iamproperty grows Partner Agent network by 20%

Rising demand from Estate Agents for auction, compliance and conveyancing services has grown iamproperty’s network of UK Estate Agency branches to over 3,000 – an increase of over 500 so far this year.

Among the new branches are a number of agents from The Property Franchise Group (TPFG) network, of which almost 60 per cent now work with iamproperty to offer auction services through iamsold.

All 53 of Chancellors’ southern branches have also joined the network along with multiple branches from the Miles & Barr, Wright Marshall, Stephenson Browne and Williams Estates groups.

Also contributing to the network growth is the early success of iamsold’s industry-first partnership with Zoopla, which launched in the summer to enable Zoopla’s member agents to expand into auction via the Modern Method of Auction (MMoA).

Auction services represent the biggest area of iamproperty’s growth with over 80 per cent of the network now offering this method of sale to their clients, responding to the changing needs of vendors who rely on speed and security more than ever. Online auction sales are up by almost 12 per cent so far this year with almost £10m in fees paid to Partner Agents.

Ben Smith, Director at Miles and Barr, said: “Our relationship with iamsold in being able to offer auction to our clients is very important for the business. The Modern Method of Auction fits perfectly with the way we work, as we always look at the clients’ circumstances and offer our vendors choice as an integral part of what we do. This helps to widen our proposition as a business, and for those clients that need speed and enhanced security, it’s a great option for us to have.”

Demand for compliance and conveyancing support is also growing, with agents looking to streamline the complicated processes and increase their revenue opportunities. So far this year over 50,000 Risk Assessments have been completed through iamproperty’s compliance service, fuelled by tightening and increasing AML legislation for Estate Agents, and the busy market.

This rapid network growth comes as iamproperty is gearing up to launch its biggest tech development to date to modernise the Private Treaty space. Launching in the first quarter of the New Year ‘movebutler’ will be a pioneering online platform designed around the common challenges Estate Agents face, finding solutions for the current sticking points in the buying and selling process to improve the experience for all parties.

Ben Ridgway, Group Managing Director at iamproperty, said: “We’ve built our business around empowering Estate Agents to succeed, by being an extension of their team and enabling them to expand their services without having to expand their infrastructure. 2020 has been our fastest period of growth and it’s great to see our agent network embracing modern methods. Our auction arm iamsold has had record-breaking sales, supporting agents responding to the demand from vendors for quick and secure transactions, and more agents are turning to our much simpler compliance process opening up more of their time to spend elsewhere in the business.

“We have ambitious plans to grow our network by over 50 per cent by 2022 supported at large by the launch of movebutler. This new proposition is our biggest tech development, bringing together our expertise in property sales, compliance and conveyancing to create positive change to the Private Treaty process which Estate Agents and vendors have been calling for. Although there’s a lot coming out of the proptech space there’s nothing as advanced as movebutler on the market, and our initial tests with Partner Agents have had a really positive response.”

Commenting on movebutler, Iain White, leading industry consultant, added: “I’ve seen the movebutler platform in action and it’s a great product, and whole of the market solution to speed up the Private Treaty process. I get to see a lot of proptech products and this is amongst the best. The journey for agents and vendors is really slick, taking everything online and in one place. I often see agents working with multiple suppliers to digitise the onboarding process in particular, which can be disjointed and even add time. This is definitely a welcome addition to the market. Every agent should have it.”