurately in the area I cover as I am likely to have sold a property very close by.” It is also clear that Purplebricks take on twice as many…
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