Diary of an Estate Agent: It is survival of the fittest
Independent local agents are stealing the march on their corporate competitors. And long may it continue, says John Horton.
New figures show that 284 offices of estate agents shut down last year – which represents 3.4% of the total number of estate agency offices in Britain.
This was far more than other industries, such as newsagents, women’s fashion stores, delis, hairdressers, Indian restaurants and florists. Over the past few months, I’ve read more and more reports about offices closing down.
It’s survival of the fittest for today’s high street businesses. And more specifically, restructuring of the estate agency industry is needed to weed out the uncompetitive and unprofessional practices within the property world.
It’s no surprise for me that the most highly successful west London estate agency offices today are the established independent agents. While the larger corporate companies are struggling with the challenges of the changing marketplace.
Many questions still remain: is it just poorly performing businesses that have failed to plan? Is it the greedy commercial landlords charging sky-high rents? Is it onerous business rates? Is it the tenant fee ban? Is it the lack of quality staff and service? Or is it just everyone’s favourite top of Brexit to blame?
In my opinion, it’s a mix of all these factors.
But here at Horton and Garton, we’re proud to say that we continue to expand our market share and grow our business while other agents fail.
There are a growing number of empty and vacant shops in our high streets, and no existing trading business likes an empty unit/shop as their neighbour.
The high street is dying because of our changing habits as consumers. If you cannot demonstrate the quality of what you’re adding as a professional service, then consumers will often choose the service and buy on lowest price. But when it comes to selling or letting your property, you get what you pay for. Call your local, experienced agents and choose carefully.
While it can be a considerable investment to appoint the best local estate agent, it can be far more expensive to appoint the wrong one and watch as they fail to deliver the best result. In today’s market, the client will only know how expensive a struggling agent is until the property fails to sell.
The very good news for Horton and Garton and our clients is that we are experiencing a very promising start to 2019 and we continue to achieving excellent results for our vendors and landlords. Our sales and lettings teams are still busy and we’re continuing to grow our market share by working with the very best clients and their properties in Hammersmith, Shepherds Bush and Chiswick.
Our success has been down to accurate and realistic valuing accompanied by a clear marketing strategy tailored to each property. If you would like Horton and Garton to look after you and your property, please pop into the office or give us a call.
