Agencies & People
News covering the businesses, activities, people and personalities in estate agency and letting agency and wider residential property industry.
-
Estate agent wins Channel 4’s Come Dine With Me
James Sawyer, who works at the Bury St. Edmunds branch of estate agent Whatley Lane, has proved that he is the host with the most, winning Channel 4’s Come Dine With Me competition. James produced a fine dining menu with wine pairing for each course. “I have a passion for cooking, enjoy watching the show, entertaining guests and meeting new and interesting people. Channel 4’s casting team called the office one day asking if I knew anyone who would be interested in competing… the rest is history,” he said. “I didn’t expect to pick up the £1000 cash prize, let alone be selected to go on it and made friends along the way too. Though each contestant was given £125 for food and drink, most of my winnings covered the cost of ingredients and copious wines on the night.” The competitors James had to cook for the three other contestants, wedding DJ Phil Swapping, American housewife Julie Schindler and tennis enthusiast Paula Brown, at his home but he says he did not expect to win because he though one of the others had done so much better, but his fellow diners thought otherwise. “I thought she had it in the bag,”…
Read More » -
SDL Bigwood auction on the money
It was double your money time as the latest SDL Bigwood auction raised £8.8 million.
Read More » -
KFH takes prime position in Bayswater
KFH has unveiled its brand new premises at 186 Queensway, Bayswater, London, with sales and lettings managers Paul Hyman and Jonathan McCormack overseeing the move.
Read More » -
Leaders and Romans sign up to list all properties with Zoopla
Property Service Holdings (PSH), the parent company of leading estate agency brands Romans and Leaders, is to list all its properties on Zoopla. Until now Leaders, which is the largest independent estate agent in the UK, has listed the properties from its 120 branch network on Rightmove and Zoopla, while Romans’ 28 branches were only listed on Rightmove. But in May last year the two brands were brought together during a merger to create a £120m turnover company with a £35m war chest for further acquisitions. The announcement by the company means both brands will now advertise their combined inventory of some 40,000 sales, lettings, new homes and auction properties on Zoopla Property Group’s websites. The move ends speculation that PSH might have gone with OnTheMarket as its ‘second portal’. Peter Loverdos, COO at PSH (pictured, left) says: “We have been reviewing the property portal landscape for some time and as a result of the substantial marketing and innovative product ideas coming from ZPG, we decided that it is the right time to list all of our branches and properties with ZPG to the ultimate benefit of our customers. “We expect to expand materially over the next few years and need…
Read More » -
Woods Acquires Palmer & Radclyffe
Woods, the South Devon estate agency group, has expanded with the acquisition of the BoveyTracey estate agency, Palmer & Radclyffe.
Read More » -
Founding members kick off CIELA club for independent agents
A new membership club exclusively for independent estate agents is to go ahead following a meeting yesterday of 11 founding members, during which they all signed a letter of intent to begin inauguration of CIELA. The aims of CIELA – The Charter For Independent Estate and Letting Agents – are to unite independent agents against corporate domination, unfair practices and the online threat says Charlie Wright, CEO of property software firm Easymatch (pictured, left) and who had the initial idea for CIELA Wright has been extremely critical of online agents such as Purplebricks, and in an open letter to agents recently said they are “undermining the whole industry” and “exploiting vulnerable first-time sellers who are naïve to the challenges and difficulties involved in a successful sale”. Wright started his business life working as a broker on the Liffe trading floor in London before setting up his first businesses for agents; photos and floorplans provider Datography, followed by thebu2iness.com, which has become Easymatch. So far eleven agency businesses owners/managers have been signed up, each to take up a regional chair role within CIELA, with a further two places exclusively reserved for women. The group will meet again on 22nd February to…
Read More » -
Third Oz city launch today for bullish Purplebricks
Purplebricks has today launched into a third Australian property market and says its business there is expanding faster than its initial launch in the UK in April 2014. Its new Sydney and central coast operation has just gone live with 20 local ‘property experts’ and an AU$5,500 fixed fee which, the company claims, saves sellers AU$15,000 off the cost of using one of the country’s traditional agents. Australia’s property market is a softer target than the UK’s. Agents there typically charge a 2.2% fee plus marketing costs of several thousand dollars,. Purplebricks initialy launched last year into Melbourne and Brisbane, followed by today’s Sydney announcement and later this year, Perth and Adelaide. The company is making much of its success in the UK to promote the Oz operation. Co-founder Michael Bruce (pictured) last week told local paper The Financial Review that the company was “playing a major role in changing the way real estate is sold in the UK and would do the same in Australia”. He also told various media outlets in Sydney recently that the UK’s traditional agents were ‘struggling’ compared to Purplebricks, picking out Countrywide and Foxtons as examples and claiming to be the UK’s largest estate…
Read More » -
Countrywide results lift stockmarket price
It may be Friday 13th but Countrywide’s Chief Executive, Alison Platt, is probably feeling a little happier as their share price rose this morning following the group’s reported its income for the 12 months to the end of December. Listed as £737 million, it beat their 2015 figure of £734 million and the analysts’ expectations of £702 million. The figure was achieved despite falling volumes in house sales, through their agency offices, particularly in London. Countrywide (CWD.L) said that the volume of sales in London in the final quarter continued to be below 2015’s levels, resulting in a drop of about 6 per cent in the number of deals for the year. However, its lettings business saved the day, supporting sales revenue with strong activity across the country. Countrywide had issued two profit warnings for 2016, saying that it expected full-year market volumes to be 6 per cent lower for the full year. The group said volumes were likely to fall further in 2017. Countrywide is ‘encouraged’ Commenting on the Group’s performance, Alison Platt, CEO said, “It is pleasing to report modest full year revenue growth against the backdrop of a challenging residential sales market. Our Retail and London divisions were impacted by the…
Read More » -
Foxtons reports profits down by 45% year-on-year
Foxtons has reported a dismal performance during 2016 including total group revenue down by 11% from £150m in 2015 to £133m, and profits for the year likely to be down by 45% year-on-year. Foxtons’ CEO Nic Budden (pictured) also warns that 2017 is likely to be equally painful for the company, saying that “should current levels of sales activity continue in the short term, it is likely that 2017 volumes will be below those in 2016”. The company’s trading statement released today blames the dramatic decreases in turnover and profits on significant drops in sales volumes as the market continues to be “subdued”. Its lettings revenues remained constant during the final three months of the year at £13m compared to the same period the year before, which Foxtons says it down to its “high levels of renewals despite lower levels of new tenant activity and some downward pressure on rents arising from increased stock”. “Despite a challenging year across the residential property markets, we have continued to make good progress in respect of our strategic initiatives, including building our presence in PRS and new homes, and leveraging our technology using data analytics and digital marketing to enhance our customer proposition,”…
Read More » -
Symonds & Sampson sale
Symonds & Sampson latest auction offerings ensured a packed sale room...
Read More »
