Disadvantages
- Most of the time, since brochure is mass produced (by photocopy), the picture of house is not in colour.
- Unable to see inside of the house, therefore also a little time-consuming, as customers have to go to house and view it.
- Potential buyers unable to see surrounding area, and may be displeased if they find, a noisy railway running near to their house. It is also possible that the picture may show different things to what is actually there.
Window Brochure
This consists of basically, a colour photo (sometimes) or a black and white photo, price of accomadation, freehold or leasehold and some very general facts about the house. There are also a few advantages and disadvantages about this output.
Advantages
- (If in colour) Picture of house is better, as customer can see what house really looks without having to go to house to see what it looks like.
- (Sometimes) This brochure doesn’t give the actual address of the house, forcing the customer to have to go into the estate agent to find out about information. This can then lead to the customer taking more than one brochure, increasing the chances of them buying a house.
Disadvantages
- (Sometimes) This brochure doesn’t give the actual address of the house, forcing the customer to have to go into the estate agent to find out about information. This is then time-consuming for the customer.
- Same problem (If picture is black and white) in that customer cannot see what the property actually looks like.
- Customer does not know what features are like in house, since descriptions are very vague.
Inputs:
There are a lot of inputs in the current system. From the beginning, when the customer first comes into the estate agent for information, the estate agents have to collect information on the houses, buyers and sellers.
Sellers:
Sellers usually contact the estate agent by telephone or by coming into the estate agents. When there is a seller, the estate agent takes down the address and a contact no. then send a surveyor round. The surveyor has with him/her a questionnaire List of questions below) regarding the house. After this has been filled in, the surveyor takes a photograph of the house. I think he/she will then value the house.
This is done in many ways:
- Locality
- No. of rooms
- Features
All the information collected by the surveyor about the houses is kept in filing cabinets, until a house is eventually sold. If a house is in due time sold, all the information are kept in an archive fro three months. After three months, all the information is then shredded, as to not violate the Data Protection Act.
Surveyor’s Questions
- Vendor name
- Address
- Contact no.
- Dimensions of different rooms
- Special features
- No. of rooms
- Garden (General statement: New, old, long, short, etc.)
- Garage
- Central Heating
- Locality (How close to train stations, etc.)
Buyers:
A buyer starts off their search for a new house in pretty much the same way as a seller. They could be browsing past the windows, looking at the different houses, then finding one or two they quite like, going into the estate agent, to enquire further. Occasionally, buyers also contact the estate agents by telephone. When a buyer comes into the estate agents, all their details are taken down, and also a rough outline of what they would like their house to be like.
Typical Details (taken down):
- Name
- Address
- Contact no.
- Type of house they would like.
- This includes:(In priority order)
- Price Range of buyer
- Area
- No. of Bedrooms
- Garage
- Garden (How big?)
- How close to amenities
Process:
After the estate agents have collected all this data, they have to organise it into various sections so it is easy to search for and locate a particular piece of information. A data clerk would then get this information and type it up into the standard format, stick on the picture, then make several copies. (Always making sure, the default template is not given to a customer.) They then would sort out the information into different fields;
Such as:
- Value of house (e.g. <100,000, 100,001-200,000, 200,001-300,000 and 300,000+)
- Area alphbetically
This makes the esate agent’s job much easier as he/she doesn’t have to search through endless files trying to find information. If a customer requests more information on a house, the estate agent is then able to go to the price range of the person, or any other criteria specified by the person. This can typically take up to three-quarters of an hour.
There are howver a few advantages and disadvantages to this system.
Advantages:
- Staff know system, so is easier to find information.
- Data Capture is very efficient.
Disadvantages:
- Data clerks are neede, so company has to pay clerks to do this job.
- Very time-consuming