This isn’t Jedi related. There is, in our opinion, a new hope and a new way to conduct the sometimes-maligned profession of estate agency in London. Let’s face it. Most people hate, or love to hate, estate agents. I find it fascinating that this profession, has in my lifetime, been subject to significant changes.
In the seventies and eighties, it was seen by some as a gentleman’s profession, perhaps the second or third son, or those that failed to get into Oxford or Cambridge to read law. Then in the nineties along came Foxtons and the culture shifted heavily. Branded minis appeared everywhere and a much more city-styled-lad-ladette-culture, with KPIs at the heart of the business became what estate agency was about. A work-hard-play hard-sleep never attitude, that attracted the go-getters that have cemented what we understand now, as the norm in the world of sales and lettings - especially in the capital. But as is inevitable, it is changing once again, as the public attitude to a live-work balance shifts and sadly, the death nell tolls for the high street. This allows estate agents to sell online, rather than crowd the high streets with estate agencies disguising themselves as coffee shops or community centres, offering to charge your phone or hydrate you, if you’ll just come in for a chat.
Property porn, as it is so vulgarly labelled, made it on to our television screens in a new wave of US shows such as Million-Dollar Listing. This has ushered in the newest transformation in the property world, though as with many US imports, it needs some serious tweaking for us Brits, who overall would rather die than perform like an over excited cheer leader under the guise of conducting a serious negotiation on behalf of a valued client.
But what is wonderful about this latest incarnation, is the idea of a “broker”, to use the US term, rather than an estate agent. So, what is the difference?
As someone who has been privileged to work for some of the best estate agents in London during my career, and to whom I am enormously grateful for the experience it gave me, it had become clear to me that the job was no longer about people and great service. It was supposed to be, and it was often the philosophy of the companies themselves, and I truly believe their intention to offer the highest level of service, but it simply wasn’t possible. How can a level of excellence be offered to a client when they are just one of so many others?
When running an office during my career, I often looked after between 60-100 clients at any time. But there was only one of me. Sure, I had a team, and they were largely young and ambitious, but also inexperienced.
This is the system that is, quite frankly, a broken system – outdated and not fit for purpose. No matter how good your intentions, there are only so many hours in a day. Now, the New Hope that I entitled this blog with, is about the future and is why so many of the best estate agents in London are becoming self-employed brokers, who work with a much smaller number of clients, so that they can genuinely offer a level of service that is worth the money. Agency fees in London are some of the lowest in the developed world. And while they are still significant (and are challenged by so called hybrid agents offering to sell your home for a flat fee), they are still very low. Because the service we have become used to accepting from our estate agencies is at best adequate and at worst abominable.
There is a trend away from cheap fashion, throw away single use plastic, there’s a new law that manufacturers must provide parts to repair goods such as kettles, people are sticking with phones and tablets much longer than they used to, and so it is, that people want a better service when dealing in property and they are increasing willing to work with independents, who are much more invested in them, as one of a just few valued clients.
Much better than to give their valuable assets to a listing agent, who just adds it to their long list of properties and waits for people to call them. The reason that the service is so bad in high street agency, is the lack of time and lack of funding due to increasingly lower fees and higher employment and running costs. They must do so many deals just to get into profit, that it is just a conveyor belt of KPIs. The Yo-Sushi of the property world. When eating sushi, I want it prepared freshly in front of me by a Japanese sushi chef and when you are selling or renting your home, you want an experienced broker who will give you all of his or her time, because it is not about meeting KPIs, it is about giving a first-class service. That fee means so much more to a self-employed broker and reputation and word of mouth recommendation. is the life blood of any small business.
But also, that fee goes so much further when it goes to a broker than to an agency. It’s not a 90% fee to the big corporate and 10% to the over worked estate agent. It’s a fee that means the broker will work his socks off for you. You get what you pay for as we all know to be true. As the world moves towards quality rather than quantity, organic and not mass produced, away from big corporate greed - more and more people want to work with the more bespoke, the more boutique, the more unique.
Big property brands are reliable, but slow to adapt, inflexible and stale. Self-employed brokers can tailor make their service just for you and can give you the service and quality you deserve.
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