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Why sticking plasters, won't help, CountryWide plc



Twenty one years ago, only 9 per cent of households rented from private landlords, while 30 per cent rented from public landlords, namely councils. 

Today, 22 per cent of households rent from private landlords, Non partisan think-tank ResPublica.

Over half of UK landlords have decided to bypass letting and managing agents, preferring to deal directly with tenants, says insurance firm Direct Line for Business and findings on lettings agents and their charges, from the Citizen Advice bureau, only reconfirm the discontent, with over charging high street, estate agents.


So when the news transpired, that software property management firm called fixflo ,which there are many out there   were joining force with, CountryWide and Zoopla.


I immediately thought of a sticking plaster. "A software bolt on " to help the high street and letting agents, justify their fees, with a growing rise of online  estate agents, taking market share, within the sales and letting sector, investors see through another PR, prop tech stunt.

Large  professional landlords either selling up or investing elsewhere , where this software maybe cost effective long term ,  is albeit in decline.The ones [landlords] that do exist , are now using companies to avoid Mr Osborne's buy-to-let, claw back. Lets not forget the BoE  concerns on the buy to let , and Mark Carneys latest worry.   Fixflows original business model ,was charge clients a subscription fee, based on the number of properties that they managed . So  Zoopla may increase their subscription fees , or a added extra tool / function, with a cost to a Zoopla agent ; costs to landlords via CountryWide. A win for fixflow yes, a homerun at least charging Zoopla and CountryWide, short term at least.  




Even if CountryWide, were to launch their own ,online estate agent , 'the many others' are ahead by years. And they [CountryWide] have big problem,  deposing  of  their hundreds of retail outlets nationwide, on top off, unstoppable online drift.

Public perception has already changed , dressing up property software management, to create city headlines, does not cut the mustard, today's tech savvy world, many already choose online estate agents and have been using ,other brands of prop tech management software for years,


The real match for this software "was" targeting the landlords, directly  [some years ago], companies now ,like host maker ,an airbnb management company, which are on the rise ,also have their own built in ,proprietary software management platforms . Hostmaker's Airbnb management services are currently available in London, Barcelona and Rome — serving about 5,000 guests every month,onefinestay and Love Home Swap are other examples.

Related article Tech Start Ups that are, all about Property , Real Estate and YOU

There are many property management software companies ,out there and there are alot online estate agents with new upcoming developments, within their own in-house software teams.

Lets hope friends reunited , doesn't play out the same for fix flow founders, I'm all for tech innovation ,especially software development,  but without symbiotic relationship, fix flow software coupled with an already crowded market , has a long term foggy future.

As for Zoopla,  it should be concentrating on Uswitch , the future is changing , where some traditional revenues streams, are undeniably in decline , others are opening up and shining a new light.

The whole concept of this software, was to save time and money , for the landlord so they don't need, a high street estate agent,

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