The changing face of estate agency

The revolution is gathering pace.

Today's Independent has an excellent article headed "Online property search: the diy sellers", you can read it in full here.

In it the journalist says:

Customers are becoming increasingly autonomous, finding properties on the internet for themselves and seeking professional advice as and when they need it. With the vast majority of properties now advertised online, and tools that allow buyers to look at flats and houses from street level such as Google Street View, buyers don't need an estate agent in the same way they used to.

This strikes a chord with the way my business has changed since I set it up in 2003.

In the beginning my clients would have no knowledge of what properties were available and simply trusted me to show them a suitable cross selection. Some clients still act in this way.

However, there are a growing number who have spent ages scouring the internet and have a good feel for what is on the market - they may well even have found houses that look promising on paper. They are looking for someone who can "project manage" their purchase:

• add to their existing list of properties (by using local contacts, private sales, back street agents)


• do an initial sifting to weed out unsuitable prospects


• guide them through the buying process, offering independent advice and acting purely for them not the agent or vendor


• help in negotiating the lowest possible price


• act as a signpost towards other professional advisors (notaires, surveyors, lawyers, currency brokers, architects, builders, artisans, mortgage advisors)

The French market is going through the same fundamental change as the UK. Nightly television is full of adverts for private sale websites and for property portals. The number of traditional agents is diminishing (I was shocked to see that in the UK one in four agents have closed over the last two years).

I'm not saying that traditional agents are dead men walking, nor am I saying that they don't have a place in the market. Clearly they do and changes like this don't happen overnight. If I were selling my house I would still use local agents and would expect them to advise me on how to "dress" my house to the best effect and how to get the highest possible price for it.

What I am saying though is that customer needs and actions are changing fast. Buyers will need traditional agents less and less.

Sellers on the other hand will be looking to their agents to help them differentiate and stand out from the crowd.....if the agent fails to deliver this then more and more sellers will go it alone and Sarah Beeney may well be proved right when she says:

"The internet has removed the need for estate agents and that in the future it is likely that estate agents will be the preserve of complicated or "out of the ordinary" sales".

www.cognacproperty.com

Charente property - what makes it special?

I was chatting to an old colleague from Chestertons this week-end and he asked me that very question.

"I know you love it out there Graham, but what makes the houses so special"?

The answer was threefold:

• the cost of land & housing. Even with the pound & euro at virtually identical levels you can still find a beautiful family home for around €250,000.


• the landscape. Regular readers will have gathered that I love the region deeply - and not just when the vines and sunflowers have their annual battle for your attention.


• the care that the "artisans" take when renovating the older properties. The stone masons were adding a terrace to my in-laws house and when they finished they had created a couple of wonderful carvings into the stone at each end because they felt it was "appropriate", no charge of course.

I know that everyone has different views on what they want & don't want in an area (it's what makes the world such an interesting place) but I really do feel that we struck lucky back in 2003 when we decided, on a whim, to book into a hotel in Jarnac overnight.

www.cognacproperty.com

French property portal launches iphone app

The leading property portal over here is http://www.seloger.com/ who claim a 70% share of the online market (think rightmove in the UK).

They have just launched their own application for the iphone.

This is a big thing for the way that property searches will be undertaken in the future.

Imagine being in a town or village in France and having the ability to instantly see details of all properties available. Price, floorplans, pictures, cadastral plans and any other info you need.

You'll be able to drive around, discount areas you don't like and just concentrate on those you do. Stop for lunch in some off the beaten track restaurant, fall in love with the surroundings and simply consult your iphone to see which of the houses around are for sale.

Don't hold your breath though. Whilst this is a most significant step it still is just one step.

For the process to work 100% efficiently you'll need a portal that lists all houses for sale and you'll need every agent/owner to input the pics, plans et al in the first place.

Don't forget that this is a country where half of all houses bought & sold are still done so privately.

This isn't going to happen in the short term (1-2 years) or even medium term (5-7 years) ....but it will eventually happen.

Traditional estate agents, property finders and everyone associated with this industry are going to have to adapt to a new way of working.

It will take a generation to work through (I doubt that 20% of my clients over the past six years have an iphone or even the slightest desire to know what an app is) but unless you're coming up to retirement age you should ignore this new way of living at your peril.

www.cognacproperty.com

Buying agents - why you should use one...

OK - I'm biased as that's what I do for a living but if you're seriously considering buying a property in France then it makes absolute sense to use one.

You can get a good idea of what a buying agent does by reading this piece on wikipedia. The pertinent paragraph is:

The main advantages of using a buying agent are the savings in time and money and access to properties not available on the open market.

Whilst nearly all charge a registration fee (anything between £500 and £2500) and a percentage of the purchase price of the property (usually between 1.5% and 2% of the sale price), the agent’s negotiating skills and access to properties before they reach the open market often mean that clients purchase properties for substantially less than they would if they went to estate agents or vendors directly.

Buying agents will preview properties for each client, shortlist the most suitable, and usually accompany clients on viewings of the shortlisted properties.

Now, if it makes sense to use one in the UK or USA it must make even more sense if you're buying in a country with a different process, legal system and language.

Just make sure that the person you use is fully legit. Ask to see their "carte professionelle" and copies of their professional indemnity insurance.

A good starting point would be to look here to see if there's one near where you want to buy or by contacting the French national federation of house hunters here.

It's worthwhile doing the research - a good buying agent will save you time & money as well as giving you peace of mind.

www.cognacproperty.com

France "most popular destination" for expats

The Halifax have just issued some research claiming that 16% of British expats currently live in France which tops the charts ahead of Spain (10%).

This comes hot on the heels of research by BNP Paribas that says Britons will make up 20% of all overseas buyers in France during 2009.

It's no surprise that France remains popular with Brits - either as a place for a second home or indeed to move here permanently. There's a good reason why it's the most visited country in the world with 82 million foreign tourists making an annual pilgrimage.

In troubled economic times you need this kind of heritage and stability if you're thinking of investing in real estate - prices may well tempt you to open a gite business in Bulgaria but are you sure it's going to be popular with the punters!

Ultimately though we Brits love it over here because of one thing, perfectly described by Jean Anouilh:

"Everything ends this way in France - everything. Weddings, christenings, duels, burials, swindlings, diplomatic affairs -everything is a pretext for a good dinner".

www.cognacproperty.com

UK housing recovery "unsustainable"

My old friends at JLL research are predicting that the current recovery in the UK housing market is not going to last, with prices predicted to fall 7% in 2010. Here's what they say:

"Our view is that the present recovery is quite fragile and that at sometime over the next six months housing market sentiment and prices will fall back. This could occur quite naturally or have a trigger event."

The bit about a trigger event is interesting as I too feel that there's still a huge amount of nervousness about both the economy and the housing market.

I don't think it would have to be anything too dramatic (such as a terrorist attack) either...any excuse would do. The next election must be held before 3rd June next year and markets often go totally quiet in the run up.

It's unusual for an estate agent (OK...international property consultancy) to publicly be so bearish but it does make a refreshing change from some of the idiotic comments we've had to listen to over the past few weeks (Things are great, never been so busy, record enquiries etc).

www.cognacproperty.com

Property marketing - the shadow of Google

Two separate events have got me thinking over my coffee & croissants this morning.

The first was a tweet from Sarah Beeny about the new property portal she has created. You can see it at http://www.tepilo.com/

It has been brilliantly designed and is friendly and easy to use. You can promote your property online for free and get online guidance throughout the process. There's even an "Ask Sarah" button although somehow I can't see her sat in an office waiting for mundane emails from all and sundry.

Rightmove, Primelocation and Propertyfinder have sown up the market in terms of listing sites for agents to post details but I think that Sarah Beeny's site has a genuine chance of influencing the market in terms of private sales. People have been trying to do this since the internet launched (and before) but nobody has really succeeded.

The second event was when I stumbled across Ben Wood on twitter. He's Head of Property at Google and you can read one of his white papers by following this link.

I guess that even Google themselves don't know in which way their "property" team is going but we shouldn't underestimate the power of what is now probably the biggest brand on earth.

When I started my French property search business in 2003 I used to send clients photos of properties I had seen for them. Now, thanks to Google I can also upload video and zoom in on the house and locality from outer space down to the tiles on the roof. Researching the area (shops, schools, parks, events) is also a doddle.

A year ago Google announced that they were going to exploit some of their existing data and technology and the Times ran a short piece with the headline "Google ventures into the property market".

Now, they have just announced a major sponsorship of this years prestigious "What House" awards.

The house buying process is being flipped on it's head as you read this post. At the moment Google are researching, innovating and hovering....pretty soon they may well swoop.

www.cognacproperty.com