9:10am: It's raining. Arrive late. No parking spaces. Staff are waiting outside. As for customers? No.
9:15am: The first inquiry of the day. We receive an e-mail from a buyer who visited Rightmove and found one of our newest instructions. Viewing arranged for 2pm.
9.20am: Our first visitor of the day. The postman. No letters, just bills. An extortionate rent demand for our plush offices and a similarly steep request for business rates too.
9:45am: Leave for an appointment. It's a valuation of the three bed semi-detached nearby at 10 o'clock, the result of an inquiry via our company web site, visited and researched from the comfort of the owner's sofa last night.
10:15am: Thanks to a certain amount of online research done earlier this morning, the property is now valued with a bit on top to appeal to our potential client's greed glands, and to give us the edge over rival firms. It's not big, it's not clever... but it's very necessary. Our potential new client innocently inquires about our fee structure and immediately regrets doing so when he learns that it's 5000 plus VAT. When asked to justify this kind of fee for simply putting out sales particulars on lightweight card and offering an equally lightweight assurance of my being able to speak face-to-face to him should he wish to venture all the way into town instead of calling us or sending us an e-mail, I find it rather difficult. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I'm thinking that 5000 could buy quite a nice secondhand family hatchback which, in a lot of cases, would be a great deal more useful to said potential client.
10:45am: Back at the office, checking e-mails.
11.30am: Finish responding to numerous emails from selling clients, solicitors, buyers, prospective viewers and the like.
12:15pm: Another lunch at my desk while updating my Facebook page.
1.17pm: Rise from chair to greet office visitor.
1:18pm: Sit back down again when visitor asks 'Hello mate, where's the Post Office?'
1:19pm: Back to the e-mails.
1:27pm: Take call from someone who's just visited the Zoopla property website, to arrange a viewing.
1.35pm: Pay extortionate office rent and rates bills. Via internet banking. Grimace.
2.40pm: Recover from shock of rent and rates by taking today's commission cheques to the bank. 8500 plus vat. Not bad for two quick and easy deals.
3.10pm: Viewer via Rightmove from this morning telephones to make an offer on the house he saw through us. Call owner. Inform him of offer. Owner accepts.
3.14pm: Owner calls back having calculated the percentage commission charged, in real money. Asks 'How can you ask me to pay 6000 plus vat for a few photos and one phone call?' 'We have big overheads', I reply.
4:00pm: More enquiries through Rightmove, Zoopla and our own website.
4:29pm: Receive e-mail from owner of property valued earlier today, complaining that our valuation is unrealistically high in today's property market. She's looked at Nethouseprices.com as well as Zoopla and is not impressed when it comes to comparisons. 'You're supposed to be professionals' she writes. 'Are you a moron or just a thief?' 'Yes', I reply. Got out of that one, then.
5:28pm: A very strange sensation overcomes me. After careful analysis, I realise it's a sudden pang of conscience. I send my resignation to head office (via e-mail - so much more convenient). Arrange rental of cheaper office premises. Set up online estate agency. Subscribe to as many property websites as possible. Set selling fees to match effort and expertise: 5000 plus VAT? No, just 349 (plus VAT).
Grow successful business, enjoy clear conscience... and live happily ever after.
9:15am: The first inquiry of the day. We receive an e-mail from a buyer who visited Rightmove and found one of our newest instructions. Viewing arranged for 2pm.
9.20am: Our first visitor of the day. The postman. No letters, just bills. An extortionate rent demand for our plush offices and a similarly steep request for business rates too.
9:45am: Leave for an appointment. It's a valuation of the three bed semi-detached nearby at 10 o'clock, the result of an inquiry via our company web site, visited and researched from the comfort of the owner's sofa last night.
10:15am: Thanks to a certain amount of online research done earlier this morning, the property is now valued with a bit on top to appeal to our potential client's greed glands, and to give us the edge over rival firms. It's not big, it's not clever... but it's very necessary. Our potential new client innocently inquires about our fee structure and immediately regrets doing so when he learns that it's 5000 plus VAT. When asked to justify this kind of fee for simply putting out sales particulars on lightweight card and offering an equally lightweight assurance of my being able to speak face-to-face to him should he wish to venture all the way into town instead of calling us or sending us an e-mail, I find it rather difficult. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I'm thinking that 5000 could buy quite a nice secondhand family hatchback which, in a lot of cases, would be a great deal more useful to said potential client.
10:45am: Back at the office, checking e-mails.
11.30am: Finish responding to numerous emails from selling clients, solicitors, buyers, prospective viewers and the like.
12:15pm: Another lunch at my desk while updating my Facebook page.
1.17pm: Rise from chair to greet office visitor.
1:18pm: Sit back down again when visitor asks 'Hello mate, where's the Post Office?'
1:19pm: Back to the e-mails.
1:27pm: Take call from someone who's just visited the Zoopla property website, to arrange a viewing.
1.35pm: Pay extortionate office rent and rates bills. Via internet banking. Grimace.
2.40pm: Recover from shock of rent and rates by taking today's commission cheques to the bank. 8500 plus vat. Not bad for two quick and easy deals.
3.10pm: Viewer via Rightmove from this morning telephones to make an offer on the house he saw through us. Call owner. Inform him of offer. Owner accepts.
3.14pm: Owner calls back having calculated the percentage commission charged, in real money. Asks 'How can you ask me to pay 6000 plus vat for a few photos and one phone call?' 'We have big overheads', I reply.
4:00pm: More enquiries through Rightmove, Zoopla and our own website.
4:29pm: Receive e-mail from owner of property valued earlier today, complaining that our valuation is unrealistically high in today's property market. She's looked at Nethouseprices.com as well as Zoopla and is not impressed when it comes to comparisons. 'You're supposed to be professionals' she writes. 'Are you a moron or just a thief?' 'Yes', I reply. Got out of that one, then.
5:28pm: A very strange sensation overcomes me. After careful analysis, I realise it's a sudden pang of conscience. I send my resignation to head office (via e-mail - so much more convenient). Arrange rental of cheaper office premises. Set up online estate agency. Subscribe to as many property websites as possible. Set selling fees to match effort and expertise: 5000 plus VAT? No, just 349 (plus VAT).
Grow successful business, enjoy clear conscience... and live happily ever after.
About the Author:
House buyers don't bother to visit estate agency offices any longer. 90% of them search for property on the internet. eMoov cover the entire UK but save money by not having hundreds of premises which you otherwise end up paying for in high estate agents fees. eMoov are online estate agents. They are a step up from private house sales and ten times cheaper than the High Street. Why pay more?
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