10th December 2009

AN ESTATE AGENT'S CHRISTMAS ODE

Now it is that time of year,
When everyone is full of cheer,
The lights are up, the tree is dressed,
We agents wonder was this year the best?

There are still those buyers who want to view,
However, it is unlikely they will form a queue,
Exchange and completion is on the buyer's mind,
The legal profession has a mountain to climb.

The rush is on, to move before the Christmas Day,
It is our job to stop tempers fray (ing!!),
The press will ring with advert space,
To wish 'Seasons Greetings' to the Human Race.

So we approach the last weeks of the year,
Even us agents are full of cheer,
We raise a glass to one and all,
A Happy Christmas from Jeff and Paul.  

12th November 2009

Valuations, market appraisals, or whatever. I dread to think how many thousands we have carried out over the years.  But what is one?  ..... No, really think about it!  You the public ask us 'the professional' to provide you with a good, realistic asking price, firstly to base your figures on, ie how much can we afford to spend on our purchase? But also so you know, within reason, what figure you will achieve.  However, this is not as straight forward as you might think.  Let's give you an example (the figures have been changed to protect the guilty).  We were asked to value a property and stated a figure between £200,000 - £215,000, to ask say £214,500.  One of our competitors 'valued' the property at £245,000!  We were instructed to market the property at this figure on the basis that if little interest was created we would reduce the price to our figure.  After 3 months of little interest we reduced the price to £214,500 - needless to say we agreed a figure close to the asking price within 2 weeks! Now, we don't profess to being perfect, but we have come across many other instances of, shall we say, 'very optimistic' valuing, or should that be over-valuing!

Paul Dettmer, Director

15th October 2009

We often say to clients that they wouldn't believe some of the scenarios that happen in our estate agency life.  Only last week it was an extremely quiet, wet, miserable day.  In the afternoon we had two previously arranged accompanied viewings, both at the same property.  Director Jeff Shorter met the first lady with her son and she expressed an interest and said she would ring him later that afternoon.  The second viewer arrived and during the conversations it emerged that another property we were marketing could be of interest.  Jeff took the second lady to view that property and by the time he returned to the office the first viewer had phoned and made an offer, and a sale was agreed.  At 8.15 the next morning the second lady phoned and also made an acceptable offer on the second property.  It just goes to prove that even on a miserable, wet day when most owners would least expect to have a viewing, things can happen.  To use an analogy, "it's a funny old game."

Jeff Shorter, Director

2nd June 2009

Proof that the market is far from 'dead' we have recently just sold a detached bungalow in Dibden Purlieu in less than a week. The bungalow came to the market and a sale was agreed very close to the asking price within the week. Although we were instructed 10 days earlier, we agents are finding the new HIP regulations frustrating, as it curtails our  entrepreneurial skills. (Paul and Jeff have over 65 years joint estate agency experience.)  Gone are the days when we could come back from a property having gained instructions and ring our applicants and get viewings straight away. Now there is at least a 10 day wait until the HIP is in our office or we have receieved confirmation from the HIP provider that they have enough information to enable us to go to the market. Oh for the good old days !!

Jeff Shorter, Director          

13th February 2009

First Day Marketing (FDM).  Not much publicity was given to this when changes were announced recently that as from 6th April, before a property can be put to the market, part of the Home Information Pack must be in place; unlike today when all we must have is proof of the HIP being applied and paid for.  From 6/4/09 before a property can be legally marketed the following section of the HIP must be in place:

1.  Index.

2.  Energy Performance Certificate or Predicted Energy Assessment.

3.  Sales Satement.

4.  Land Registry Title document and plan.

5.  Completed (by vendor) Property Information Questionnaire.

It is anticipated that all this information will take 2/3 weeks to be collated, so if you instructed us on 6th April it could be almost May before your home actually comes to the market.

Jeff Shorter, Director

23rd Janaury 2009

The 'Credit Crunch' has seen all sorts of savings being made.  Wherever possible businesses are cutting costs and making savings by utilising their existing resources.  Estate Agents are no different and we are seeing offices close and other cost-cutting exercises.  However, we feel you can go too far and it is noticeable that many of our competitors are now closed on Sundays.  Our view; this is the one day of the week when couples or indeed families are able to get out and view as a unit and make decisions.  In fact as we are now a 24/7 society we find that Sundays can sometimes be extremely productive.  We have taken this decision as vendors are expected to pay the same fee, and in some cases a higher one, when some agents have reduced their service.  We feel that we cannot compromise our service and affect the reputation we have built up over the last 17 years.

Jeff Shorter, Director

21st October 2008

Amid the financial chaos of the last few weeks something occured to me, 'where would be the safest place to put your money rather than leave it in the bank or in the stock market?'  Wait for it ...... shock, horror ........ property!!!
'What?' I hear you say - you must be mad (well I am but that's another story).

Think about it, the Government are guaranteeing £50,000, if you had say £150,000 in the bank and the bank collapsed you'd lose £100,000   BANG, GONE, never to be seen again. However, buy a property for say £140,000, rent it out and get an income, but here's the rub; even if the value dropped to say £110,000 you would still own the property, still be getting an income and over the years, capital appreciation (price increase to you and me). 

9th September 2008

So the price of crude oil has come down to $107 a barrel, mortgage fixed rates are coming down, the supermarkets are having a price war and the American Government are bailing out the two biggest mortgage lenders in the States ....... all good news! But do the media make a 'big issue' of it ....... of course they don't ....... it's all 'doom & gloom' particularly where the national pastime (the property market) is concerned. 'The Market' could fall by 20,25 or 30% ..... possibly - 'it could take 10 years to get back to pre credit crunch days'. The fact is nobody knows and we have already lost 10/12% off the values since last summer.

Peversly it's a great time to buy, if you buy at the right price by bargaining hard with the Agent/vendor - it's not uncommon to get another 5-10% off the asking price. So here is our prediction, inflation to peak at 5%, and then start to fall, interest rates to start to fall in the new year, banks will slowlystart to lend to each other in 2009 and people will still want to move .......... but what do I know and anyway, I thought the credit crunch was a cereal!!
Paul Dettmer, Director

11th August 2008

Currently, there is a lot of press speculation that the Government are going to introduce a 'stamp duty holiday'.  We are not convinced this is the way forward.  For those who can remember back to 1996 when we had the last stamp duty holiday, we had a brisk market for the first 8 months of the year and next to nothing for the remaining 4 months.  Would not intorducing a 'holiday' now have the same effect, delaying this current slowdown to the end of the holiday?  Being cynical that would be closer to the next General Election and would the Government want a slow housing market at that time?  Our view is to raise the stamp duty thresholds reflecting current prices rather than those from way back when house prices were considerably lower.

Jeff Shorter, Director

3rd June 2008

To Buy to Let or not? Now may not be the ideal time to talk about 'Buy to Let' as some of the media predict the demise of the Buy to Let market - but what do they know?!

In fact with the 'buyer's market' we are experiencing now and rents rising, the time could be ideal! As with any investment - always take the long term view - property will always remain a good long term investment if you buy the right property, in the right area, at the right price. The days of short term capital growth are over - and perhaps that's no bad thing. We are experiencing very strong demand for all types of rental property, from studios to 4 bedroom houses. So if you thought the Buy to Let market was dead - think again! As long as you have a decent deposit and buy the right property, you won't go far wrong. Alternatively, you may be trying to sell - you could rent out your property and wait until the market improves. If we can help, please call us.

30th April 2008

31st Jan 2008