Russell Quirk, the founder and chief executive of online estate agentsEmoov.co.uk predicted his company to expand in a technology orientated year.
Russell Quirk, the founder and chief executive of online estate agentsEmoov.co.uk predicted his company to expand in a technology orientated year.
Quirk said: “The 2018 mission is to further enhance our technology and make sure our brilliant customer service can grow. We want to double in size. I’ve invested in the senior team ready for that scale up.
“We have a very sophisticated 2018 technology roadmap. Property technology is grossly underrated. I think the estate agents would do well to understand we’re an opportunity not just a threat. Estate agents should embrace the future, not resist the inevitable.”
Hunters Estate Agents closed 20 offices recently,so Quirk predicted seeing many traditional estate agents like these merging to keep up with the online market.
Quirk said: “I think we will see mass consolidation of the estate agent industry. Traditional ones will merge and online we’ll start to see more consolidation. It becomes a question of survival of the fittest and the best.
“It’s the year proptech will be properly embraced. Traditional high street estate agents should embrace it.”
Emoovhas similar proptech competition with Rightmove, launched in 2000, and Zoopla (2008), whichlistsproperties online in partnership with estate agents.
ButEmoov, founded in 2010,is a hybrid agent with full-time sales negotiators like a traditional estate agent.
Quirk said: “We have the technology and scale where we charge a lot less. We are theAmazon of estate agents. It’s what I call the amazonification of the estate agent industry.
“Volumes have gone up and margins down. We thrive on scale. If acquiring customers costs less, the margin increases. We are the future.”
