Agencies & People
News covering the businesses, activities, people and personalities in estate agency and letting agency and wider residential property industry.
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Hunters share price drops despite upbeat results
The City’s belief that even the largest estate agent chains have an underlying problem is highlighted by the Hunters share price which, after its up-beat annual results were announced last week, has dropped significantly. Since December last year the Hunters PLC share price on AIM had been holding steady at around 65p but on the day the results were issued dropped to 58p – and has since only recovered slightly. This is despite the York-based company revealing a 31% rise in pre-tax profits to £1.8 million on revenues of £13.8 million, up 15% compared to the year before. Branch openings Hunters says all its growth has come from franchisee branch openings, of which there are have been ten taking place every year, on average. In its results Hunters also predicting that it would outperform the market by 7% this year, and that so far instructions for the first two months of the year increased by 9%. Hunters has also been on the acquisition path recently and in March bought the 15-branch Gloucestershire and Bristol agency Besley Hill, bringing its network to over 200 branches. “The company has shown impressive growth, opening 30 new branches including converting 20 existing businesses,” says Chairman Kevin…
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Lees & Waters grows in the South West
Lees & Waters, an independent estate agency in Bridgwater, has moved to bigger, better premises...
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Hickamore, Hackamore! Squirrel photo-bombs listing for £395,000 Beatrix Potter house
Picture of the week goes to the Purplebricks LPE who took this photo of a red squirrel for the images used to market a house for sale near Coniston in the Lake District. The red squirrel’s decreasing habitat in the UK includes Cumbria so it’s not unusual to see the arboreal, omnivorous rodents in the area. Beatrix Potter But what’s most fitting is that the property used to belong to Beatrix Potter following her acquisition of the surrounding Monk Coniston Estate for £15,000 in 1930, part of her attempts at the time to stop holiday home developers hoovering up large tracts of Lakes countywide, and to preserve traditional farming and countryside traditions. One of Potters’ more enduring characters is Squirrel Nutkin, the tale of an impertinent red squirrel who loses his tail after baiting an owl. Or in this case, photo bombing property marketing materials, with his tale intact.
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Merge! Close! Sell!
It’s been Spring Cleaning time in the property agency market as the larger groups take action to maintain profits.
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Orchards Heads West
Orchards Estates in South Somerset has extended its services to cover the west of the county, from Taunton and Bridgwater to Williton and Minehead.
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Scanlans forges partnership with Pad Residential
Property management and surveying firm Scanlans has taken a 50 per cent stake in Pad Residential, a sales, lettings and management agency in Manchester city centre.
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Franchisees win a £15k car before even opening their Belvoir branch
A couple from South West London who are about to start-up a franchised branch of Belvoir on their local high street have received an unexpected boost to their fledgling business. Chantelle Harris, who has a background in sales but not property, along with her ex-London cabbie partner Darren O’Reilly, won a £15,000 branded Belvoir Mini at the franchise giant’s recent awards bash at a stately home in Oxfordshire (see above). The celebrity compere for the night, comedian Giles Brandreth, tweeted the moment when an incredulous Chantelle came on to the stage to pick up the prize (see below). First venture The couple’s first venture in property, a franchised branch in Bromley, is due to open next weekend in time for Easter and follows almost a year of training for the couple. “Previous experience in property management is not necessary, as Belvoir provides first class training for new franchise owners, and our franchise support team works extremely hard to ensure that they succeed,” says Dorian Gonsalves, Belvoir’s Managing Director. “Belvoir franchise owners now have the option to launch a sales service, as well as lettings, and this is proving to be very popular with vendors, including existing landlords who wish to…
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Over half of tenants CHOOSE to rent, says survey
If you are annoyed by the constant government narrative that all those who rent are unhappy, failed home owners denied the delights of bricks and mortar by high house prices and unhelpful lenders, then research by London agent Benham & Reeves Residential Lettings should cheer you up. It interviewed 1,400 of its tenants in the capital, where it has four branches in North London, to ask them about why they rented – part of the largest survey of its customer base that the company has ever completed. Diverse mix London’s very diverse mix of tenant nationalities was revealed. Some 18% of the respondents were non-British residents working for a relatively short period in the capital – and therefore less likely to buy in London. Only 3.66% of those in the survey were renting because they had been turned down for a mortgage because they did not earn enough, while 5.76% had been turned down because their deposit was not large enough. Some 17.8% of those in the survey said they were saving up a deposit to buy a property. But over half of tenants in the survey classed themselves as ‘lifestyle’ renters with 24% saying they chose to rent because it…
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Leading independent agent vents outrage at yesterday’s Purplebricks ‘report’
Perry Power (pictured, right), a founding member of the Charter for Independent Estate Agents (CIELA), says he is “outraged” by a Purplebricks report published yesterday which claims that millions of vendors in the UK are being overcharged by traditional agents. The report, which quizzed just over 1,000 members of the public about their attitudes to estate agent pricing and service, was used to support Purplebricks’ claim that agents are ‘out of date’ and ‘out of touch’. “Purplebricks likening their online service to that of dedicated, passionate independent estate agents is like comparing two plastic surgeons when deciding to get major reconstruction,” he says. “One may be cheaper but only practiced the procedure twice, whereas the other costs more but has completed it thousands of times and has a brilliant reputation. Who would you enlist your trust in with something so important?” Shake up the industry “I applaud anyone who tries to shake up our industry, god knows we need it, but when it involves unsubstantiated comparisons…and bullying I can’t sit back and let a company with huge marketing spends try to take down the hard working independents. “Purplebricks should be applauding these people, but instead they surveyed a tiny fraction of the UK…
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Has Purplebricks own ‘commisery’ report backfired?
Purplebricks has moved into attack mode once more and produced a ‘commisery’ report that it says proves traditional agents are “out of touch, out of date and leaving millions out of pocket”. But it’s hard to find much data in the report to back up this contention. The report also appears to have avoided asking respondents what they expect to get for the much reduced fee that Purplebricks charges compared to traditional agents. Nevertheless, the report contains some worrying research for agents. This includes how only 5% of those buying or selling are concerned whether an agent has a high-street office, that house sellers are becoming more aware about alternative selling models, and that 68.9% of the public now know that they don’t have to “fork out” a percentage commission on the value of their property. It also says that the average commission among agents is 1.5% excluding VAT or £3,929 per sale. But the survey results don’t conclusively back up Purplebricks’ contention that traditional agents are out of date. 35% annoyed by cost The company talked to 1003 respondents three months ago, of whom 35% said they were annoyed by the cost of using an estate agent, but only 11.37% said…
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