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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Chris Wood challenges Purplebricks to a house sales bet
Chris Wood of Penzance-based PDQ Estates has thrown down the gauntlet to hybrid agent Purplebricks to see who can sell the most homes. In a tweet (see right) over the weekend Chris challenged Purplebricks to put its model to the test by submitting all its completed transactions over a set period to be independently audited by the ESTAS, which would then be measured against PDQ Estates’ completed transactions. “I spoke to Simon Brown at the ESTAs who said he was very happy to do it and that it would all be above board,” says Chris. “Everyone thinks I’m anti Purplebricks, but I’m not,” says Chris. “I’ve got nothing against the hybrid concept – I helped develop a very similar system for Tesco when I worked there as a consultant – and I think the Purplebricks model is an excellent one.” Chris says his main problem with both Purplebricks and several traditional high street agents too is the way that properties are listed on the portals and how agent review websites work. His challenge has been retweeted numerous times including by Top 150 UK law firm and conveyancing solicitor Trethowans. It tweeted that ‘it won’t be Purplebricks who win. Always avoid…
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Martin & Co franchisees to be offered new ZPG deal
Martin & Co parent company The Property Franchise Group (TPFG), which also owns five other agency brands with nearly 400 branches across the UK, has signed up to a long-term deal with ZPG that will be available to all its franchisees. TPFG is the UK’s biggest estate agent franchise operation in the UK and ZPG says the deal will see a ‘large number’ of TPFG’s brands returning to its online platforms. Martin & Co has also separately signed up to use Jupix, the ZPG-owned property software suite, for a further three years. TPFG will now offer the negotiated listings deal to all its existing members, but will be of interest most to those who have not signed up with ZPG yet, or who thinking about leaving OnTheMarket.com. This was the case for the Exeter branch of Martin & Co whose MD Christopher Perring (pictured, left) says he signed up to ZPG after leaving OnTheMarket following “poor lead levels and a lack of external marketing of OnTheMarket,” he says. Of the TPFG brands, Martin & Co currently has 109 out of 175 of its franchisee branches listed on Zoopla while CJ Hole has three out of 21, Ellis & Co 14 out…
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Beals acquires Baker & Elder
Beal’s Independent Estate Agents has announced the acquisition of Baker & Elder Sales & Lettings Agents in Southsea, Hampshire.
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Robert Holmes branches out to Mayfair
Robert Holmes, the Wimbledon-based independent sales and lettings agent, has opened a new office in Davies Street, in the heart of Mayfair.
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Martin & Co embraces hybrid opportunities from Ewemove acquisition
Letting agency franchise giant Martin & Co enjoyed a ‘robust’ 2016 and has put the business model and technology of recently-acquired Ewemove.com at the heart of its operations, its latest trading update reveals. Martin & Co increased its revenue by 15% last year to £8.2 million during 2016 and added 90 branches to its network as well as increasing the number of tenanted properties it manages by 3,000 to 48,000. Looking to the future, CEO Ian Wilson (pictured) also says that the fees ban is unlikely to be “significantly impacting our business”. The group says its robust performance has taken place despite the challenging market conditions following the Brexit vote, a result it has managed by growing fees and lowering costs and also the inclusion of a modest contribution from hybrid agency Ewemove.com, which is acquired in September 2016 and that now has 96 franchisees. The trading update also says that the Group is also importing some of the intellectual capital of EweMove into its five traditional high street brands, and that it will be launching new websites with a facility for customers to book valuation appointments in real time. “The acquisition of EweMove marked an important milestone for the…
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Nick Dunning buys up 26-branch Townends and Regents network
Former Countrywide director Nick Dunning has bought the parent company of high street agents Townends and Regents for an undisclosed sum. The purchase was made through his recently-established company Nick Dunning Associates, which he set up after leaving Countrywide where he was its commercial director. His role there was to run its highly profitable lettings business, but he also operated an aggressively acquisitional programme, buying up 100 businesses during his tenure at the PLC. Nick’s latest business purchase is of Badger Holdings Group, which has 26 branches in London and the Home Counties and two brands. “The Badger Holdings Group is an extremely well run business with an excellent reputation and a solid record of profitability,” says Nick Dunning (pictured). “It is a great platform from which to grow our business in London and the Home Counties. “We will be looking for the management team to drive growth organically in all its business divisions but also through strategic acquisitions and expanding their branch footprint.” Badger Holdings Group’s management team including CEO Seamus Kavanagh will be remaining “to drive the business forward”, says Nick Dunning. Nick Dunning Associates has a sizeable fighting fund to buy up letting agents across the UK…
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Fine & Country’s strategies announced at Conference
Fine & Country’s strategies for 2017 were announced at its conference, gala dinner and annual awards, which was held at The Vox conference centre in Birmingham on Friday 27th January. Over 150 estate agents attended, including international representatives from as far afield as Qatar, Italy, Portugal, Hungary, and Malta. Marketing strategy Fine & Country CEO David Lindley announced a strategy for 2017, which included the marketing plans. After the success of Fine & Country’s first television advert in 2016, the company will return to the screen in 2017, showing the advert on the Channel 4 Group throughout March, April and May. The advert will run again in the autumn and Fine & Country continues to advertise in key print publications such as the Sunday Times, The Times and The Telegraph, as well as improving their comprehensive online strategy. Many improvements are being made to the website, including a 24/7 live chat feature powered by Yomdel, an instant valuation tool and lifestyle features have been added to property pages, showing the location of nearby shops, schools, restaurants and more. New services In 2017, features will be added to allow clients to mark their preferred time for a valuation or viewing. Website…
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Connells: performance tempered by Brexit volatility
Connells’ performance in 2016 was described by Group CEO David Livesey as, “somewhat tempered by Brexit volativity,” as the Group’s Q4 report showed activity levels were “influenced by a marketplace that was continuing to recover from some of the challenges of Q3.” However, while viewings were up, the number of offers made was down. Sales were also down by 2 per cent for the year, compared to 2015, but Connells said that it had been instructed on more properties, registered more applicants and seen another record performance in new homes sales. Land & New Homes Connells is doing well in the Land & New Homes sector, with a pipeline of 9,000 new homes. Group Land Director, Roger Barrett, said, “As predicted in our previous Market Report, sales moved forward in Q4 2016 by 15 per cent on the Q3 2016 performance. This improvement reinforced the underlying strength in the land and new homes marketplace and, as such, we completed a number of land transactions in Q4 where demand for short and medium term opportunities remains strong. “The new year has started positively, helped by the fact that new home registrations increased at the end of last year – 15,237 registrations in…
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Foxtons brushes aside worries with two new offices
Foxtons has announced that it is to open two new branches in London next month, despite recent disappointing sales results. The company’s two new branches are both to be in traditionally football-focussed areas of the capital. These are Wood Green, next door to Tottenham Hotspurs’ ground at White Hart Lane, and Wembley. This brings the company’s total to 67 within London and, the company says, is in line with its ‘organic growth strategy’. Foxtons opened seven offices last year and these, like the latest two, have mostly been in London’s outer suburban areas where, the company believes, there are the greatest opportunities. Earlier this month the company reported that its profits for 2016 were likely to be down 45% and revenue down 11%. The company at the time blamed a ‘subdued’ market. This hasn’t dented confidence within the senior team, it would seem. Andrew Weir, Foxtons Sales Managing Director, says: “We are thrilled to be continuing our planned expansion with the launch of our new London offices. “Last year saw us proving our commitment to customer service by achieving an average rating of 4.6 out of 5 across all of our branches on Google reviews and the highest rating of…
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Auction Aimee’s progress
Aimee Rossiter has been promoted to assistant auction manager at SDL Bigwood.
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