In recent research conducted by Estate Agent Today (EAT), an online news resource for the property industry, around 209,000 applicants registered for property between August and November. Of these 105,000 made appointments to view and over 90% of these booked a viewing during registration.
These figures, researched from 1200 estate agent branches, suggest that almost all viewings were arranged with applicants that didn't bother to register until they saw something that interested them enough to book an appointment.
So, where are people finding information on the properties they decide to view?
EAT by it’s own admission applied ‘a bit of guesswork’ and decided only 6% of the 209,000 applicants started their search on property portals such as
Rightmove, Zoopla and
Primelocation, and only 9% started their search on the agents’ websites. So what about the remaining 85% of applicants?
Online research
These findings highlight the fact that most estate agents have no idea how applicants start their search for a new home says Christian Harper of London estate agent OliverFinn: “The results reinforce what has become the de facto process for finding a new home. People do their own research first. They don’t start by walking into an estate agents office."
An amazing 44% of estate agents ‘did not know’, or ‘forgot to ask’, how the applicants heard about the property. Around 29% of respondents didn’t take the email address of applicants, and 36% didn’t record a mobile number.
People search for property in much the same way as they search for a used or 'pre-owned' car says Harper: "At one time, you’d visit your local car showroom, and maybe one or two others, and then make your choice.
"Now people research the price and availability online with sites like
AutoTrader to identify the best deal locally.
Online marketing
"It’s the same with property. Estate agents’ branches serve no purpose other than provide a workplace for the staff. People have no reason to look in the window unless it happens to be on their way to somewhere else.
"This is the reason that we invest so heavily in online marketing. If you Google estate agents in Chiswick,
OliverFinn is ranked first, and ditto if you Google lettings agent in Chiswick."
So yes, old-fashioned applicants have disappeared and it’s only a matter of time before old-fashioned estate agents disappear too.
