21st century and Estate agent dont have own web site

[Martin England]

Young Robertson still dont have own website.
I have asked why? but they feel they dont need one.
Why? because they use CSPC
They charge you £25 a month to be on the CSPC site. If you decide not to keep paying £25 a month to keep on the CSPC site they DON'T MARKET YOUR PROPERTY !!!!!

We at the moment have our house up with them, and we have decided to take it off the CSPC site over Christmas. Our house has been on the market for nearly a year and £25 a month adds up.

We were shocked today when a friend sent us a email they got from Young Robinsons. They requested details of properties in the area and Young Robinsons didn't include ours. This is a copy of the email from them.

" Thank you for your e-mail. We are currently marketing several 3 bed semi detached properties in Caithness, do you have any town or rural area in mind? You can view full particulars of houses we are selling at www.caithnessproperty.co.uk If you would like a monthly newspaper covering the area please provide me with your postal address and I will forward same to you."

So unless you are local and call in person our house is no longer marketed with them, unless we pay and keep paying £25 per month till sold

21st century estate agents? I think not

[orkneycadian]

I thought the done thing was not to look up the Internet and websites to find information out for yourself, but to start a thread on here saying something like....

"Does anyone know of any 3 bed semis for sale?"

We are always being reminded that a post on "e org" is a lot more effective than looking something up on Google, so perhaps its no wonder the Estate Agents are dropping "e web" in favour of "e org"!

All you need now is someone starting a thread wanting a house like yours!

[luke83]

When we were arranging to put our house on the market Grant from Young Rob told me that they were getting their own website but obviously this hasn't happened. Next time I'm in I must ask why...

[achingale]

I think it is strange they do not have their own website because they have a lot of properties on their books and they cannnot all be on CSPC, as you already pointed out Martin. Post your property on here. You never know... I also think Georgesons would do better by keeping their site more up-to-date. When they sell a property they should take it off the 'selling' part of the site and put it on a 'recently sold' bit. Just a thought...

[onecalledk]

When we were looking for property to buy in this area we checked with local estate agents and got houses they had on their books or so we thought. The house we ended up buying we found on the REMAX website, the seller had decided to market with them after marketing locally for over a year with a local estate agent. We saw the property and viewed within 24 hours and bought within another day! we had NO idea that the property was for sale at all until it hit the website with REMAX, the seller had marketed the property locally for a YEAR before this. I also sold with them the house I owned in Inverness and again it was literally days it was viewed and sold.

in this day and age of people looking to move to different areas and not just within the local area it makes sense to have the property to as wide an audience as possible. The lack of response from the local estate agents was amazing, couldnt be bothered springs to mind. ....

IT IS a lot of money to sell a house so perhaps its wise to look at the FULL cost of doing it covering every angle.....

K

[RecQuery]

All companies really need to have a website, even independant consultants and one man shops. Actually scrub that, they all need a professional looking website, not one done by the kid next door or some student

I'm by no means a graphical designer but the state of some sites, I swear I saw better ones back in 1995. The Georgesons site is a case in point.

[davem]

If the housing market wasn't as flat as it is Young Robertson would've sold your house and their lack of a website wouldn't matter a toss. Times are hard and it must be rough having to shell out so long, I put my house with them and sold it within 6 weeks of going on the market. Couldn't fault what they did or the way it was done, they were real value for money in every respect. I am good friends with some of the people that work there, however, I'm unbiased enough not to comment unless I feel they are criticised unjustly.
Integrity, honesty and good service are hard to find these days, (although less so in Caithness), Young Robertson really did tick all the boxes for me.
Hope the sale goes smoother quickly.

[Martin England]

If the housing market wasn't as flat as it is Young Robertson would've sold your house and their lack of a website wouldn't matter a toss. Times are hard and it must be rough having to shell out so long, I put my house with them and sold it within 6 weeks of going on the market. Couldn't fault what they did or the way it was done, they were real value for money in every respect. I am good friends with some of the people that work there, however, I'm unbiased enough not to comment unless I feel they are criticised unjustly.
Integrity, honesty and good service are hard to find these days, (although less so in Caithness), Young Robertson really did tick all the boxes for me.
Hope the sale goes smoother quickly.

I'm sorry i don't feel i am criticizing them unjustly.
My opening thread stated they don't have their own web site only a third party site you have to pay £25 for every month.
If like us you have decided to have your listing removed for what ever reason. They then don't tell prospective buyers about your house.
Surely in the email they sent it wouldn't cost any more money to include our house?????
Surely if times are hard for estate agents, shouldn't they market all their properties and not the selective few who are listed on CSPS ?????

[davem]

Not sure that it is in an estate agents interest not to sell a house. I was saying that times are hard for everyone rather than just estate agents.
You are saying you chose to not use one of their marketing tools for whatever reason, that is the website they use, it doesn't seem right to complain about the lack of a website when your listing is removed from the one they do use.
I would contact them to ask why houses are not listed in the e mail, however their first question is to ask them to be more specific about what they are looking for, I would assume if they replied with similar requirements to your property details would be forwarded. They do point people at the website - it says houses we are selling, not all the houses..... I think a response to the e mail would get a more targetted set of potential sales. I do think there is a logic to charging slightly more over time to market a house, A.) the marketing has to be paid for by the marketer. and B.) it focusses the mind on making sure the property is marketed at a price that reflects what is happening at the time.
Whatever - if you are concerned, ask them how your house is being marketed and I'm sure they'll tell you. My experience of some Estate Agents in Englandshire would give you nightmares.

[Martin England]

Not sure that it is in an estate agents interest not to sell a house. I was saying that times are hard for everyone rather than just estate agents.
You are saying you chose to not use one of their marketing tools for whatever reason, that is the website they use, it doesn't seem right to complain about the lack of a website when your listing is removed from the one they do use.
I would contact them to ask why houses are not listed in the e mail, however their first question is to ask them to be more specific about what they are looking for, I would assume if they replied with similar requirements to your property details would be forwarded. They do point people at the website - it says houses we are selling, not all the houses..... I think a response to the e mail would get a more targetted set of potential sales. I do think there is a logic to charging slightly more over time to market a house, A.) the marketing has to be paid for by the marketer. and B.) it focusses the mind on making sure the property is marketed at a price that reflects what is happening at the time.
Whatever - if you are concerned, ask them how your house is being marketed and I'm sure they'll tell you. My experience of some Estate Agents in Englandshire would give you nightmares.

The email request that was sent to them stated price and location also type of property. All three of these criteria's also cover our house.
You say " however their first question is to ask them to be more specific about what they are looking for" I would say the email was clear and specific they sent (Young Rob have read it and are aware of what it said)
Regarding your thoughts "it says houses we are selling, not all the houses" The email Young Rob sent stated You can view full particulars of houses we are selling at Sorry but the only way that message can be read is all our properties can be viewed at, not a selection of our properties can be viewed at.
The reason we took it off the CSPC web site? We decided due to weather and the holiday period we would save ourselves a few months fees. Young Rob are aware we will be putting it back on soon.
My point to my original thread still stands. If and when they receive a request for property details, they should give details of properties on their books that fit the criteria and not just point people to the ones they have listed on CSPS web site.
Maybe I'm just old fashioned in my thinking. Regardless of it being as you would say in Englandshire or here in Caithensss. If I'm signed up with a estate agent I would expect them to market the property if they get a request that fits our property.
The ironic bit about all of this is. A friend asked over the weekend if we could forward property web details for them. Apart from the local web sites we gave them Young Rob email address (as they don't have a web site)
Hence yesterday morning i had a phone call and email asking were our house was?
I appreciate we have different views on this and I'm sure they have 100s of happy customers and a few not so happy. Me I'm only stating a fact that happened yesterday.

[MR_A]

I have my house up for sale at the moment also.

When looking at the prospective estate agents I completely discounted Young Robs right off the bat simply because they didn't have their own dedicated website.

On CSPC Young Robs add one pretty crap pic to the listing where with the others there are pics of the majority of the houses and floor plans.

We were also given the spiel "we are getting our own web page" but this was back in Sept/Oct and still nothing yet.

[JustMe]

We were also given the spiel "we are getting our own web page" but this was back in Sept/Oct and still nothing yet.

I first heard this last june/july time from grant.

Maybe they have a new marketing system DIY

[Carole]

About 4 years ago I advertised my house in Wester Ross on Houseladder. Within 4 weeks I had a buyer. The cost of advertising came to less than £60 and there was no agent commission or fee to pay. Times are different now as houses are not selling quickly (maybe not selling at all?) but I would be loathe to give the Estate Agents the money they are asking.

[brucedewert]

As the owner of Georgesons, I have been following this thread with interest.

Achingale made a very good point about clearing out sold properties. I appreciate feedback and this was an excellent point which I have fully taken on board. I have made arrangements that when a property sells, it goes into a "recently sold" section. That change has now been made and, for completeness, there is also a section for properties that are “Under Offer”.

RecQuery made a point about the website being a bit old-fashioned looking. I would agree with him. It was groundbreaking when I created it but you do have to change with the times. I have, now, made a significant investment which has resulted in the website being relaunched today, Sunday, 30th January.

Although the look and feel will remain the same (because the feedback I have is that it is easy to navigate), behind-the-scenes there are significant changes.

The first that you will notice is that there is a map on which all of our properties are shown. You are able to drill down into a particular area (such as Thurso or Wick) and, if you click on any particular For Sale sign, the full particulars will appear. From there, you can see the video as well.

Further, when viewing within the price bands, you can reorder the listings according to area or number of bedrooms, etc., rather than having to trawl your way through every property we have for sale.

In addition, the website will allow you to register your preferences and when a new property, suitable to you, is added the system will, automatically, fire off an e-mail to you. You will be able to change your preferences but that is still being worked on.

Similarly, all my videos are now hosted on YouTube which means that you will be able to subscribe to Georgesons YouTube Channel and receive notification of any new videos.

Finally, as regards the geographical reach of a local website, this is a subject that has concerned me for some time. No one buying property in Caithness can miss Georgesons , however, if you do not know where Caithness is, then you might not find the site. Accordingly, I have an arrangement with Rightmove which is the biggest English portal and one that all Southern buyers visit. Unfortunately, this does incur an additional charge but it does make the property visible to buyers from outwith Caithness.

I hope that you will agree that these changes makes househunting much easier. The easier it is for the public to locate what suits them, the more likely they are to buy and this is, after all, what both my clients and I are after!

[Carole]

Hats off to you brucedewert! You've taken on board the criticisms and acted upon them. Hope you and your customers benefit from the changes.

[chordie]

I hope that you will agree that these changes makes househunting much easier. The easier it is for the public to locate what suits them, the more likely they are to buy and this is, after all, what both my clients and I are after!

I feel like shaking your hand - not because I have any particular interest in your business, but because this is such a fantastic heartwarming story of a local business that obviously listens, is proactive and has clearly put serving its customers at the forefront. Well done! Other businesses would do well to note this.

My relatives recently went to your competitors across the street in Wick to get a 'free valuation' done. After waiting several weeks, then having the appointment cancelled, then having to press them to get back with an answer they gave up and it put them off the whole idea of selling. I shall call them and direct them to you now!

[brandy]

well done to you! im off right now to have a look at the new page! im always looking.. and as a possible move is in our future.. on the lookout for the best estate agents *G*

[LMS]

I have been looking for another property for some time now and find Y,R&Co to be hopeless. I have requested Home Reports from them and been refused them unless I take a viewing. All the other estate agents have excellent websites with great particulars and will let you view the HRs. I don't want a property that requires work and would rather weed out such properties before wasting my time and the seller's time. Their attitude is terrible and I feel sorry for any sellers that have marketed a property through them. That said, the solicitors there are excellent and do a prompt job at reasonable rates. It's their estate agency side that is poor.

[cherokee]

Obviously I am going to be one of the few......

Georgesons love to back track when it suits them.....

As I've said on a previous thread they are quite willing to say "yes" over the phone......but... behind your back its a whole different story !!

My solicitor at the time of my dealings with "Georgesons" described their dealings with them as an utter disgrace and my personal solicitor was completley dumbfounded by there under-hand dealings - her comment to us was "In all my years of being a solicitor I have never seen such disgusting practice" !!

[brucedewert]

Cherokee, I don't recognise this episode. I certainly wouldn't want to be associated with anything disgraceful or disgusting.

I'm interested to know more. Would you consider meeting me to discuss what happened? All I want to do is find out what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again. I'm not interested in confronting or arguing with you. If you are not willing to do that, could you ask the solicitor concerned to contact me? Again, it is not to engage in any form of game but to find out how you ended up with such a negative image.

I want to know about it. If I don't know about it, I can't do anything about it.

Please send me a private message or e-mail me at bruce.de.wert@georgesons.co.uk and we can deal with this in a civilised manner.

Meantime, even you, with a bad experience must accept that I'm trying hard to provide a better service. That, surely, is to be encouraged.