In a recent post, a talked about how estate agents need to change. I quoted Graham at Cognac Property because he had already seen how things were changing and warned property sellers to wise up or loose out.

The time to change is now upon us as Google takes on the property market. Their mapping system allows for overlays, extra information placed on top of a map. Estate agents and private sellers will be able to insert their property for sale, along with pictures from Google Street View.

From the BBC article, Google set to offer property dimension to UK mapping

Speaking to BBC News, Edward Mead – sales director for Douglas & Gordon estate agents – said that the new system would be a win-win situation for both Google and estate agents.

“The technology to do this is already in place and estate agents are a little busier these days, although transactions are still fifty per cent down on what they once were.

“So this service, which is free, will appeal to estate agents’ cost-cutting nature and given that sixty per cent of agents are one-off traders, this will have serious appeal.”

Mr Mead said that Google’s head of property and classified team, Ben Wood, briefed 30 of England’s top estate agents at Estate Agency Events last week, telling them everything about the system, other than an official launch date.

Do we now see the end of the big websites who offer directories of property for sale?

Sarah Beeny, who presents Channel 4′s Property Ladder and also runs her own home sales property site Tepilo, told BBC News that the service could well damage estate agents in the long run.

“It will hurt estate agents and it will hurt property sites like Rightmove.

“If it does what Google says it will, then it brings the buyer and seller closer together and that could mean removing blocks in the way, and that could mean no longer having to pay extortionate fees to estate agents.

“It will certainly blow Rightmove out of the water. You can only get your property listed on that site if you are an estate agent – what Google will do is level the playing field and they are doing it for free,” she said.

Rightmove shares fell by 13% over worries about competition from the world’s biggest search engine, a late afternoon rally saw them close 10% down at £4.95 a share.

So now there are less things to get in the way between the seller and the buyer. We may see a drop in estate agent fee’s and perhaps more services from them in attempt to survive. What ever happens, it’s going to be interesting.