Trevor Abrahamsohn
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Latest property news
Senior industry sales figure Jeremy Gee joins London estate agency Beauchamp
After a short stint at new homes builder Fairview Jeremy Gee is to return to estate agency at the Mayfair-based agency to run its London operation.
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Latest property news
Mega mansion ban will just push demand elsewhere, claims leading estate agency
The City of Westminster’s recently-announced ban on super-size mansions and apartment knock-throughs will force buyers to look elsewhere in prime London to build ‘mega-homes’, it has been claimed. The comments come from leading prime estate agency Sotheby’s International following last week’s announcement by the London borough that homes over 150 square metres would no longer be given planning permission. “Russian and Middle Eastern buyers favour these super-size homes more than any other clients and whilst we expect them to continue to purchase in this part of London due to the postcode premium it offers, we may very well find these buyers also looking to new London boroughs where they can still create their dream home,” claims Will Tremlett, Sales Associate at Sotheby’s International (left). Westminster says it has set the new limits on property sizes because mega-homes “under-optimise development of Westminster’s scarce land resource”, it says. “It will still enable generously-sized homes to be developed to meet [demand] from the prime market, but balances that against the other more strategic housing need of the city.” Council madness Sotheby’s is not the only agent to point out the contradictions in Westminster’s new housing policy. Trevor Abrahamsohn, MD of Glentree, says the…
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Latest property news
Is divorce good for the property industry?
Agent Trevor Abrahamsohn of Glentree International muses on the pros and cons of divorce for the property industry.
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Latest property news
Interest rate rise – will it turn the dials in the housing market?
The decision by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to introduce an interest rate rise of 0.25% a percent to 0.5% in order to keep inflation in check was applauded in most business circles as a prudent first move to ‘sensible’ interest rates after nearly eight years of rock bottom rates. The move is intended to dampen down the economy mildly and rein-in inflation, which currently stands at 3% and is expected to peak higher than that before the MPC’s measures kick in. Bank of England Mark Carney said the inflation increases were due largely to the weakening of Sterling following the Brexit vote. “The decision to leave the European Union is having a noticeable impact on the economic outlook,” he said. “We need to support the economy during this adjustment process.” But what does the property industry think of an interest rate rise? Russell Quirk of eMoov, who was first out of the blocks into the news studios yesterday, said the rise would only add £16 a month the average mortgage holder and would be “water off a duck’s back for those with a fixed rate security blanket”. But what did the rest of the industry think.…
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Latest property news
High Court gives OnTheMarket.com flotation green light
The final hurdles that OnTheMarket.com faced in order to float on the London Stock Exchange have been cleared after the High Court of Justice Chancery Division (pictures, right) sanctioned the two key votes on demutualisation completed last week. The court approved the Members Scheme – which enables agents to turn their membership of Agents’ Mutual into shares, and the Loan Notes Scheme, which will see the Notes originally issued to the agents who helped fund the OTM start-up turned into equity. The court decision follows last Friday’s member vote, during which they voted overwhelmingly to convert their existing membership interests into shares, ushering in both a new company to replace Agents’ Mutual – OnTheMarket Ltd – plus the dropping of the ‘one other portal’ rule. “The High Court of Justice Chancery Division this morning sanctioned the Members Scheme and the three Loan Note Schemes which were overwhelmingly endorsed by our Members and Loan Noteholders at the Court Meetings on 6 September,” says Ian Springett, Chief Executive of OnTheMarket. We will now continue to the next stage of the process. OnTheMarket flotation The court decision clears the way for demutualisation, a process that will begin tomorrow before an Initial Public Offering (IPO)…
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Guest Blogs
‘How OnTheMarket was born’
About seven years ago a sales representative from one of the two major portals came to me and asked for a 50% increase in our yearly tariff. I was so horrified at the audacity of this proposal, that I thought I had misheard him. “Did you say 15%”? Even this ‘stuck in my craw’ as it was the equivalent of seven years worth of inflation in one hit. “No” he retorted, “I said 50%”, my worst fears were confirmed. He then tried to diffuse my mounting anger, by sheepishly asking me “not to shoot the messenger”. He explained that it was a diktat from the “head honcho” and there was nothing he could do about it. I said that I would reluctantly pay this outrageous amount, but asked if I could call an end to the meeting, since I had to get to work on an alternative plan for the longer term. What was the Alternative Plan? The plan was to invite 25 of the pivotal residential estate agents across the UK to a secret meeting at Zafferano, a restaurant in Belgravia. Everyone “turned up to a man” without knowing the context. I was flattered. The first question they asked…
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Latest property news
Tax changes herald arrival of uber renter says London agent
The UK’s looming exit from the EU and the ending of permanent non-dom tax status by the Cameron government in 2015 has created a new phenomenon in the property called the uber tenant, it has been claimed. Not a tenant who uses the mobile app to get around but, says a leading north London agent, the growing number of overseas residents who rent luxury property instead of buying them. Agent Trevor Abrahamsohn of Glentree Estates (pictured, left) says fewer wealthy families are purchasing the sort of £20-£25 million mansions his company deals in and that, instead, they are renting them, often for over £100,000 a month. “With Sterling being greatly devalued and the draconian banking regulations which apply to bringing wealth in to this country, some of our international friends find it easier to rent than to buy, which is markedly pushing up prices,” says Trevor. Amit Soni (pictured, right), who runs Glentree’s rentals business, says this month his average rent for a property on his patch has been £40,000 a week, which he says is “unprecedented both for us and the locality”. “By renting these mansions, they are able to live in the same luxury as if they had…
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Guest Blogs
‘Online estate agencies are fatally flawed’
As things stand at present online estate agency services occupy 3% of the market and it is predicted to rise to 7%. The principal of paying 20% upfront of an average estate agents fee, in the vain expectancy of selling your property at the highest possible price, is fatally flawed. Let me explain why. Online estate agencies employ the services of a local estate agent who meets you at your house to discuss, amongst other things, value. This could be up or down of the real figure by a large margin and then, you are ‘on your own mate!’ The agent is getting a small fee for the attendance and, therefore, doesn’t exactly have his/her ‘heart in it’ – can you blame them? You have to show applicants around the property yourself and handle the negotiations, as best you can, with, for example, a ‘Ladybird DIY version’ of ‘how to sell your home’. You will then have the dubious task to monitor the sale with the buyers and the solicitors for both sides, directly, which ordinarily should not be your responsibility and you hope and pray that the sale proceeds as expected. Can you be sure that the, so-called, potential…
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