 |
Book a demoLet a friendly Gnomen expert answer all of your questions and take you through the system online in 15 minutes. Just choose a time that suits you. |
|
Book a demoLet a friendly Gnomen expert answer all of your questions and take you through the system online in 15 minutes. Just choose a time that suits you. |
 |
Montana HBusiness Development Director
|
The third quarter of 2016 was a characteristically busy three months in the property world. There was plenty of estate and letting agency news to get our teeth into over the summer – our round-up of which you can find here.
However, our attentions now turn to the present and we've had a look at two of the biggest PropTech stories emerging this month that have attracted our interest and got us talking.
Are Rightmove and Zoopla going in 'opposite' directions?
It may seem silly to suggest that the UK's two biggest property portals have 'opposing' business strategies, but that's exactly what one industry expert did recently.
Speaking to Property Portal Watch, Mike DelPrete – an international portals expert – explained the differences between Rightmove and Zoopla's approach to growth.
He noted how Rightmove – the UK's number one property site which is currently ranked as the 35th most visited site in the country by Alexa – 'focuses squarely on being the UK's best place to list a home for sale'.
Rightmove's pinpoint focus on being the most visited property site by buyers and tenants means it has become an essential – if not mandatory – tool for estate and letting agents aiming to sell or let their clients' properties.
DelPrete mentioned how Rightmove continues to grow without spending much attention on 'other business opportunities'.
The Zoopla Property Group, on the other hand, has increasingly diverted its attention to different areas of the property market in recent times.
The portals expert said he found Zoopla to have adopted one of the 'most aggressive' mergers and acquisitions strategies in the global portal space. There have been several acquisitions, as well as investments in a number of high profile PropTech start-ups.
This strategy has led to some commentators questioning whether Zoopla has diluted its focus – as opposed to Rightmove, which dedicates its sole attention to its offering for estate and letting agents.
Over the years, many agents have raised concerns that Zoopla may one day go direct to sellers and landlords, essentially becoming a direct listing site. Other criticisms levelled at the firm's growth strategy include claiming it is attempting to monopolise the market by hoovering up competitors and like-minded businesses.
A portion of agents fear that Zoopla potentially has a conflict of interests, something which has led them to avoid the portal altogether and list on Rightmove and OnTheMarket or just Rightmove.
Other detractors have suggested that Zoopla's interest in home buying services and data could lead to certain restrictions and independent agents' decision making being led.
At the moment, a lot of these ideas are just speculation and opinion. One thing that is clear, though, is that these two businesses are now moving in different directions and it's something we should all be watching with equal parts caution and interest in the coming months and years.
Agent puts rise in valuations down to web chat facility
One PropTech solution which has received a lot of praise from estate and letting agents is live chat.
Live chat facilities – also known as web chat – allow agents to interact with prospective clients who visit their website at any time of the day.
Recently, one of the UK's largest property group's, Connells, confirmed that it is intending to continue to offer live chat as it has noticed a significant increase in valuation bookings and call-backs outside of working hours since implementing the service on its website last autumn.
As people's habits stray outside of the traditional 9-5 structure, the need for live chat on websites is growing as consumers carry out their property research online and at a time that suits them.
In fact, one live chat provider, Yomdel, claims that 33% of all leads it captured for agents were recorded on weekday evenings, with a further 20% at weekends.
Live chat offers a technology solution for agents, meaning they can capture web traffic and potential leads even when the office is closed.
It's time those agents who haven't yet explored this avenue give it some thought – particularly those thinking of getting a new website or upgrading their current offering.
Here at Gnomen, we provide a range of property software and website solutions for estate and letting agents in the UK.
All of our clients receive free training and are entitled to free demonstrations. For more information, get in touch with us on: 0208 123 9019.
As a letting agent, it will help your cause if you know what tenants want, as you can then offer advice to your landlords on where they might want to be focusing their attentions when sourcing new tenants – or trying to keep existing ones in place.
There has been much debate in recent years around classing high-speed broadband as a utility, given its importance to the modern world and the smooth functioning of the UK's increasingly tech-led, digitised economy.
With 2020 nearly upon us, and the recent emphatic win by the Conservatives expected to provide some stability and certainty after years of the opposite.
Thanks to a fast-moving world, how we now communicate in all parts of life is very different to how we communicated even a decade ago.
It was recently revealed that reservation agreements – locking buyers and sellers into a deal to prevent fall-throughs and chains from collapsing – are to be trialled by some agencies and conveyancers in early 2020.
In one of the most ground-breaking industry announcements for many a year, the Regulation of Property Agents (RoPA) working group finally released its 54-page document proposing root and branch reform of the agency industry in mid-July.
The recommendations of an independent review into selective licensing in the private rented sector were recently announced
The field of contenders to replace Theresa May as the next Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister is being whittled down
For a robust property market functioning at its peak, demand needs to be high, supply needs to be steady and sales need to be going through on a regular basis.
We've looked in the past at the importance of protecting data and complying with new data protection legislation, and why a secure system is vital for agents in preventing money laundering and other suspicious activities from taking place.
Its been a long time coming, and has provoked plenty of debate criticism since Philip Hammond first put the proposals forward to ban letting fees in his November 2016 Autumn Statement, but the Tenant Fees Act finally comes into play on June 1.
As an agent, you want to sell and let as many homes as possible to enhance your business, boost your reputation and improve your profit margins. Leads from the portals play a crucial role in finding the right buyers and tenants for your
For estate and letting agents across the UK, the next few months are set to be challenging thanks to the introduction of the ban on letting agent fees charged to tenants and the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Brexit
It was recently revealed that new guidance has been issued by the Property Ombudsman (TPO) over what it labels a growing issue namely that of dual fees.
Agents have been accused of doing 'not nearly enough' to report money laundering, according to a claim made by the government's anti-money laundering campaign.
The cost of moving has hit a record high but agents fees have remain unchanged in the past year. Thats the main take home from an annual study of transaction charges by home moving site reallymoving.com.
For a while now, the government has talked a lot about speeding up the house buying process to benefit both buyers and sellers.
There is traditionally a post Christmas boom in housing activity, hitting a peak in February and March as buyers and sellers seek to push deals over the line.
A new year is now upon us, and there are a number of reasons for letting agents to embrace 2019 with a sense of positivity and optimism.
The government recently announced a U-turn on its plans to cap tenant deposits at six weeks rent, with the amount tenants have to pay upfront to secure a home now set to be cut to five weeks for
Follow Gnomen for the latest news.
