Domestic Energy Assessors - the first UK Realtors?

The growing army of Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) in the UK leads me to the following thought, a theory if you like. I am sure I am not the first to mention it but will the UK housing industry go the way of other markets and the American market, namely, more single estate agents who deal with, if not the whole, then the lion's share of the buying/selling process (a real estate agent in the USA, and other areas of the world)?

What would he or she need? To be DEA certified, an association with a HIP provider, a conveyancer, be able to take good photographs, draw a floor plan and possess a web site. What more do they need? Unlike the USA and other countries, very little in the way of red tape, licenses etc. In other words, not much.

What if a company were offering DEAs a complete property management solution from web site to back end property management system which in turns feeds their property up into the portals. All they need to do is take the pictures, easy!! And guess what? Yes, Property Owl is offering the complete DEA solution.

Can this also appeal to conveyancers, why not? Cut out the middle man, sign up for a DEA course and become a realtor over night, surely the perfect realtor, a one stop shop! I suspect the law society may have something to say about this, but you get the idea.

Furthermore, there is strong argument that the house buying and selling public will benefit from single agents. More attention to personal service means greater prospect of selling your home. Indeed, with the majority of property searches conducted online, wouldn’t all parties be pleased to find someone who does the whole package.

Property finders are the closest we have to realtors in this country and I would like to think they have all signed up to be DEAs. Moreover, there is a mass of realtor bloggers out there to help, advise and effectively tell you how to do it. Although the process of buying and selling abroad is different, many elements are not light years away from our model.

Anyway, we will soon welcome our first DEA, he will use the Property Owl system that we have specially adapted for DEAs, use a Property Owl website, again specially created for DEAs. We will help with the SEM and they will become the UKs first Realtors! (I await a call from the intellectual property lawyers on this one, but surely the term is generic).

Will the UK public stomach such a term, maybe, but you heard it here first and if you are a DEA reading this, then see us for your system and become a Realtor.