Should AR come to the UK?

An interesting question I'm sure you'll agree! Should AR go international? Would it work any where else? Are the British too stiff lipped to embrace a friendly community where people share their wisdom rather than keep it all locked away in a black leather brief case?

As the only AR user based in London that I know of (please do correct me if I'm wrong) it's a question I think about often. I use AR because there's nothing like it over here, sometimes I feel like a cheater for being a featured agent in a city which I only visit on vacation - but on signing up there was no international option and I just had to be part of the club!

But what if AR was over here? Would it work?

To my knowledge there aren't any agents that blog in this entire country, can you believe it? There are some popular property blogs, but these are more a commentary on the market and are written by ex-journalists who have a keen interest in property. The Rat and Mouse is perhaps the most famous, 'rat and mouse' being cockney rhyming slang for 'house'. Renthusiast is another property blog. Then there's the Zoomf blog (where I work) and then there's a couple more blogs by some of the other property search websites. All in all you can count the property blogs on one hand, and not one is written by someone working directly with sellers and buyers. Does this surprise you? Because I still can't get my head around it!

One thing is for sure, Brits love to talk about the housing market! You can't go to BBC news without reading something about interest rates, mortgages, first time buyers or gazumping (got to love crazy English words like gazumping!). So it seems strange that there aren't more blogs.

It's not that we're technologically backwards, blogs are very popular here, it just hasn't taken off at all in this industry.

When I've spoken to agents, and shown them AR, many just can't see what they'd write about, which is obviously something that all people come across when they first start blogging. A lot of them also express fear in writing something that could get them sued, or in hot water with their bosses.

One big difference with the UK and the US is that agents are almost not people in their own right here, whereas your name means something in the US and you're almost a brand yourself, in the UK the individual agents just work for an 'estate agency' and their names themselves mean nothing. People don't recommend people here, they recommend the agency. This means two things, agents don't have to worry about promoting themselves as such and they also have the fear of saying anything that the agency bosses would disagree with.

Our property market always seems to be booming, and from some of the agents I've spoken to they are very much of the opinion 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. They haven't seen the need to start blogging, although I believe that that is beginning to change.

The general public in England have a low opinion of estate agents, they're often seen as untrustworthy and scrupulous, and it's a reputation that isn't fair for many. This is what I think is going to drive agents towards blogging, sitting at a computer for a few minutes a day and writing a post can just make you look more human, more approachable. It helps build up that level of trust, and the ability for people to comment and for a two way conversation to emerge is really important. Agents will be able to learn from each other, to help make themselves better agents! And think of the international referrals if there was a global AR!

I think there'll one day be this silent revolution, a couple of the big agencies will get their agents on the case and then a whole flurry will be online trying to make a name for themselves.

If AR launched in the UK, I think it might have a slow start but would eventually do very well. British agencies are very competitive, so if AR did ever come over here those coveted featured agent spots would be fought over tooth and nail!