A NEW study finds Brits are losing confidence in the property industry, with 87% revealing they have had a negative experience with estate agents. And, as UK house prices in June grow at the slowest rate for five years, something needs to give.
House hunters’ estate agent gripes include that they contact them about ‘irrelevant’ properties (26%), that they are pushy (30%) and don’t listen or understand their search requirements (25%) and many believe their job is ‘easy’ and that ‘they don’t have to do much’ to earn a substantial amount of money (22%). More than one in ten (12.5%) believes they are pointless and avoids them at all costs.
The study from a voice lead platform for estate agents Triplerr has found that a fifth (22%) of Brits which have used an estate agent in the past year think the industry has the worst customer service of any other sector.
In the South East of England 91% of Brits feel that they have never had a completely positive experience with an estate agent. Looking across the country, people in the North East and London haven’t had things much better with 90% and 89% respectively of people having had frustrating experiences.
ESTATE HATE RANKING:
1 South East 91.3%
2 North East 90.5%
3 London 89.5%
4 West Midlands 88.8%
5 Yorkshire 86.7%
6 North West 86.7%
7 East England 86.6%
8 South West 86.5%
9 Wales 85.4%
10 East Midlands 82.3%
When it comes to searching for property, 80% of us are doing so online with 60% being successful in their pursuit in the last 12 months. But a search for property can be time-consuming with the average Brit spending a week looking online before they arrange a viewing and seeing up to five properties (20%) before locking down contracts, with as many as 12% visiting 10.
A recent study from Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology revealed that the average response time for customers who search online is 40 hours[4] and a quarter[5] (23%)aren’t called back at all. In response to this, nearly half (43.9%) of Brits said they would rather speak to a real person about a property enquiry than submit an online form.
Newly launched agent tool Triplerr aims to help property hunters get a better service, by providing them with a new search platform, TheMove.com, backed by an army of 24/7 virtual ‘super agents’ that calls every single enquiry within five minutes to discuss and record the specifics of their search. Voice recordings of each call are then available for the relevant agents to listen to and follow up with or passed on to other agents with perfectly matched properties so that each enquiry is fulfilled as best as possible.
