Estate Agent Talk
3 Ways Estate Agents can Appeal to the Bridget Jones Market
According to recently revised forecasts by Savills, UK house prices will exceed a 9.5% rise this year, with London prices expecting to see a 15% increase. Great news for estate agents, however, prices in the capital are expected to slow in 2015, with no increase predicted for 2016. Countrywide’s research shows that first-time buyers in…
What do you expect, profit or loss?
Whatever industry you’re in, making a profit or loss is a crucial aspect of keeping your business afloat, as well as proving a potential factor in the growth of your company. As per a recent article in the Letting Agent Today, a survey of 759 landlords were questioned about what their letting process was like…
Alex Evans
Generation gaps in the workplace
Because we are an ageing population, by 2020 there could be up to five different age groups working together in the work environment. If offices are going to be able to accommodate the vastly different approaches to working, businesses are going to have to change. The generations are as follows: The silent generation otherwise known as…
10 Tips for Building Trust with your Clients.
Trust is a huge factor with our business. As estate agents we want vendors and landlords to trust us to sell/let their properties but also conduct viewings when they are not around. You may remember the story a couple of weeks ago of the agent who was filmed stealing a bar of galaxy from a…
Stephen Brown
Just how do you get called out as one of the three agents for a FREE VALUATION?
The biggest headache, problem, issue in estate agency is being asked out for the free valuation, first time round, as one of the three. If you aren’t on that list of three, you will end up having to pick up second hand scraps at the end of the sole agency .. but if you are…
Christopher Watkin
Is your agency as good as Savills and Knight Frank?
Last week I was talking to a client in South London. He (along with a couple of agents up and down the UK) are going to be piloting something that will help our Estate Agency brothers and sisters. The biggest issue in estate agency is being asked out for the free valuation, first time round,…
Christopher Watkin
Be a lifesaver, understand your customer
Understanding your customers can be a difficult process no matter what industry you’re in. There are several things you should consider before approaching your customers, these range from knowing your customers’ needs, the industry you’re working in, your company’s products and what you provide as a company. In this case, if you’re working in the…
How To Build Instant Rapport At Market Appraisals.
Imagine you’re one of the three agents called out to do market appraisal of home ready to go to market. Let’s assume your fees are the same. You’ve been out to do the appraisal and confident you can find a buyer for Mr. & Mrs. Matthews property fairly quickly , and from your perspective…
VTUK’s guide to getting licensed: The Housing (Wales) Act 2014
We aim to assist every agent in Wales as the introduction of the Housing (Wales) Act is introduced. From last Friday (19th September 2014) every agent in Wales must know be licensed. The legislation requires agents to register with an approved body such as ARLA or NALS. The agent and the landlords must commit to…
Kerb Appeal – Making a good first impression
You don’t – or at least shouldn’t – judge a book by its front cover, or so they say, but property is a different matter entirely. Buyers today make large decisions about a property in a very short amount of time, with recent research from Halifax suggesting that the average buyer spends just 33 minutes…
How can you sell when you don’t know the Product?
How can you sell when you don’t know the Product? I was having a conversation with a friend the other day, and they asked me “How can my agent sell my house, when they don’t know anything about it?” On further questioning she informed me that the agent never asked any questions about her home…
Stephen Brown
Prevent your properties from being at risk!
At VTUK, we want to eliminate the risk of fraud to your properties. There are several steps you should take, when it comes to protecting your property from fraud and we’ve outlined these in further detail below. As an agent, you’re more at risk of fraud if your identities been stolen, you live overseas, your…
Alex Evans
Why is the property industry not consolidating faster?
The Real Estate Pundit writes primarily about Property Technology: https://twitter.com/realpundit Seriously, in a massively fragmented industry, few companies make big money and none come close to dominating in any sphere. What is it about estate agency that perpetuates an incredibly long tail of same-same service providers. There’s very little difference between one agent and another, consumers…
Are online-only agents just FSBO in disguise?
The Real Estate Pundit writes primarily about Property Technology: https://twitter.com/realpundit And there it is: the deafening chorus of traditional estate agents screaming “Yes!”. For years high street agents have been crying foul that Rightmove allows For-Sale-By-Owner sites to sneak listings next to theirs. But with the barrier to entry for a new estate agent so low,…
Agents: Don’t risk a £5,000 fine…
We want to express to every letting and property management agent, how vital it is to sign up to one of three government authorised consumer redress schemes. It’s already a legal requirement for estate agents to be signed up with these redress schemes, but it’s soon to be for many letting agents. From October 1st,…
Alex Evans