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Just Giving page in memory of young estate agent raises £13,945
The family of a young estate agent who died in tragic circumstances on 1st April this year have raised nearly £14,000 in his memory via Just Giving, funds from which are to be donated to a charity dedicated to preventing male suicide. 23-year-old Alex Quealy, who is believed to have worked for his family’s estate agency in the town of Sittingbourne, took his own life after a night out socialising with friends in Canterbury. He was found soon afterwards by his younger brother at his home on the western outskirts of the city. Paramedics were called but Alex was pronounced dead at the scene. During the inquest at Margate Magistrates Court last week Coroner Ian Goldup said Alex had showed no signs of suicidal thoughts but had been struggling with “the pressures of modern life and dyslexia”, it was reported. His father Dee Quealy told Kent Live that “We would like to raise money in Alexander’s memory so that other young men realise they are not alone and can be offered the support they need through troubling times. “Alexander was a lovely young man, he was kind, generous, good looking, loved by his close family and friends and had so…
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Catfest event launched by Julian O’Dell
Estate agency trainer and Negotiator columnist Julian O’Dell and his wife Cat are hosting their third annual fundraiser music festival “Catfest.”
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Landlord confidence shrinks as government squeeze continues
The damage inflicted on the buy-to-let market by the government’s squeeze on landlord finances is laid bare by an in-depth report into the sector published today. Lender Kent Reliance says landlord confidence has shrunk alarmingly. Only 41% of those it canvassed say they have a positive outlook for their portfolios, down from 67% three years ago. The Buy To Let Britain report also says a quarter of landlords are finding it harder to get buy-to-let mortgages following the tighter lending rules introduced by the Prudential Regulation Authority. And faced with higher personal tax bills following the recent tax changes which restrict the amount of mortgage interest landlords can claim relief on, many are now moving their properties to limited company structures, the report says. Kent Reliance says 44% of all buy-to-let loan applications it received in the first three months of this year were from limited companies. And a quarter of landlords are considering moving their properties to the ownership of spouses in a bid to mitigate their tax liabilities. “A perfect storm of weakening house prices, higher taxes and lending restrictions have knocked investors’ confidence,” says Andy Golding, Chief Executive of Kent Reliance’s parent company OneSavings Bank (pictured, left).…
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Revealed: how TrustPilot’s review verification system really works
Details of how TrustPilot enables estate agents to verify and manage customer reviews have been revealed follow a complaint about Purplebricks from one of its customers. Brighton-based lifestyle blogger Laura Tells (pictured, left) posted a low rating of Purplebricks on Trustpilot recently after receiving zero viewings for her flat. Soon after posting her review Laura was contacted by TrustPilot to say that it had been taken down because “Purplebricks has reported the review because they don’t believe you’ve had a genuine buying or service experience”. Laura was then told that to have her review put live again she’d have to provide her proof of service with Purplebricks. A protracted debate ensued on Twitter between Laura and Trustpilot, during which several traditional agents weighed in to demand the review site clarify how their ratings management process works, but largely to no avail. Company guidelines The Negotiator has contacted TrustPilot for a response. It says that, following the Twitter exchange, it has contacted Purplebricks to “clarify” its usage of the term ‘verified’ and to “make sure they comply with our company guidelines,” says spokesman Alexander Tolstrup. “Companies should not refer to unverified Trustpilot reviews as verified even if the company have done…
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Top high street firms outperform online agents, research shows
The top-performing high street agents in the UK outperform online agents in all areas including achieved asking price and time taken to sell, it has been revealed. Research by consumer advice website HomeOwnersAlliance.com found that the top 1,000 best performing agents achieved on average 100.35% of their asking price, “suggesting that sellers can still maximise their home’s potential by selecting the correct local agents”. These agents also have a much better sales success rate than online agents, the research reveals, and sell 82.42% of homes listed with them compared to 51.98% by online and hybrid agents. “Sellers who look carefully at their local market before listing their home for sale will probably still be better off instructing the best high street agent in their area,” says Paula Higgins, Chief Executive of the HomeOwners Alliance. But for those looking for a quick, easy sale with surprisingly high rewards, online agents are an excellent and rapidly-improving option.” But the performance of online agents versus the whole high street market compares less favourably for traditional agents. Asking price The research reveals that online agents achieve a higher percentage of the asking price than their high street competitors despite charging on average £850 in…
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Rightmove chairman sells shares worth £4.23m
Rightmove chairman Scott Forbes (pictured, right) has sold shares in the company worth £4.23 million, taking advantage of a recent spike in its share price. It has jumped in value by £2 to £43.63 or five percent since the 19th May, valuing the portal at £4.03 billion. Scott sold 100,000 of his shares yesterday at the peak of the current surge, which eased off today. This leaves him with 219,000 shares in the company worth £9.3 million. This is not the first time that Scott has cashed in his Rightmove shares. In 2007, just two years after joining the company from worldwide property services company Cendant, he sold shares worth £7 million to finance a home purchase in Kensington and in 2012 shares worth £4 million. Constant growth He joined Rightmove and was appointed to its board in 2005 and has overseen almost constant share price (see graph, right) and business growth at the PLC. This includes last year, which its most recent figures show saw revenue and profits that both jumped by 15% compared to 2015, and total dividend payments that grew by 19%. Agents listing on Rightmove currently spend £832 a month and the website has 20,121 branches…
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Spring bounce for the housing market says Rightmove
Positive noises coming from Rightmove’s latest report: a 1.1% (+£3,547) rise has pushed the national average to £313,655, exceeding the previous high of £310,471 set in June 2016. This has been driven by strong buyer demand, with the highest number of sales agreed at this time of year since 2007, before the credit crunch. While the run-up to an election creates a degree of uncertainty and often a pause in activity, this strong set of figures should help mitigate pre-election jitters. Miles Shipside, Rightmove Director, said, “High buyer demand in most parts of the country has helped to propel the price of newly marketed property to record highs. There are signs of a strong spring market with the number of sales agreed achieved at this time of year being the highest since 2007. It remains to be seen what effect the run-up to the snap election will have, though any slowdown in activity will be counter-balanced by the market’s current fast pace. Indeed, in locations where choice of suitable property is limited, hesitation could mean losing out to others who still decide to act.” “Increasingly stretched buyer affordability will continue to be a price moderator for sellers who are over-ambitious with their…
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UK’s specialist property portals taking on the big three
Visitors from space probably think that the UK has just three property portals – and that those portals have taken the place of estate agents. Not true...
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Expert opinion: owning a share of the freehold
Barrister Mark Loveday sheds light on the implications and the deeper meaning of owning a share of the freehold of a flat.
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Lettings fees ban WILL go ahead, says DCLG
The lettings fee ban is set to go ahead. The Government has announced its intention to introduce a total ban ands agents across the UK will not be able to charge any fees to tenants for their services, if the Government’s proposals are implemented. This isn’t a case of rattling cages to get the message through to agents that their fees may be disappearing, if they do not receive suitable responses from the consultation – today’s publication of the Consultation Paper leaves us in no doubt that there will be a total ban on lettings fees, as stated by Baroness Hayter (right) last week at the arla|propertymark Conference, it is just a matter of when and how it is implemented. Within the document, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) says, “DCLG officials undertook some market research of letting agent fees. We randomly chose 50 agents of differing sizes and models (i.e. franchises, independents and national branches) across the country and searched their website for a list of letting fees charged to tenants. This exercise reinforced how difficult it is for tenants to both find and compare agent fees since it was not always simple to either find the fees…
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