Data-Driven Estate Agent Comparison.
The property industry is a British obsession. Major newspapers rarely go a week without a story promoting our combined lust for bricks and mortar.
But in the middle of all this reporting of price rises and extreme property transactions are estate agents.
One of the biggest threats to traditional estate agents is that anyone can become one. In London alone, there are approximately 5,500 estate agency branches, with on average 100 agents listing in every postcode.
Vendors simply have too many agents to choose from. And with little differentiation between the players, the estate agency business has become commoditised (hence the rise in online agents). Traditional estate agents are often left competing solely on fees or by over-valuing properties. Neither of these helps either the agent or the vendor.
So how can good agents stand out and prove their worth?
Use objective data to rank agents by their past performance. Collect, clean up and analyse property sales data from various sources to create a transparent measure of agent performance. Vendor’s provide a few basic details, and then use this information to shortlist the top 6 local agents for them. Provide them with various insights – including each agent’s average sell time, portal usage, % of asking price achieved, price drops and more. These agents are invited to submit quotes, and the vendor can then arrange a valuation visit with those they’re interested in. This is an exciting development for top agents, as their fee is contextualised and justified by their performance.
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