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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Start & Co celebrates 40 years
Newquay estate agency Start & Co is celebrating its 40th year by purchasing the freehold of its own premises.
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London buyers flock to Sherborne
Symonds & Sampson’s recent property auction, offering properties in Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire, attracted regional buyers, as well as a telephone bidder from Spain, but it was London buyers who pushed prices up.
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Savills and easyProperty battle it out this Sunday…on TV
Two opposing giants of the property industry are due to do battle this weekend, but not in the place you might imagine. The pinstripe suits at Savills are to take on the online orange-ness of easyProperty at 8pm on Sunday during ITV historical drama Victoria (pictured, right) during which the two agents will be screening their new adverts. Savills is expected to be first with its new campaign called A Savills Love Story which, the agent says, will build “on the successful concept of talking houses which featured in the Savills campaign last year, this year’s theme goes a step further in bringing homes, and our deep attachment to them, to life”. The company admits both versions of its new TV advert – one shot on a beach (being aired on Sunday) and the other in a park – are fairly surreal, each showing a couple ‘meeting’ their current and future homes and discussing their forthcoming move. “Savills is a business which prides itself on its hunger, drive, and agility in a changing market. The 2017 campaign was a success and has given us the confidence to press forward,” says Alison Dean, head of consumer marketing at Savills. “We want to…
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Hamilton Fraser acquires Landlord Action
HF Resolution Ltd, a subsidiary of Hamilton Fraser, has acquired the tenant eviction solicitor firm, Landlord Action Limited.
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easyProperty claims to be largest Purplebricks rival following relaunch
EasyProperty has relaunched its business following the merger with the Guild of Property Professionals and now claims to be the second largest hybrid agent in the UK after Purplebricks. The company has also finished merging its lead generation, sales progression and negotiation platform with the Guild. Now, vendors who enquire via the new easyProperty website will be funnelled through to the relevant local property expert, who will be a dedicated member of staff from the local licensee’s high street branch. Easyproperty says this way there will be a clear difference between a licensee’s high street brand and the easyProperty hybrid offering, unlike Countrywide’s approach of offering both services locally on the same website. So far easyProperty says it has 333 signed-up licensees and 368 consumer-facing local property professionals who are currently undergoing training with former Hatched founder Adam Day. “Today is when we move to delivery our product to the consumer after three months of work,” says easyProperty Chief Executive Jon Cooke. “Consumer behaviour is changing and we are adapting to what [they] want – for us, it’s all about technology and people.” EasyProperty has also revealed a new structure with private equity and banking specialist Mark Phillips appointed as…
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Speakers and presenters announced!
The Negotiator Conference, Expo and Awards is getting close! Tuesday 31st October is the date to put in your diary! It is the biggest – and of course the best – event of its kind on the agency calendar, and established for 10 years. Other events come and go, but The Negotiator Conference and The Negotiator Awards grow and grow! This year is the biggest ever and we have some super-special contributors and presenters. The best talent, for the best agency event We can announce our host for The Negotiator Awards evening gala dinner and Awards presentation is TV presenter and top comedian Jimmy Carr (8 Out of 10 Cats, Mock The Week, Live at the Apollo). The Conference, hosted by Radio 4’s Today programme’s top inquisitor Justin Webb, features keynote speeches by ex-Conservative Party Leader and Tory grandee, The Rt. Hon. Iain Duncan Smith MP, giving his views on how Brexit will affect property. Sir Peter Bottomley MP will also speak on the leasehold scandal affecting new build properties. You can buy tickets for both events or attend them separately – go to www.thenegotiatorconference.co.uk or www.thenegotiatorawards.co.uk to book online or download your booking form. The Negotiator Awards Shortlist reveal The…
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Auction House sells 20,000 lots in 10 years
Auction House is celebrating its 10th anniversary, having sold over 20,000 (20,516) lots since its inception on 1st July 2007.
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Purplebricks withdraws claim that its fixed fee includes viewings
Purplebricks has removed copy on its website that suggested viewings were included in its fixed fee offering following a complaint made to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The person complaining challenged whether the section on its website that said “viewings – we take care of them all” was misleading. This offending copy was on a box on its homepage (see below) which then linked to a separate page that only then clarified that vendors must pay an additional one-off fee to have viewing of their property managed by Purplebricks. The ASA approached Purplebricks with the concerns about the claims made on the site and the company subsequently agreed to “amend the section”. This has now been replaced with a pop-up box of copy that highlights how the company has one of the “UK’s largest databases of buyers”. The latest ASA intervention comes just over a month since a BBC investigation into the company by both the Your & Yours radio, and Watchdog TV programmes into the company. These looked into both claims made by Local Property Experts about the number of homes they listed every month, and that details of how the company arranges for customers to defer their fee…
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Chestertons opens 33rd office in West Putney
Chestertons has opened a new office in West Putney...
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Bungalow sold… with a cruiser!
Bungalow sold at auction with mooring and fishing rights, also included a classic gentleman’s motor cruiser within the price.
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