Estate Agent Talk
Question: Would you like to See an Improvement in the Overall Standard of Service in UK Estate Agency?
Answer: Then it Could Be Time to Get Radical and Make Your Voice Heard. I read an article quite recently in The Daily Telegraph that publicised The Property Ombudsman, Katrine Sporle’s call for UK estate agents to “raise their standards”, in the light of the most recent figures (2015) – confirming a 32 per cent…
Peter Nicholls
How does Estate Agent Networking really work?
We do receive many questions as to how exactly does Estate Agent Networking work and how it differs from other industry news channels. Thought it time for another update! Firstly and most importantly, the platform is driven by the power of social media and the large active and target communities following and engaging with us….
Christopher Walkey
UK Estate Agency: Things aren’t what they used to be?
Last week I wrote an article titled “What is the worst kept secret in UK estate agency?” which, judging by the high readership numbers, seemed to find some resonance amongst both fellow estate agents and those who work in and around the property sector generally. Primarily, I wrote the piece with a view to broadening…
Peter Nicholls
Are you the most irritating agent in your area?
What’s your take on networking? I hate it. Actually let me qualify that. I hate the word networking. It’s such a clunky way of describing people just meeting up and talking. I like meeting people, like chatting (it’s the Irish in me) but despise hard selling. I was at a ‘networking’ event recently as a…
Jerry Lyons
Small Independent Estate Agency – A Question of the Survival of the Fittest?
Sadly, it would seem that we live in a world where at present being small and on the high street is currently out of fashion. Why has this view (particularly amongst the young) percolated in more recent times? I would strongly suspect that it has much to do with the way our general shopping habits…
Peter Nicholls
PROFESSIONAL RISK ASSOCIATED WITH PROPERTY PROFESSIONALS
The following paper provides an update on the modern day risks associated with UK property professionals and how the current UK professional indemnity insurance (PI) market is responding. Business Closures And Run Off Cover Since our report of 12 months ago we have seen the industry press consumed with articles concerning stamp duty reform and…
EAN Content
Investor Warning: What Happens To the “Disrupters” When They Lose Their Power to Disrupt?
I read an article quite recently titled “Purplebricks gets stock market commentator support – if strategy pays off” written in response to an article by columnist Ian Pierce on the investment website, Motley Fool. Sadly, there were no great revelations in Ian’s article, but he did quite rightly strike one or two notes of caution…
Peter Nicholls
Can your agent afford to give you time?
At the time of writing this, I have toothache. Real bad toothache. The sort where you can’t sleep and just don’t know what to do with yourself. I need a dentist. The internet can’t help me, googling toothache doesn’t help. I need the help of a professional. An expert in their field and somebody who…
Michelle Gallagher
Countrywide Group – The Beginning of the End or the End of the Beginning?
I wonder if I am alone in my perception that over recent months it has become quite ‘fashionable’ for fellow estate agents and industry observers alike, to snipe and poke fun at the ‘comings and goings’ at Countrywide Group in the trade press and social media. Somewhat inevitable I suppose, but is such criticism fair?…
Peter Nicholls
WHEN CHEAP ISN’T VERY CHEERFUL
Estate agents’ fees are always a hot topic! And it is true they can vary wildly. In many parts of Stockport, fees can vary from 0.5% to 1.75% and there is considerable variation right across the country in every town or city. There are also online or low-cost agents offering headline-grabbing fees. Ignore their slick…
Maurice Kilbride
Residential Property Valuation: The End of The Beginning or the Beginning of The End?
Recently, Zoopla announced its latest acquisition, the capture of housing data firm Hometrack for a cool £120 million. For those that don’t know, Hometrack provides residential property insights, analytics, valuations, and data services to over 400 partners including mortgage lenders, developers, investors, housing associations and local authorities. Should we be concerned by what appears to…
EAN Content
View My Chain Reduces Estate Agents’ Stress
A revolutionary new cloud-based software tool has shown that it can cut estate agents’ workloads and reduce their stress levels. That’s because View My Chain cuts back on the amount of telephone calls agents have to make chasing up conveyancers and other estate agents. It does this by allowing agents to view their own sales…
EAN Content
First-time buyer’s increase to 36%
February saw the rate of first-time buyer’s increase to 36%, a demographic that currently accounts for just over one third of February’s property market activity, the largest proportion of first-time buyers since July 2011. It is suspected that the reason for this is twofold; near zero base rate mortgages, and the drop in buy to…
EAN Content
Rant and Rave – What the heck is going on out there in property land?
Never mind ‘Lala Land’, what about ‘Lala Property Land’! What the heck is going on out there in property land? My rant: To our inner negative self-talk. Lack of properties, lack of buyers, sad people, worried people, all going around in a zombie-like trance. Muttering ‘oh poor me’, ‘oh this is really bad’, ‘I blame…
EAN Content
Question: What is the worst kept secret in UK estate agency?
Answer: That things aren’t what they used to be? Reply: That’s right, but don’t tell anyone and we will all be fine. Am I the only one that is getting a little weary of this continual High Street versus Hybrid Model debate that seems to get avid readers of industry websites so exercised? I sincerely…
EAN Content