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Hybrid and online only agents (for example Purplebricks) have seen a downturn in the market share this July compared to last July. What has caused this impact do you think? I, like many others, would have assumed that given the boom in sales and the situation with covid would lead to online only becoming more popular. I read about this on an estate agent's blog which details the advertising behind online only agents but I would love to know some reasons why this may have happened - please feel free to speak in layman's terms, I'm somewhat new to this!

Lots of "the alternative is a socialist hell" and "it's simple economics" arguments. They have a Facebook page. It would be a shame if anyone challenged them in the comments. https://helmores.com/are-buy-to-let-landlords-to-blame-for-mid-devons-housing-crisis/?fbclid=IwAR19rM3LSuZQ09p5kRPunfz_8pHS-Hm0KRFTSgRvPRUnCnsgCqoXw-MeOUw

Hi, I've eyed a couple of properties up with AP Morgan Estate Agents in Stourbridge and seen a few sold boards but wondering if anyone has had any experience perhaps with other branches? As far as I can see their Stourbridge branch is fairly new so want to be sure they have a decent track record. Recomendations on other estate agents in and around Stourbridge are welcome. AP Morgan Estate Agents Stourbridge.

Rang an estate agent about a house to arrange a viewing on a £150k house. Got told on the phone there had been an offer of £140k on the house that has been rejected. Viewed the house and got told there was a bid of £148k on it and because owners want to sell quick to make an offer within two days otherwise it'll be gone. Got someone else to ring after two days and ask had there been any offers on the house and got told no offers yet but there's been interest from viewers and an offer is likely to come in soon. This should not suprise me that estate agents make up phantom offers but it is annoying. I have seen this before. Until they are audited this will continue to happen. Anyone else had similar issues?

spotted this in Earls' Court this week. Home House Estates Ltd. a bit of investigation shows they have been through one heck of a lot of directors.

I wanted to ask the members why [in the UK] do we need EA's. After 10 years of privately renting, all through EA's, I do not actually know what t entails to be an estate agent. Do they need a degree or qualification? Are there standards for them to follow? What amount of legal paperwork do they have to do for a sale, or rental? What are they being paid by owners who want to rent or sell? Some EA's I've come across have been alight, but most have been awful. Entitled and arrogant, they think they are making you a favour when showing you a properteeh. I've started to suspect, being an EA is not too complicated, and with HPI+++, it may be seen as a quick way to get rich. If so, wouldn't there be a massive boom in Estate Agents chasing an ever decreasing pool of customers? Every town or city in the UK has rows and rows of EA's with fancy names, on what used to be little shops run by families. This can't be sustainable, surely. Looking at these streets makes me sad, it looks horrible. Another question. Why can't owners, deal directly with tenants or buyers? This happens in every other country in Europe I've been in. It's cheaper to cut the middle man, so why is it that in the UK, the Vast majority of sales and rents are done through EA's? I was going over the classics sections when I came across this http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?/topic/6386-the-future-of-estate-agents/ The OP, wondered the internet would put EA's out of business. It certainly hasn't happened.

So - one of the really odd things in Australia is that many times the price of a property is not shown in adverts or listings. For some reason, agents think that this forces people to contact them so they can show they the real crap the agent wants to push out the door. (not for me - we refused to look at anything where a price range was not shown up front). Now, I happen to know what price this house http://www.domain.com.au/35-sycamore-street-malvern-east-vic-3145-2012385846?sp=5 is looking for. It is a virtually identical layout to the place we bought for 720,000 AUD a year ago. Commute time to the city 30 minutes (ours is 50). Let see how many of you can get it right