YOPA
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Latest property news
Advertising watchdog tackles three companies for misleading ads
Three different property firms including two agents and a developer have made it on to today’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) naughty step after complaints were made against them for publishing misleading ads. The most serious is against London-based agent Harper Brooks, whose website for a 98 unit, £18m new-homes development in Manchester called Grove House was investigated by the ASA following a complaint. Its website for the development, www.grovehousemanchester.co.uk, claimed to offer two-bedroom properties for rent from £650pcm but the complainant said no properties were available at that price, and that no “manned concierge desk” was available, as claimed. The ASA upheld the complaint but also heavily criticises Harper Brooks – which trades as Cambourne Properties Ltd – for not responding to the ASA’s enquiries quickly or adequately enough, which itself is a breach of the ASA’s code. When The Negotiator visited the website earlier today the advert had yet to be amended. The other complaints about misleading ads were less serious and were informally resolved. Hybrid agent YOPA was reported for failing to make it clear that VAT was not included within its ‘savings’ calculator, which shows potential clients how much less they might pay using YOPA compared to a traditional high street agent. YOPA…
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Latest property news
Are the online-only agents gaining traction?
After reading the criticism of online-only agents by their traditional counterparts on Twitter it’s clear that much of the industry dislikes and fears the way these digital ‘disruptors’ do business. High profile operators such as Purplebricks, Easyproperty, emoov and House Network regularly feature in the national press and, helped by their extensive PR outfits, are hard at work persuading the public that online-only agents are the future. Research by The Negotiator into the market reveals a different picture. The online-only agents have a fair way to go yet before they can claim to be a major threat to traditional agents, industry data reveals. With the exception of hybrids (i.e. staffed but without high street branches) such as Purplebricks and YOPA, they have yet to gain a significant foothold in the market. There are 21,925 properties currently listed on Rightmove by online or hybrid agents which is 4.03% of the market based on Rightmove’s current listing of 543,612 (minus the online agents). Purplebricks dominates the online sector with 44% of all listed properties listed followed by HouseSimple (12%), emoov (9.8%) and Easyproperty (7.2%), Housenetwork (6.4%) and YOPA (5.5%). Most of the smaller online agents including recently-launch Settled, which lists 316 properties for sale, have the same inventory of a five to…
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Latest property news
Hey, young man? YOPA hires Village People for TV campaign
On first viewing the new TV advertising campaign by hybrid agency YOPA looks like a good idea, but will many of the target audience – 30-somethings looking to save on their house move – recognise the stars featured in it? YOPA, which clearly has cash to spend following Savills’ recent £16m investment in the business, has filmed three ads featuring 1970s/1980s disco group Village People – best known for their hits In The Navy and Y.M.C.A. During the first ad which is now on TV the six ageing members of the group are shown discussing whether to ‘move on’ while sat around a kitchen table. Two more ads are to be aired later this year. “The concept of The Village People needing a helping hand to move on proved irresistible for these ads,” says Daniel Attia, co-founder of YOPA (pictured, left). “Aside from the comedy that the situation presents, it’s a message that fundamentally rings true: so many of us delay moving home because the process is so stressful, not to mention hugely expensive.” YOPA started out as an online-only agent and its acronym used to stand for ‘Your Online Property Agent’ but in August last year it changed its business model…
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Latest property news
Stakes are high as YOPA invests in advertising
Profile raising expertise is sought for the online agency backed by Savills.
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Agencies & People
YOPA gets investment from Savills
Now Savills joins the internet set, by buying into online agent YOPA.
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Latest property news
Home owners paying £250m a month in estate agency fees
Land Registry figures show that the price of the average property sold in England and Wales in January 2016 was £190,658. High street estate agents typically charge sellers a 1.8 per cent commission fee, meaning, says the ‘hybrid’ agency YOPA, that they made an average £3,431 in fees for every sale. A total of 77,170 properties sold that month, for a combined value of £20.7bn, which equates to more than £250m paid out to high street agencies, which control around 95 per cent of the residential market. That is almost five times the amount they were paying 20 years ago when the average property sold for £59,278, netting estate agencies an estimated average commission of £1,067. Property sales totaled £3.1b in January 1996, according to Land Registry figures, which equates to £56.9m in fees to estate agents. The trend is most pronounced in London and the South East where property prices have risen most in the last two decades. In London, the average property now sells for more than £500,000, handing estate agents almost £10,000 in commission per transaction. Detached properties in the capital sell at an average £929,680, equating to an average commission of more than £16,000. In the…
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Latest property news
Yes, it’s YOPA!
Hybrid estate agency YOPA is gearing up for a national roll-out this month. The estate agency is launching across England and Wales after reporting successful pre-Christmas pilots in the Granada and Meridian regions. YOPA says its combination of Local Property Managers (LPMs) and cutting-edge industry technology is proving a hit with vendors. One LPM operating in the North West sold three properties in three days before Christmas. YOPA had been marketing all three for less than two weeks and two of them had previously been on the market with traditional high street agents. YOPA – www.yopa.co.uk – says that it is regularly saving its customers an average of £5,348 on estate agent fees by charging vendors a flat fee of just £780. The firm, which has its head office in London, has so far hired over 100 LPMs and will have a further 60 in place by the summer. A number of them have previously worked for some of the biggest names in the estate agency industry. YOPA’s four founders – Joint Managing Directors Daniel Attia and Andrew Barclay, Finance Director Alistair Barclay and Chief Marketing Officer David Jacobs, say that its national roll-out will include a major advertising campaign…
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Agencies & People
YOPA steps up efforts to ‘revolutionise’ the industry
YOPA (Your Online Property Agent), which hopes to revolutionise the estate agents industry in the same way Uber has caused commotion in the taxi sector, has launched its services in Greater Manchester, as part of its expansion across the North West of England, by appointing veteran agents David Higham and Tim Shinners to lead its push in the region. Higham, from Warrington, has worked in the property industry for almost 30 years while Shinners, from Bolton, has almost 15 years’ experience. “We know that people across Greater Manchester want to get the best possible price for their property, are looking for a 24/7 estate agent with the latest technology and they’re fed up of being ripped off by excessive estate agent fees,” said YOPA CEO Daniel Attia (left). YOPA, which has some heavyweight investment backing and strong media links, with two of its Directors related to the Barclay brothers, owners of the Telegraph, hopes to revolutionise the estate agents sector with their online offering by charging vendors fees ranging between £450 and £810 depending on the service chosen. Attia added, “Our winning combination of online property consultants and easy-to-use web property marketing platform frees our local experts to accurately value…
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