Tuesday, February 15, 2011
The Rental Market, Virginia Skilbeck, Director of Lettings, comments "The squeeze on available stock is ...fuelling rent rises"
The main problem facing our lettings offices at the moment is a dire shortage of property. In our Chelsea office for example, as I write, we have 34 properties available to rent. This time 2 years ago, if you were looking to rent through D&G in Chelsea, you would have been able to chose between over 80 different properties! So it's a dramatically different market, offering very restricted choice to tenants, whereas landlords are often in the enviable position of having more than one offer coming through at the same time.Tuesday, February 15, 2011
"Media savvy Ed Mead wonders whether tweeting in people's Face is really the way forward."
There's a lot of rubbish being talked about how corporate entities can gain traction from such sites as Twitter and Facebook in order to gain competitive advantage. Conversely, the whole thing is fluid and subject to change. One important issue is that the drivers of change in these sites tend to be a totally different age from those running the companies looking to use them. Take Facebook, most users will be in the 20 - 30 age bracket. Given the average age of a first time buyer is 36, most users will not appreciate a page that's simply an extension of a corporate website. Research shows that most users only "like" 5 or so companies, and so is it simply too early to jump on the bandwagon. A few have done and their pages are cringe making, although I am 50 so am bound to, aren't I?Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Douglas & Gordon opens in Notting Hill
Following the success of our Kensington Church Street office over the last 5 years, our market was pushing us progressively into the Notting Hill area. We are delighted to announce the opening of our Notting Hill branch, which is located at 299 Westbourne Grove. This new office will not only cover the immediate area but will also market properties within the surrounding areas including Holland Park, Bayswater and North Kensington.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Ironic customer service award on TV last night
Drab TV really wasn’t it. It was cringe making and frustrating in equal measure and really quite brave of Simon Gerrard to open his company to scrutiny. Nice easy target for Mary Portas and it took a while to start to understand what she was on about having never seen her program before. By the end her efforts were rewarded and it was possible to see that like any customer facing business that has a bloody great arc light shone into it there’s room for improvement.Monday, January 31, 2011
More market musings.....and THE OLYMPICS
For many who spent the tail end of last year trying to predict this year it must have seemed a doddle compared to forecasting now. Suddenly the press, and even me, are beginning to sense that although the year may be a dreadful dirge, it does look as if prices in London will end the year higher than they started. This is not saying a whole lot but from where I’m sitting there are occasional deals being done that simply beggar belief, whereas if you wander out of London, particularly in a Northerly direction, the stories are of a very different nature as the press are keen to let us know.Thursday, January 20, 2011
Quick market update / comment
Tuesday was a corker. Daily Express headlines saying that the property market is set to surge this year, sadly they were narrow mindedly talking about prices only, and on the same day the FT were talking about prices set to fall. I’m guessing that overall we know who to believe even if we want to believe the paper that IS Lady Di. But it sums up the issues puzzling any buyer or seller but the balance seems to be coming out with buyers mostly wanting to get on with it and most sellers existing in a world of inertia needing a notional interest rate rise to smack them across the face and get them moving.Thursday, January 13, 2011
So how is 2011 actually panning out.....
Frankly there wasn’t much appetite or excitement for predicting what might happen in 2011. It’s a mug’s game at the best of times and most of us in the business have been so worn down by the last few months of 2010 that anything would be better. So are the first signs good? Well it depends again on who you are and what constitutes good. If you’re an estate agent the chances are it’s not looking overly good right now. More of the same grind with no sellers and a frustrated bunch of buyers who have good mortgage offers but nothing to buy.Saturday, January 01, 2011
Ad Campaigns 2011
Our 2011 ad campaign focus's on the extraordinary people who work at Douglas & Gordon because it's our people that make us great!Tuesday, February 15, 2011
The Rental Market, Virginia Skilbeck, Director of Lettings, comments "The squeeze on available stock is ...fuelling rent rises"
The main problem facing our lettings offices at the moment is a dire shortage of property. In our Chelsea office for example, as I write, we have 34 properties available to rent. This time 2 years ago, if you were looking to rent through D&G in Chelsea, you would have been able to chose between over 80 different properties! So it's a dramatically different market, offering very restricted choice to tenants, whereas landlords are often in the enviable position of having more than one offer coming through at the same time.Tuesday, February 15, 2011
"Media savvy Ed Mead wonders whether tweeting in people's Face is really the way forward."
There's a lot of rubbish being talked about how corporate entities can gain traction from such sites as Twitter and Facebook in order to gain competitive advantage. Conversely, the whole thing is fluid and subject to change. One important issue is that the drivers of change in these sites tend to be a totally different age from those running the companies looking to use them. Take Facebook, most users will be in the 20 - 30 age bracket. Given the average age of a first time buyer is 36, most users will not appreciate a page that's simply an extension of a corporate website. Research shows that most users only "like" 5 or so companies, and so is it simply too early to jump on the bandwagon. A few have done and their pages are cringe making, although I am 50 so am bound to, aren't I?Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Douglas & Gordon opens in Notting Hill
Following the success of our Kensington Church Street office over the last 5 years, our market was pushing us progressively into the Notting Hill area. We are delighted to announce the opening of our Notting Hill branch, which is located at 299 Westbourne Grove. This new office will not only cover the immediate area but will also market properties within the surrounding areas including Holland Park, Bayswater and North Kensington.Thursday, February 10, 2011
Ironic customer service award on TV last night
Drab TV really wasn’t it. It was cringe making and frustrating in equal measure and really quite brave of Simon Gerrard to open his company to scrutiny. Nice easy target for Mary Portas and it took a while to start to understand what she was on about having never seen her program before. By the end her efforts were rewarded and it was possible to see that like any customer facing business that has a bloody great arc light shone into it there’s room for improvement.Monday, January 31, 2011
More market musings.....and THE OLYMPICS
For many who spent the tail end of last year trying to predict this year it must have seemed a doddle compared to forecasting now. Suddenly the press, and even me, are beginning to sense that although the year may be a dreadful dirge, it does look as if prices in London will end the year higher than they started. This is not saying a whole lot but from where I’m sitting there are occasional deals being done that simply beggar belief, whereas if you wander out of London, particularly in a Northerly direction, the stories are of a very different nature as the press are keen to let us know.Thursday, January 20, 2011
Quick market update / comment
Tuesday was a corker. Daily Express headlines saying that the property market is set to surge this year, sadly they were narrow mindedly talking about prices only, and on the same day the FT were talking about prices set to fall. I’m guessing that overall we know who to believe even if we want to believe the paper that IS Lady Di. But it sums up the issues puzzling any buyer or seller but the balance seems to be coming out with buyers mostly wanting to get on with it and most sellers existing in a world of inertia needing a notional interest rate rise to smack them across the face and get them moving.Thursday, January 13, 2011
So how is 2011 actually panning out.....
Frankly there wasn’t much appetite or excitement for predicting what might happen in 2011. It’s a mug’s game at the best of times and most of us in the business have been so worn down by the last few months of 2010 that anything would be better. So are the first signs good? Well it depends again on who you are and what constitutes good. If you’re an estate agent the chances are it’s not looking overly good right now. More of the same grind with no sellers and a frustrated bunch of buyers who have good mortgage offers but nothing to buy.Saturday, January 01, 2011
Ad Campaigns 2011
Our 2011 ad campaign focus's on the extraordinary people who work at Douglas & Gordon because it's our people that make us great!Tuesday, February 15, 2011
The Rental Market, Virginia Skilbeck, Director of Lettings, comments "The squeeze on available stock is ...fuelling rent rises"
The main problem facing our lettings offices at the moment is a dire shortage of property. In our Chelsea office for example, as I write, we have 34 properties available to rent. This time 2 years ago, if you were looking to rent through D&G in Chelsea, you would have been able to chose between over 80 different properties! So it's a dramatically different market, offering very restricted choice to tenants, whereas landlords are often in the enviable position of having more than one offer coming through at the same time.Tuesday, February 15, 2011
"Media savvy Ed Mead wonders whether tweeting in people's Face is really the way forward."
There's a lot of rubbish being talked about how corporate entities can gain traction from such sites as Twitter and Facebook in order to gain competitive advantage. Conversely, the whole thing is fluid and subject to change. One important issue is that the drivers of change in these sites tend to be a totally different age from those running the companies looking to use them. Take Facebook, most users will be in the 20 - 30 age bracket. Given the average age of a first time buyer is 36, most users will not appreciate a page that's simply an extension of a corporate website. Research shows that most users only "like" 5 or so companies, and so is it simply too early to jump on the bandwagon. A few have done and their pages are cringe making, although I am 50 so am bound to, aren't I?Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Douglas & Gordon opens in Notting Hill
Following the success of our Kensington Church Street office over the last 5 years, our market was pushing us progressively into the Notting Hill area. We are delighted to announce the opening of our Notting Hill branch, which is located at 299 Westbourne Grove. This new office will not only cover the immediate area but will also market properties within the surrounding areas including Holland Park, Bayswater and North Kensington.Thursday, February 10, 2011
Ironic customer service award on TV last night
Drab TV really wasn’t it. It was cringe making and frustrating in equal measure and really quite brave of Simon Gerrard to open his company to scrutiny. Nice easy target for Mary Portas and it took a while to start to understand what she was on about having never seen her program before. By the end her efforts were rewarded and it was possible to see that like any customer facing business that has a bloody great arc light shone into it there’s room for improvement.Monday, January 31, 2011
More market musings.....and THE OLYMPICS
For many who spent the tail end of last year trying to predict this year it must have seemed a doddle compared to forecasting now. Suddenly the press, and even me, are beginning to sense that although the year may be a dreadful dirge, it does look as if prices in London will end the year higher than they started. This is not saying a whole lot but from where I’m sitting there are occasional deals being done that simply beggar belief, whereas if you wander out of London, particularly in a Northerly direction, the stories are of a very different nature as the press are keen to let us know.Thursday, January 20, 2011
Quick market update / comment
Tuesday was a corker. Daily Express headlines saying that the property market is set to surge this year, sadly they were narrow mindedly talking about prices only, and on the same day the FT were talking about prices set to fall. I’m guessing that overall we know who to believe even if we want to believe the paper that IS Lady Di. But it sums up the issues puzzling any buyer or seller but the balance seems to be coming out with buyers mostly wanting to get on with it and most sellers existing in a world of inertia needing a notional interest rate rise to smack them across the face and get them moving.Thursday, January 13, 2011
So how is 2011 actually panning out.....
Frankly there wasn’t much appetite or excitement for predicting what might happen in 2011. It’s a mug’s game at the best of times and most of us in the business have been so worn down by the last few months of 2010 that anything would be better. So are the first signs good? Well it depends again on who you are and what constitutes good. If you’re an estate agent the chances are it’s not looking overly good right now. More of the same grind with no sellers and a frustrated bunch of buyers who have good mortgage offers but nothing to buy.Saturday, January 01, 2011