By Trevor Abrahmsohn, Glentree International
The wholesale ritual slaughter of agents coffers by the digital portals, is as predictable as inflation. They have the Residential Property Industry by the ‘Jackson Pollocks’ and they are using their power to feed their glutinous 74% profit margins and twas ever thus.
Acting as a buttress against the ravenous other two portals
May I remind the ‘lemming like’ agents that I worked selflessly, like a trojan, without any remuneration and lost a third of a vital loan that was needed at the time, by starting OnTheMarket.com (OTM), some 15 years ago, for the sole purpose of providing a buttress against the ravenous appetite of the two other portals – Rightmove and Zoopla.
The Sherrif that kept law and order in Dodge City
Yes, it did take a while to gain traction, which was only to be expected, but with proper funding this could have been ‘The Sherriff that kept law and order in Dodge City’. Instead, the naïve and ‘wet behind the ears’, former board at OTM decided in their wisdom, to ‘sell their souls to the Devil’ by not only crystalising a thumping 33% loss on the issue price of the shares, but at the same time gave up all vestiges of control of portal fees for the agents, in the digital portal space.
Need we be reminded that most enquiries today start online and to have these ‘money grabbing pariahs’ with their foot on the throat of the estate agency world, is an ignominious spectacle.
Overtures of the ill- judged energy policy of Germany’s Mrs. Merkle, when she allowed her beloved country to be 40% energy dependent on the despot Mr. Putin, springs to mind!
Stop the tide, it may be more efficacious
Whilst Shaun Adams, of Cooper Adams, laudable attempts to call for an investigation into the portal’s charges is all fine and dandy, frankly, I am afraid to say that the chances of him succeeding is a smidgeon short of zero and in my humble opinion, if he tried ‘to stop the tide’ it may be more efficacious.
When I invited the ‘great and the good’ of the residential agency world to a secret meeting in Zafferano’s cellar room on the 22nd November 2010, everyone looked to me as to why they were attending such an august gathering without a formal agenda.
Fleece the agents until the pips squeak
I recall my opening remarks, ‘Gentlemen, as China’s ‘Belt and Road’ world domination plan is based on a 50-year gestation period, the agents outlook on our industry has a two week horizon.’ They asked me what I proposed by way of a solution and I said we must have a utility, digital portal, owned and controlled by the estate agency industry, in order to counteract the avaricious and predatorial instincts of the existing portal world, which are bent on a desire to fleece the agents until ‘the pips squeak’ (credit; Denis Healey in his speech in Lincoln, February 18th, 1974).
Thumbscrew to tighten further around financial genitals
I wouldn’t wonder that Zoopla and OTM (the latter now owned by CoStar), as night follows day, will do the same and the thumb screw will tighten further around the financial genitals of the agents, ad nauseam.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you!