PDQ Estates
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Latest property news
Estate agency quits high street AND Rightmove in same week
Cornish estate agent PDQ Estates is to close its branch in Helston and has quit Rightmove, its managing director Chris Wood has revealed. PDQ has been trading for 18 years from the address but Wood says that, after its lease came up for renegotiation, he decided to enact a long-planned strategy to take his business off the high street into action. The 51-year-old says much of his agency’s work is now done remotely on the road, on social media or at home and that this is a “logical move for our clients”. “If you know your local area well, know your job well, why in today’s world of social media, 3D and 4K photography, must you have a high street presence?” he says. “Whilst I will undoubtedly lose some business from more traditional sellers, I am confident I will be able to more than offset this in other ways.” PDQ is the third well-known agency to abandon the high street in recent months following both Orchards in London and national agency Humberts. Wood’s company has only ever operated one branch but his profile has been somewhat larger than his business. He helped Tesco develop its hybrid model during the mid-noughties,…
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Latest property news
Estate Agencies rapped by advertising watchdog
Coventry firm Lewis Oliver was reported for a cheeky newspaper ad that included a picture of a man’s torso wearing only swimming shorts headlined as “WOW WHAT A PACKAGE”. A roundel over the model’s crotch then said “Fully Managed Letting Service”. Two members of the public complained about the ad, claiming that the “image was irrelevant to the service being advertised and objectified the man” and was therefore offensive. The ASA has upheld the two complaints, saying that “taking the image, strapline and placement of the roundel into account, we considered that the ad was likely to have the effect of objectifying the man by using his physical features to draw attention to an unrelated product. “We concluded that the ad was likely to cause serious offence to some people.” Lewis Oliver was told not to repeat the ad, which is due for renewal in a few weeks’ time when the advertising contract with the paper comes to an end. The ad has also appeared as a billboard ad (above) although this did not attract any complaints. Meanwhile, a Cornish estate agent has had both a tweet and a blog published by the business referred to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA),…
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Agencies & People
Will agents back SW agent’s one-man stand against Purplebricks?
Cornish estate agent Chris Wood is asking agents and members of the public to back him in his campaign against Purplebricks with a £25 donation.
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Latest property news
Advertising watchdog says Purplebricks LPEs ARE ‘local’ and ‘expert’
Four complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that Purplebricks LPEs are neither ‘local’ nor ‘expert’ has been rejected by the watchdog. The complainants, who included Plymouth Trading Standards, property consultant Alexander Dawson and Chris Wood’s PDQ Estates, said calling Purplebricks’ agents ‘local’ and ‘expert’ – as featured on the company’s ‘meet our experts’ section – was misleading and could not be substantiated. During the ASA investigation, Purplebricks said ‘local’ referred to their agent’s local knowledge instead of their geographical location, and that they ensured each LPE had relevant knowledge of their patch. Purplebricks also told the ASA that its LPEs offer an “equivalent service to traditional estate agents” including doing valuations and preparing property listings, although it said there was no ‘set radius’ each of its LPEs covers, and that coverage depends on the sales volumes of the area. The company also said Purplebricks LPEs have “strong knowledge of the local property market” and “strong valuation experience” and that agents on average have between five and ten years’ experience working in the industry before joining Purplebricks. But they don’t have to be qualified – LPEs can join Purplebricks without any qualifications but must pass all National Association of Estate…
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Agencies & People
Chris Wood challenges Purplebricks to a house sales bet
Chris Wood of Penzance-based PDQ Estates has thrown down the gauntlet to hybrid agent Purplebricks to see who can sell the most homes. In a tweet (see right) over the weekend Chris challenged Purplebricks to put its model to the test by submitting all its completed transactions over a set period to be independently audited by the ESTAS, which would then be measured against PDQ Estates’ completed transactions. “I spoke to Simon Brown at the ESTAs who said he was very happy to do it and that it would all be above board,” says Chris. “Everyone thinks I’m anti Purplebricks, but I’m not,” says Chris. “I’ve got nothing against the hybrid concept – I helped develop a very similar system for Tesco when I worked there as a consultant – and I think the Purplebricks model is an excellent one.” Chris says his main problem with both Purplebricks and several traditional high street agents too is the way that properties are listed on the portals and how agent review websites work. His challenge has been retweeted numerous times including by Top 150 UK law firm and conveyancing solicitor Trethowans. It tweeted that ‘it won’t be Purplebricks who win. Always avoid…
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