Clients may question the choice of “other agent”.
Figures are beginning to be released as to which other portal agents are choosing who have opted to join Onthemarket.com, a report from Exane BNP Paribas says more agents are so far known to be leaving Zoopla than expected – a total of 764 branches, the launch of estate agent owned portal Agents’ Mutual is likely to have a bigger impact on Zoopla than competitor Rightmove.
Looking at the impact, as so far known, of Agents’ Mutual’s “one other portal” rule, it estimates that of those that have so far quit one of the big two, 82% of that churn has been from Zoopla and 18% from Rightmove, the report goes on to say they expect this divergent performance to continue and that they are concerned that the impact of Agents’ Mutual is under-estimated.
The decision as to which other agent to go with would not have been undertaken without some due diligence beforehand by the estate or letting agent, making the right choice will have a direct impact on their business going forward into the first quarter of 2015. If as the consensus of opinion shows we see a more difficult sales period on the run up to the election, coupled with stricter lending rules applied to morgage applications, then choosing the right “other Agent” will become very important. As the selling period for a property increases then sellers start asking their agents questions and if their property is not getting the viewings then a major question will be asked ” where are you advertising my property” it will be then that agents will have to give their reasons for making their choice of advertsing portal in the first place. I believe that each and every agent who team up with onthemarket.com will have their reasons for choosing the second agent but if their choice does not bring results then the seller may be looking elsewhere for an agent who chose the alternative option, it may well do well to consult the client at the beggining of the process and give them the reasons why Rightmove was chosen over Zoopla or other for example or vice versa.
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