Monday, May 24, 2010
HIP replacement
If you want a HIP replaced these days, even on the NHS, you get it made of unobtanium and it’ll last until you’ll have more fun in one of those electric trolleys that mad old people charge around in. At the moment the replacement HIP we’ve been offered in the property business is like damp cardboard, in other words worse than useless. Rather like Labour abolishing the House of Lords with no idea about what to replace it with much trumpeting has accompanied the removal of the packs but nothing else has been said about what’ll replace it.Wednesday, May 12, 2010
No Wonder Estate Agents Get a Bad Name
It’s hard to believe, but this, I promise you, is an actual advertisement from an estate agent in London. ‘Walsingham Place, Clapham. We hadn’t made it as far as the bedroom when the perfect buyer sprang to mind. So we called like a shot. And just as we thought, they loved the house. So, viewing, great offer, exchange and completion without the house even going on the market. That’s local know how - better results in action.’
Thursday, May 06, 2010
With 70% of World's wealth in property maybe this is the job for you?
If you want to work in the wonderful world of property, and with c. 70% of the world’s wealth wrapped up in it it’s not such a bad idea, there are a plethora of choices many of which you wouldn’t necessarily think about straight away. You can either be a wide boy or a boring old stiff. Sorry, allowing my prejudice to shine through there, I mean you can be a salesman or a true property professional. You can sell, let or manage a property, for which you need no formal qualification, or you can decide you want the surety of a long term job with equally long term qualifications.Thursday, April 29, 2010
Does the perfect estate agent exist?
How do you find the perfect estate agent? Does the perfect estate agent exist? When trying to work out the answer, it is important to consider the criteria. In an ideal world, your manager or senior negotiator should have worked in their office, or at least the area, for a minimum of five to ten years. That way, they will know the area like the back of their hand and will probably have sold most houses in the area, sometimes two or three times over. Well it’s simple then. In fact, it’s not. Firstly, if the perfect estate agent never moves, then it’s rather difficult to employ them. Secondly, the painful truth is that girls are better sales people than men – don’t argue, they just are. They have more energy, more empathy and are less trouble. It’s not an exact science, but looking back over 23 years at Douglas & Gordon, a higher percentage of my very best people have been women. However, bearing in mind my opening statement about the perfect estate agent working in an area for a long time, the simple fact is that it is difficult to keep a female manager in the same office for that many years, mainly because they quite rightly have other priorities and it’s called having children.Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Time for buy to let to come out of the freezer...
It’s easy to run scared from buy to let. It had as much bad publicity as any other sector in 2008/9 and at D&G we’ve been managing all sorts of rented properties for over 50 years. There may be only a handful of mortgage products out there but perhaps no fewer by proportion than there were for ordinary purchases. As usual with any investment sector there’s always a degree of overshoot on the downside, as there is often with upside too, and it’s probably true that prices an in recovery mode at the moment, even if it’s a bit too soon to say it’s going to last.Monday, May 24, 2010
HIP replacement
If you want a HIP replaced these days, even on the NHS, you get it made of unobtanium and it’ll last until you’ll have more fun in one of those electric trolleys that mad old people charge around in. At the moment the replacement HIP we’ve been offered in the property business is like damp cardboard, in other words worse than useless. Rather like Labour abolishing the House of Lords with no idea about what to replace it with much trumpeting has accompanied the removal of the packs but nothing else has been said about what’ll replace it.Wednesday, May 12, 2010
No Wonder Estate Agents Get a Bad Name
It’s hard to believe, but this, I promise you, is an actual advertisement from an estate agent in London. ‘Walsingham Place, Clapham. We hadn’t made it as far as the bedroom when the perfect buyer sprang to mind. So we called like a shot. And just as we thought, they loved the house. So, viewing, great offer, exchange and completion without the house even going on the market. That’s local know how - better results in action.’Thursday, May 06, 2010
With 70% of World's wealth in property maybe this is the job for you?
If you want to work in the wonderful world of property, and with c. 70% of the world’s wealth wrapped up in it it’s not such a bad idea, there are a plethora of choices many of which you wouldn’t necessarily think about straight away. You can either be a wide boy or a boring old stiff. Sorry, allowing my prejudice to shine through there, I mean you can be a salesman or a true property professional. You can sell, let or manage a property, for which you need no formal qualification, or you can decide you want the surety of a long term job with equally long term qualifications.Thursday, April 29, 2010
Does the perfect estate agent exist?
How do you find the perfect estate agent? Does the perfect estate agent exist? When trying to work out the answer, it is important to consider the criteria. In an ideal world, your manager or senior negotiator should have worked in their office, or at least the area, for a minimum of five to ten years. That way, they will know the area like the back of their hand and will probably have sold most houses in the area, sometimes two or three times over. Well it’s simple then. In fact, it’s not. Firstly, if the perfect estate agent never moves, then it’s rather difficult to employ them. Secondly, the painful truth is that girls are better sales people than men – don’t argue, they just are. They have more energy, more empathy and are less trouble. It’s not an exact science, but looking back over 23 years at Douglas & Gordon, a higher percentage of my very best people have been women. However, bearing in mind my opening statement about the perfect estate agent working in an area for a long time, the simple fact is that it is difficult to keep a female manager in the same office for that many years, mainly because they quite rightly have other priorities and it’s called having children.Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Time for buy to let to come out of the freezer...
It’s easy to run scared from buy to let. It had as much bad publicity as any other sector in 2008/9 and at D&G we’ve been managing all sorts of rented properties for over 50 years. There may be only a handful of mortgage products out there but perhaps no fewer by proportion than there were for ordinary purchases. As usual with any investment sector there’s always a degree of overshoot on the downside, as there is often with upside too, and it’s probably true that prices an in recovery mode at the moment, even if it’s a bit too soon to say it’s going to last.Monday, May 24, 2010
HIP replacement
If you want a HIP replaced these days, even on the NHS, you get it made of unobtanium and it’ll last until you’ll have more fun in one of those electric trolleys that mad old people charge around in. At the moment the replacement HIP we’ve been offered in the property business is like damp cardboard, in other words worse than useless. Rather like Labour abolishing the House of Lords with no idea about what to replace it with much trumpeting has accompanied the removal of the packs but nothing else has been said about what’ll replace it.Wednesday, May 12, 2010
No Wonder Estate Agents Get a Bad Name
It’s hard to believe, but this, I promise you, is an actual advertisement from an estate agent in London. ‘Walsingham Place, Clapham. We hadn’t made it as far as the bedroom when the perfect buyer sprang to mind. So we called like a shot. And just as we thought, they loved the house. So, viewing, great offer, exchange and completion without the house even going on the market. That’s local know how - better results in action.’Thursday, May 06, 2010
With 70% of World's wealth in property maybe this is the job for you?
If you want to work in the wonderful world of property, and with c. 70% of the world’s wealth wrapped up in it it’s not such a bad idea, there are a plethora of choices many of which you wouldn’t necessarily think about straight away. You can either be a wide boy or a boring old stiff. Sorry, allowing my prejudice to shine through there, I mean you can be a salesman or a true property professional. You can sell, let or manage a property, for which you need no formal qualification, or you can decide you want the surety of a long term job with equally long term qualifications.Thursday, April 29, 2010
Does the perfect estate agent exist?
How do you find the perfect estate agent? Does the perfect estate agent exist? When trying to work out the answer, it is important to consider the criteria. In an ideal world, your manager or senior negotiator should have worked in their office, or at least the area, for a minimum of five to ten years. That way, they will know the area like the back of their hand and will probably have sold most houses in the area, sometimes two or three times over. Well it’s simple then. In fact, it’s not. Firstly, if the perfect estate agent never moves, then it’s rather difficult to employ them. Secondly, the painful truth is that girls are better sales people than men – don’t argue, they just are. They have more energy, more empathy and are less trouble. It’s not an exact science, but looking back over 23 years at Douglas & Gordon, a higher percentage of my very best people have been women. However, bearing in mind my opening statement about the perfect estate agent working in an area for a long time, the simple fact is that it is difficult to keep a female manager in the same office for that many years, mainly because they quite rightly have other priorities and it’s called having children.Wednesday, April 28, 2010