Confessions of an estate agent - 101 to be exact
Photo: BEN KIRCHNER
Greene & Co’s Managing Director David Pollock, and author of a new property guide, gives Christopher Middleton his top tips for buying and selling.
For many of us, buying or selling a house is war – both psychological and financial. We don’t so much purchase a house, as prise it out of the hands of the people who own it. We don’t so much sell a house, as surrender it to invaders. And right up until the last minute, the deal can be sabotaged by an act of panic or greed on either side.
“The whole business is a mass of contradictions,” says David Pollock, a north London estate agent who has been selling houses for the past 34 years. “The dynamic of people, money and property is fraught with emotion. That said, there is nearly always a key to a successful resolution, and that’s being able to see the situation from the other person’s point of view.”
And it’s not just hot air. “David is one of those rare breeds in his profession that actually makes an effort to understand the needs of both the buyer and the seller,” says Harry Handelsman of the Manhattan Loft Corporation.
“He succeeds because he looks at everyone’s position in the deal,” adds John Hitchcox, chairman of the upmarket developers Yoo. “As a result, he finds the best outcome for everyone.”
Cast in the role of peacemaker, then, Pollock has set out to bring Buyer and Seller tribes still closer together, by writing an outspoken, new book entitled 101 Things Your Estate Agent Should Tell You.
Read the full article in the Telegraph Property Section www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertyadvice/8611016/Confessions-of-an-estate-agent.html
You can pick up a copy of ‘101 things an estate agent should tell you when buying or selling a property’ on Amazon now www.amazon.co.uk/Things-Estate-Should-Selling-Property/dp/0956734103
David Pollock, Greene & Co. Managing Director
Greene & Co. win Gold!
Greene & Co. are thrilled to have scooped a gold award for Best Small Lettings Agency at the 2011 Lettings Agency of the Year Awards.
Described as being ‘head and shoulders’ above the competition in terms of our marketing and innovation in customer service, Greene & Co. caught the judges attention for a number of new, market leading approaches we have taken to separate us from the rest of the market.
A bespoke CRM programme is helping to build long term relationships with customers and the team has recently launched e-books on a variety of topics. The website has been re-launched with some excellent new features including the option for potential tenants to match lifestyle preferences to rental properties. We also have video blogs and property book reviews.
Ricky Stone, Greene & Co’s Lettings Director undertakes a series of roadshows to meet landlords face to face, making up to 60 visits per month. This level of customer services again went some way to help bag the gold.
‘It is obvious Greene & Co. is constantly striving to give its clients the best possible experience.’ Estate Agency Events
David Pollock, Managing Director, Greene & Co. said: “We are delighted to have our marketing and customer service excellence recognised at these industry awards and to have Ricky singled out for the enormous effort he makes to give our lettings clients the best possible customer experience.”
This prestigious award was presented to Greene & Co. at the ceremony as part of Lettings Live, is association with The Sunday Times and The Times. Christopher Hamer, The Property Ombudsman was chairman of the judges.
Rising swap rates put pressure on fixed deals
A number of lenders have pulled their existing fixed rates as the cost of funding has gone up. Although the Base rate has today stayed at 0.5%, the conclusion that we can draw from this is that a rise will be happening sooner rather than later. For all your clients who are dithering about putting offers in, this is invaluable information as we could be coming to the end of historically cheap access to borrowing.
Rising swap rates put pressure on fixed deals
Recent increases in swap rates are starting to force up the price of fixed rate mortgages, say industry experts.
Since November 2010, two-year swap rates have increased from 1.31% to 1.72% and five-year swaps have gone from 2.18% to 2.82% in the same period.
Last week two-year swap rates were 1.62% and five-year swaps 2.75%.
David Hollingworth, director of communications at London & Country, says: “Swap rates have fluctuated over the last two years, but of late they have been on an upward trend.
“We have already seen evidence of lenders increasing their fixed rate mortgages because of swap rates and the sharper fixed deals are under threat.”
But Hollingworth adds that although swap rates play a part in lenders’ pricing they also look at other factors when setting fixed rates.
Alan Cleary, managing director of Precise Mortgages, says two-year swap rates have risen substantially in the past few months as a rise in the base rate looks more likely.
He says: “We are getting closer to a rate rise with every base rate decision and this is starting to affect the price of swap rates.
“Fixed rates, especially two-year rates, are on their way up and borrowers should look to fix now.”
Industry consultant Mehrdad Yousefi says high inflation is worrying the money markets and pushing up swap rates.
But he says: “Over the next four weeks fixed rate deals will cost more but it remains to be seen whether this will continue throughout the year.
“In the second half of the year when the base rate starts to rise, swap rates will start to predict the next base rate could start to rise and products will certainly become more expensive.”
Halifax raised the rates on its two-year fixes by 0.2% today and blamed the increased cost of funding and swap markets.
Are property prices coming down?
Since the abolishment of HIP’s some interesting things have been happening in the property market. According to Rightmove “the market is starting to turn due to increased competition among sellers and fewer potential buyers”. This could be a great time to buy, as each day more properties are coming on the market and prices are also dropping. Our Managing Director, David Pollock had this to say about the current market situation.
“The London market is a different market place to the whole of England. London is in a bubble and therefore it is always a little dangerous to base house buying and selling strategies on whole of UK indexes. Having said that the abolishment of HIPS in the long run will be great for the London and UK market but without doubt there is going to be a period of adjustment. Will prices in London go up, go down or stay the same. Is now a great, average or poor time to buy or sell? The experts don’t and cant seem to agree. My advise is see property firstly as a home and secondly as an investment, its when you do it the other way round that things start to go wrong.”
We will have to wait until the emergency budget is announced to see the true effect on the market as many fear that capital gains tax could be increased but we wont find out until everything is revealed tomorrow.
House Prices Rising
The housing market seems to be going from strength to strength at the moment. Asking prices have risen for 11 consecutive months with and increase last month of 0.7%. The average entry level price for a house is approximately £155,242. If you are looking to buy a house for the first time now could be a good time to get hunting as prices are going to continue to increase, and although stamp duty does not apply on purchases under £250,000 for first time buyers they still need to have a significant deposit to get into the market.
An article from find a property ““The building blocks are present for a sustained recovery, but we do need lenders to step up to the plate and free the purse strings for first-time buyers. That will not only help the buyers themselves, but also the market overall and the wider economy.””
It could also be good to look into a property for investment purposes as there is currently a huge demand for rental properties in many areas of London, which means there are people out there looking right now! But this is not something you should enter into lightly. A huge amount of research is required to find the right investment property however there are many avenues which can help you along the way. Getting your finances in shape is also one of the keys to getting started with property investments, as depending on how long you keep the property expenses will vary.
To read more about the topics above click on the link below
http://www.findaproperty.com/displaystory.aspx?edid=00&salerent=0&storyid=23504
The FindaProperty.com house prices and affordability index
Some interesting news from FindaProperty.com’s October affordability index - house prices are rising, but affordability for first time buyers is deteriorating…
“It’s never easy to get on the housing ladder but until the summer we had been seeing a gradual narrowing of the affordability gap. This has led to a definite pick-up in first time buyer activity as people have taken advantage of improved affordability and the stamp duty exemption on properties priced under £175,000. With prices now rising and affordability tightening again it becomes even more important that the Government retain this beyond its end date of December 31st.” Michael Flynn, Director of FindaProperty.com offers his opinion on the findings.
Rightmove releases new iPhone application
Rightmove make finding your new home even easier! You can simply download their app to your iPhone and start your search from there.
What would you like to see in the blog?
We’re opening up our blog to customers. We feel it’s really important to get your feedback (good or bad), comments and opinions too. Have you got any questions on the market? Any tips you can offer? What’s your outlook on the market? Do you live locally and can offer any comments about the local area?
We are really open to suggestions and want to make this blog just as much about what you want to hear as well as what we’ve already started doing.
Email me on blog@greene.co.uk
House price trends
Just stumbled across this website about house trends. You can view the latest property prices and statistics and compare property prices by borough…it’s quite a useful tool if you’re looking to buy or sell at the moment. Have a look at the house trends website here.
Gazumping…problem solved
Gazumping happens when a seller who has already accepted one buyer’s offer then goes on to accept a higher offer, pushing the first buyer out of the picture. The seller can legally decide to accept the new offer, regardless of how close the initial buyer is to having the contracts exchanged, as until the papers are signed there is no legal obligation to either buy or sell…doesn’t sound very nice does it?
According to a post in Enormoblog.co.uk on 6th February there has been an increase in the number of people being gazumped in a buyers desperate bid to secure their dream home.
Now here comes the good bit!
Greene & Co have come up with a clever little way of dealing with this situation - the Goodwill Charter. It’s simple and it works like this…Both parties pay in an agreed amount and promise to buy/sell to each other within a predetermined period. The vendor promises not to take any other offers during that time and the buyer promises to buy the property and not gazunder. If either backs out with no good reason the other gets the money.
You can learn more about it here: The Goodwill Charter
