Carringtons: the first results from the BestAgent process

Automatic transcript, so expect a few errors.

But but then it gets even better because we haven't lost a pitch. I haven't lost a pitch. We have sold every house to market and we haven't had any fall-throughs. So it it at the moment it is estate agency perfection. Kingston Vale was the area where myself Alex said there's nowhere it works here. That's right. It's where it's worked the best. That's the irony. There are now 15 to 20 positive things happening to everybody in the office every day. There's no negativity. I don't even thought about work after work or a stressful situation. It's just all gone. Every single property I've been into, there isn't one property that's now sitting on the market with one of our investors. I wasn't in a position to say anything like that before. So, I've never seen that reaction before. And all of a sudden, somebody's face is going, "Well, that would be brilliant. It's 2% now." And and it hasn't been challenged,

but I have seen nothing that shows me or demonstrates that it won't work for every single property. In late 2024, Carringtons estate agents in Kingston, Southwest London were fighting a losing battle with big overvaluing firms like Foxtons and Dexters. These corporate agents were claiming market share of listed properties with wildly excessive valuations and locking sellers into long contracts, leaving decent family-run independent agents to fight over the scraps. When they did win these castoffs, these secondhand overpriced listings, they were still reluctantly having to agree to unrealistic prices to get instructed. This led to large amounts of unsold, unsellable stock and a feeble pipeline of deals that were hard to keep together and get over the line to exchange. I was talking to David yesterday.

He's a really good a he's trusted and known. He's been there 50 years. Everyone knows who he is. Everyone trusts him. But he allows sellers to say this is the price I want. He says to them, well that's the price you want. This is the price I think. And someone else will eventually tell us what price they'll actually pay. So he manages the expectations but accepts it. But he but but then he says like especially the bigger stuff could

take a year could take a year of waiting for them to just meet the market. Am I explaining what we've been doing today? Oh, that wouldn't work around here. Which is the classic objection I've had from every agent I've ever sold anything to in 25 years. Oh, that wouldn't work in this market. One of my favorites was like, oh no, our customers don't use emails. But interesting, they had a similar opinion. It was Kingston Vale, wasn't it? Kingston Vale was the area where myself, Alex said, there's nowhere it works here. That's right. It's where it's worked the best. That's the irony because you had this longest sale time of all the areas

we worked in and it's now the shortest sale time which is really interesting. Well, that's because I remember you saying that and I remember thinking all right I I'll I'll believe but but this my confidence in this process is that it is a mechanical process. It's not to do with opinions, right? Markets ultimately are mechanical things and where there is a requirement to transact, you can't do it outside those mechanics. Yeah. And so, you know, people might not like it. If you want to move, tough Those are the mechanics. Now, can the mechanics be manipulated?

Yeah. In certain markets, yes, there's manipulation. It does happen. People do get manipulated to over offering and overpaying and that can happen. And some agents still think, well, that's our job is to manipulate and do whatever we have to do, but but ultimately that leads to higher fall through rates. Yeah. More frustration and overall the result. I do you remember saying to me right at the start that Charlie some of these unsold properties will eventually sell. If we didn't have them, you wouldn't get that fee. Do you remember saying that to me? Yeah. Yeah. In my head now, my start would be, well, yeah, but what's it cost to you to have that many on the market to get that one fee and is it worth it? But it's also it's it's your your strategy at that point is hope, isn't it?

Yeah. Which is the last, you know, hope is what you got left when all all else is. But we were starting with hope. That's the irony, right? And so are all agents that are doing it. Yeah. Yeah. All agents that are knowingly have a value and putting on the market are just hoping that some of them are going to drop. Yeah. So, you know, so my point is you're off to a bad experience for everyone from the outset. It's like it's a guarantee of a bad experience. Yeah. And today was a perfect example. I've had to have the worst conversation I've had in 3 months.

When I say it was the worst, it was nowhere near the level of conversations I had to have. So, this is a there's no obvious reason why we haven't had the inquiries at all. So, where do we go with that? But that was the conversation I had with the guy today and they were really they were really problematic and they haven't lost trust in us because we've been transparent through the whole process. So they continue to if I had overvalued that on day one and now I was having the conversation you're on the market with too much money. Um that's my fault and the market's really bad. But at least now we're saying look we follow the process. It didn't deliver. I don't know exactly why it didn't but we're going to look at every single reason as to why you haven't sold and we're going to fix this. And the beauty of this process now is you're the only problem I had to fix. So I can spend all of my time fixing it cuz I want to be able to turn around and say I fixed it. If I had 15 of him or her, I'm like, you haven't got the time.

There are now 15 to 20 positive things happening to everybody in the office every day. The guys registering the phone calls, the applicants, and you just bounce from one positive conversation to another or one positive scenario to another. There's no negativity. And that for your bloody mental health is is ridiculous. I've just got a clear mind in the EBS app. It is a totally clear mind when it comes to there's no stress. There is. I want want more money. I want to bang more money, right? But that's positive stress. That's ambitious. Yeah. That's not Oh I don't even think I thought about work after work or a stressful situation. It's just all gone.

When you said to me there's a patch that we cover where this isn't going to work. Yeah, that was wrong. Yeah, it was totally wrong. It was Kingston Vale and Alex and I probably both have to eat our words here because it was the area that we were scared about. There's no we dominate that area. We're going to we're going to ruin this and actually it's made us the strongest area agent in that area of our country manner. And when you hear me say the phrase I said ear markets are mechanical things. Yeah. It's it's irrefutable logic. Yeah. Right. It it's just if this then that. Yeah.

So as long as that then this will happen. You could now not 100% of the time there are exceptions but as at today it's true to say now that every property you walk to market and sold of this process so far zero fall through. Yeah the stats at the moment every pitch I've been into either hasn't instructed me yet but they haven't they've either instructed me telling me they're going to at some point in the future but I have lost no pitches. That's every single property I've been into. There isn't one property that's now sitting on the market with one of our investors. I'm sure that's going to change.

Somebody has to. Extraordinary, isn't it? Yeah. But would you have believed that if I told you nine months ago this was going to happen? Probably arrogant enough to. No, no, no. But but then it gets even better because we haven't lost a pitch. I haven't lost a pitch. We have sold every house we take to market and we haven't had any fall-throughs, so it it at the moment it is estate agency perfection. It doesn't even make we're not complacent or becoming more complacent as a result of that. You're more desperate to prove that you can keep that run going for long enough. So, our agency and our rules internally and what we're doing, we're tighter than ever.

So, we're getting better and better at what we do. What was the most uncomfortable part of adopting this process? That initial transition, although mentally for me, I found it better to be easy to walk in and not the valuation process or not give the valuation. I think the fear of losing your existing properties, that's hard. And also with total transparency, you've got to be really careful that the relaunch of your existing stock, you've got to get that just right because there's no doubt that if you've been doing it this way from the start that you wouldn't be in this problem, so therefore, we would have no conversation to have. But if you've got 20 properties and you think 10 of them are the right

price, well, they're going to move quite quickly into being under offer, you would hope. But I guarantee there won't be comparisons of what we thought were 10 good properties. And that's the other part of the journey. You'd have said to me six months ago, what's price right and what's price wrong? I'd have said to you 10 are good, 10 are bad. Now I tell and say every single thing was bad, but 10 within the realms that we can make work. But again, I was on a pitch earlier and I said, I think industry average time for selling is X. Ours used to be X. And just to let you know, the the last eight months, our average time to under offer is 4 weeks. Um an average time to exchange I think has gone to seven weeks I think it is. So um so we are performing in the you know you're sitting in front of people and they said well the last time I went to market it took a year. I said well you get this process right you'll be

exchanging well before Christmas. I wasn't in a position to say anything like that before. So I've never seen that reaction before and all of a sudden somebody's faces going well that would be brilliant. You're now quoting what at least 1.75% plus VAT. It's 2% now then our so our fee that we will end up receiving the net fee will be 2% 2% and it was I think 1.11 was the average of you had well and bony started so the yearly job that has not been come through in the in the actual average fee amount compared to beforehand when you got to the discussion of the fee what's that discussion like now there isn't one I think that's the other part of this process it's not negotiation I think that's the really interesting part. They were haggling on fees the most that sounds too good to be true.

Yeah. I've always said if you can demonstrate the results, people will not argue on fee and if you can't get 2% is because you're not worth it. Yeah. When you're worth it, you'll get it and people won't argue. That's is that is that true? 100%. I I think there's only been one person that said that was a little bit more than I was expecting to pay. They they argued with themselves. It wasn't I didn't say anything. I just sit there and say that's our fee and let's go. um and and it hasn't been challenged. So agents who are watching this and thinking it sounds great and I believe you. I just don't think it'll work in my market. What would you say to those guys?

Uh we are I mean if you look at our market now it's worked from flats all the way from houses in excess of I think the most valuable house we've sold in the last six to eight weeks is sorry six or eight months probably 1.65. Yeah. But I have seen nothing that shows me or demonstrates that it won't work for every single property. And the area that I thought it was going to be the toughest. It's worked the most. It's been the most effective process. I sat with somebody today and that house could be worth anything 1.25 to 1.6 1.75. They had no questions about once you've delivered that process. They've got no questions because everything is self weren't asking about value. No. You see, because this is the biggest mental block for most agents, isn't They do not see how you can win in a structure without discussing value.

That's the biggest mental block. Well, the beauty is when you say I don't know. I was telling you I would just be lying to you. That's it. You don't do much prep before going to to pitch. I I don't look at the house because you because you're just simply you're repeating the same throw system every single time. So there's no Oh, I've done all this research and I've got this comparable. There's none of that. legal sit in front of me quite a lot to take notes because we don't deliver any presentation. This blows agent's heads and they just what you want but and the no valuations

process again just I think again if I I used to think probably 10 years ago I used to take brochures around sold this I've sold that brochures that could have been a year old. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Like have no real relevance. What do you talk say about your results? Yeah. is just you just verbally recount them. Yeah. And they and they're trusting it and and we've got an email that that's ready to go if they say, "Can you just give me an idea or can you can you list your last transactions and and what's happened?" We got an email that can demonstrate it.