Sam's Word 10: Doing anything for a sale

Sam's word

Some people will do anything for a sale. You may have heard that saying before. It is usually associated with traditional product sales and sales techniques.

Door to door salesmen. Big feet in the front door, wearing vulnerable people down over hours in their homes.

Used car salesmen. 'Clocked' cars that show a gentle 20,000 mileage where the true mileage is 100,000 plus. Claims of the superior reliability of the vehicle that barely groaned its way into the premises the day before. Have you ever seen the splendid Ealing comedy School For Scoundrels? You should. One of the high points is the sale of a terrible car by two of the shadiest salesmen you could ever meet, Dudley and Dunstan, resulting in Ian Carmichael losing out to Terry-Thomas with a young lady (temporarily, as it happens).

There are many more examples of people who will do anything, and often bad things, for a sale.

Well, we will join some of those people. The better ones. We will do anything for a sale. If it is within reason and if it is within our values and ethics. You may not hear the word ethics around estate agency too often, so here it is again. Ethics.

So, what is the 'sale' I am talking about? What do I mean by 'anything'?

The sale I am talking about isn't selling ourselves to get people's business, important though that is.

No, the sales I am talking about are the ones that we do on others behalf. So selling a property we've been instructed to sell for the best price and in the best interests of a home owner. Or having a property let for a landlord to the right tenants and not ones who will provide an unpleasant experience for that landlord.

The 'anything' that we will do starts with working hard. My staff and I put ourselves out, big time, to make a sale. We work a lot of hours and take calls round the clock. We take a proper look at a property we're to present. No five minutes in and out and a scrawl on the back of an envelope before someone types up some crude property details sheet and considers the job done. No unaccompanied viewings. No amateur photography, we use professionals.

The market for sales is strong as I write, so you can be lazy and sell properties. We don't like that at all. We're not like that at all. Our approach is the same, is as reliable, whether the market is hot or cold.

As a smaller, but very determined agency, we can't do everything at once. Yet here are some things we have done as part of our journey. We are the result of the bringing together of two agencies to form Edward Ashdale. That meant re-branding and merging IT resources, not a cheap or easy start. Since then, one of our offices, Bromley, has moved (not very far) to a better office where we can welcome people better.

We've developed a new website, and the one we have now will be replaced when we're ready with something even better. We've been blogging interesting writing (we hope) about our industry and our locality, and more. We've taken to the airwaves by appearing on Meridian Radio - thank you, DJ Alan King. We've taken a presence on social media sites Facebook and Twitter, and more unusually for estate agents, Tumblr. Why? Because we need to be heard, and if we're heard, so are the properties we have for sale or let. Certainly we network and leaflet and have good property details in our windows like many other agents. That is where many other estate agents give up, job done. Believe me, far fewer go the extra mile into these social media platforms, or onto You Tube, which we use and we are going to be using more and more from now on as well.

The anything we won't do for a sale is to exaggerate, lie, deceive or pretend that things are one way when they're another. I wrote in an earlier blog post about "the agencies who have a drive to fleece consumers unfairly". They do exist and we will never be one of them. So we work hard, we innovate, and we build our reputation that we are twenty first century estate agents with traditional values who are good to work with.

That way, we get to sleep at night.

Sam Samuel, MNAEA CRLM,  January 2015

You can view our earlier posts in our Index here.

Sam's Word 8 – Trick or Treat?

Sam's Word

As I write, it is Hallowe'en. Strictly Come Dancing has just aired its annual special and Eastender Jake Wood had an off night, while Frankie and her partner Kevin scored a ten.

We have had two trick or treaters at our (home) door last night, and we were ready with the Quality Street.

So no tricks were needed.

However, there are certainly both tricks and treats in the world of estate agency.

We're one of the treats. Edward Ashdale estate agents is now an established and respected name since two like-minded businesses came together to become Edward Ashdale and work across Lambeth and Bromley. We do good things. Some are exceptional. Such as consistently accompanying people on viewings. The safest thing to do and the best way for people to get all of our expertise, all of the time. Such as consistently using professional photography. We're trying to attract buyers to the homes we sell for people and only the best will do.

There are also the tricks, or tricksters, out there. In our latest newsletter, I said that, “With property prices at strong levels the opportunities for buy-to-let investment are scarce, so if you are thinking about investing in property it’s more important than ever to choose carefully so as to maximise the yield and chance of capital growth. Properties with onerous maintenance and service charges are always likely to impact on yield and capital growth, so fully investigate any planned maintenance a building may have ahead. There are certain property management companies that have to be avoided, given their culture and practices. In an industry that is allowed to operate unregulated a poor leasehold management company or freeholder can make a Landlord’s investment a very unhappy experience.”

An article (here) from 2007 by a disenchanted former estate agent went further. He wrote before the The Property Ombudsman (TPO) came into being, which was a welcome development, though arguably even now one without enough legal teeth.

The list of horrors the agent came up with included:

1. Gazumping. When a deal has been agreed some agents still show people around the property hoping for a better offer.

2. Value a property at a low price - and then sell it to a friend or colleague.

3. Use scare tactics such as pretending to receive offers to get people to make a higher offer.

4. Neglect to pass on all offers to vendor in hope of achieving a higher one later on.

5. Refuse to reduce commission if the price is reduced.

6. Overvalue houses to secure business from sellers.

7. Supply customers with fake documents to help them secure a mortgage.

8. Make up a very low offer. This shocks the seller into accepting a genuine offer which is far lower 
than the original valuation.

9. Fake evidence that other properties in the area have sold for an overly high price.

10. Erect for sale/sold signs at homes the agent had nothing to do with to give a false impression.

Bringing things up to date, this year the Property Ombudsman reported a sharp increase in the number of consumer complaints for the residential lettings sector, ahead of the requirement that came into force on 1st October 2014 for every letting agent to register with an approved redress scheme.

The figures, published in The Property Ombudsman's 2014 Interim Report, show that 1,187 complaints were resolved in total about both sales and lettings issues between 1 January and 30 June 2014, with 721 complaints (61%) made against letting agents – a 37% increase on the same period last year.

The Ombudsman upheld 74% of the complaints made by landlords and tenants against letting agents.

Christopher Hamer, the Property Ombudsman, explained, "Up until now there has been no legal requirement for any letting agent to register with a redress scheme, which has left thousands of tenants and landlords unable to access our free, fair and independent dispute resolution service. That is shown by the fact that around 20% of the initial consumer enquiries we received in this period related to lettings agents that were not signed up to TPO. I am pleased to note that the new legislation will change that and we've already seen nearly 1,000 firms register this year, making us the largest redress scheme with 11,744 lettings offices under my jurisdiction and following our Code of Practice, which sets out what service consumers should receive from member firms.
'The sharp increase in the number of lettings agents registering for redress with TPO, combined with TPO's increased profile and the ever-growing number of households renting goes some way to explain why we've seen such a significant increase in the number of lettings complaints, with more than half of our total enquiries now coming from landlords and tenants that feel they have been treated unfairly. The new legislation will make it an offence for any ‘rogue' agent that has not registered to trade and they will a face of up to £5,000."

Key highlights from TPO's latest Interim Report reveal that:

• Registered agents (p7): more than 4,000 additional agents registered with TPO, with sales and lettings representing the biggest growth areas. A total of 30, 128 agents registered with TPO across all jurisdictions – a 15% increase on the same period last year

• Consumer enquiries (p8): More than 8,474 consumers contacted TPO regarding a property dispute (a 4.6% increase on the same period last year). More than half of all the enquiries received were regarding lettings disputes with 4,759 enquiries logged (56.1% of all enquiries)

• Complaints (p9): Complaints grew by 37% overall with 1,187 cases reviewed, of which 721 were against letting agents (up 37%) and 544 were against sales agents (up 42%). The Ombudsman upheld 74% of all lettings complaints while 61% of all sales complaints were upheld

• Consumer case studies (p10): The Ombudsman hand-picked a selection of case studies to highlight issues varying from death and inventories, owed rent, visas, pets, ex partners, planning permission and fraud to share an insight into the cases reviewed and awards given
  

To view TPO's 2014 Interim Report, please visit http://www.tpos.co.uk/quarterly_report.htm.

What is The Property Ombudsman?

The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme offers an independent and impartial dispute resolution service to consumers who have been unable to resolve their disputes with a registered agent. The scheme was established in 1990. The Ombudsman can provide redress to place the consumer back in the position they were before the complaint arose, achieving a full and final settlement of the dispute and all claims made by either party. Where appropriate, the Ombudsman can make compensatory awards in individual cases up to a maximum of £25,000 for actual and quantifiable loss and/or for aggravation, distress and/or inconvenience caused by the actions of a registered agent.

TPO is free to all consumers. Agents pay a single annual subscription covering them for sales, lettings, commercial, international and auction activities. TPO does not charge case fees.
At 1 August 2014 over 13,200 sales offices and 11,600 letting offices were registered with TPO. The TPO estimates that these figures represent 95% of sales agents and 65% of lettings agents operating within the UK.

What does this mean? 

Hopefully, that tenants and landlords will receive better treatment and experience less tricks in future. 

I believe that everything that is done to improve the behaviour, practices and reputation of estate agents can only be a good thing.

Sam Samuel, MNAEA CRLM,  November 2014


You can view our earlier posts in our Index here.

Sam's Word 7: Over the hill

We're in red, white and blue...

When you are, like us, a comparatively new agency (two years old) built on the foundation stones of two much longer established businesses with strong reputations, every step forward means a lot.

One of our most recent steps forward was over a hill. As you leave Orpington and drive up past the railway station, it was possible recently to see a "Edward Ashdale: For Sale" sign at the roadside. Now it is equally possible to see an "Edward Ashdale: sold" sign in the same spot. This is one of the properties we have dealt with that is further out than usual. Why? Because the word is spreading that we are good at what we do.

The word is spreading also because of things like a recent experience we had when talking with a homeowner about possibly selling his property for him. We were appointed over two larger estate agent chains, which was a real mark of respect and trust by the homeowner. He told us afterwards that it was our passion for the service we would deliver to him, that meant we would leave no stone unturned to do a great job for him, that made the difference. We are already doing all we can to reward his trust. That is what you get when you work with a values-driven business like ours that takes pride in delivering a great service. 

Sam Samuel, MNAEA CRLM,  April 2014 

You can view our earlier posts in our Index here.

Sam's Word 6: Going nuclear and keeping calm and carrying on

It was interesting to see this week that the UK government has committed itself to a new

nuclear facility as a future electricity source. There are many issues involved - many existing power plants coming the the end of their lives and needing to be decommissioned; the cost of the electricity set in order to attract overseas investment; reliance on overseas investors who are bound up with other governments; safety; waste; positive investment in Britain and creation of employment; and finally the fact that some other nations, notably Germany, are firmly committed to electricity production without a nuclear component. Not an easy issue at all and among our staff and the wider public there is sure to be quite a range of views.

One definite plus is that, whatever the source, the future national electricity supply is being secured. We don't want power outages. Among our staff are a few very experienced estate agents (mentioning no names) who remember the last ones! In those days there were no computers smaller than would fill a room, not all TV's had colour, mobile phones were (probably) on TV's Tomorrow's World and seemed as futuristic as the robotic space aliens who were in the Cadbury's Smash advert laughing about old-fashioned potato peeling.  

We had our broadband go down recently for a few days in one of our offices. We managed and we kept our clients happy, but just imagine outages that would take out and offline internet, smart devices, unsmart devices, anything needing electricity? It's probably best not to. Though, for all the advances in technology, and online property portals and so on, estate agency remains very much a people business. 

It is our people you see when we first value your home if you're looking to move, or take you on our 100% accompanied viewings to properties for sale or let. It is our people who put through the paper (and electronic) work that moves transactions from offer to completion. It is our people and the people and the services we work with who ensure our landlords and tenants are happy with the properties they rent if an issue arises, say a boiler going wrong (yes, they need electricity too). It is our people who live our values and have the passion and friendliness and professionalism we cherish and who help us to innovate and to grow. Also, our people ensured that the loss of broadband is, to use a familiar phrase, a drama not a crisis. As one of our people myself, who you could quite likely meet, I enjoy the range of things we do and being hands-on. Often hands-on the steering wheel of my car as I go to and from meetings and viewings, in fact.

The strength of our team is a great comfort as we look forward to occupying our new office. Once we move in, there may be a teething problem or two. A washing machine upstairs may go wrong and produce a flood (fingers crossed as I write this)! Whatever happens, I know we have a great team and with them we will be able to keep calm and carry on. In fact, like the national grid, we're rather looking forward to our own bit of increased capacity.

Sam Samuel, MNAEA CRLM,  October 2013

You can check out our earlier posts in our blog index.

Sam's Word 5: Barnstorming

I have addressed a couple of interesting themes in my blog posts recently, most recently The look of estate agents and working in different areas and markets, and before that Current issues concerning the London property market.

For this blog post, a property is the star. We recently took on something uniquely big, which is rather nice for an independent, non-chain estate agents. This was the valuation of a very big barn, perhaps the biggest in the United Kingdom, as this photo shows. The property is very atmospheric in this picture, looking like a picture taken (via i-phone) for an on location shoot for the Hound Of The Baskervilles, but it us a very impressive property.

I can't, therefore, resist the pun that if you're good enough, you're big enough. As the Edward Ashdale Estate Agent success story (and it is) continues, we are dealing with more and more high value properties. This is despite being in a very competitive and brisk market with longer established "high marque" players. However, we know success is about delivering an outstanding service that people appreciate and tell others about, and that is what we do. That is probably exactly how many of the high marque players started to succeed and grow as well, and they earned it. Whether they all managed to keep those levels of service once they're big is another question, but we aim to keep delivering to the same high standards we cherish - or better - however much bigger we grow.

Talking of the market, as I've said before, a number of factors affecting the residential market in an upward direction throughout London from Prime Central London to suburbs; foreign investment, mortgage lending constraints, a general shortage of property and in the suburbs the costs of moving e.g., stamp duty. This shows no sign of abating, and while the remarkably low levels of interest rates we are experiencing cannot be relived on indefinitely, those pressures are continuing to mean a bouyant market.

We look forward to more barnstorming successes in 2013-14. On a final note, congratulations to the Royal couple on the birth of their son, perhaps by my next blog post we'll know his name.


Sam Samuel, MNAEA CRLM,  July 2013

Sam's Word 4: The look of Estate Agents and working in different areas and markets

I’ve felt the need to do a short piece about estate agents working in different areas and markets. There is a noticeable difference in working environment and approach between our two branches, one in a busy South London street (Tulse Hill) and the other in a leafy suburb of Kent (Bromley).

The view from the respective branch windows reflects the change in local population type and makes for an interesting experience. The view from the window in Tulse Hill has a typically London, cosmopolitan feel. There is never a dull moment all year round. Characters appear with Lucozade bottles disguising alcoholic concoctions inside; men or women have been seen dancing a jig in the centre of the road; the occasional beggar passes by; and men choose to urinate in the alley opposite, all under the watchful eye of our colleagues in Tulse Hill. Ostensibly, it’s frequently the same characters, which I believe will captivate any curious soul and could make for an ideal documentary series. You can see a couple of examples below.

Footfall in Tulse Hill is much greater, whilst in Bromley the view and footfall are more sedate. Periodically in Bromley there are shoplifter’s that can be seen escaping the town centre, avoiding the larger Bromley South Station to get to the quiet Shortlands Station. There are the pesky school kids at school finish time impressing noses on the window and using the signs outside to swing on or play tag around. We should say we don’t regard all schoolchildren as pesky! We’re parents ourselves and help out local schools regularly with donations and prizes. Perhaps some of the nose-pressers know us already from this!

There are also the image-conscious who make up their faces or hair in the reflection from the window, not realising there are teams of agents inside, and we see the random road rage incident or car bump. Sometimes it can be distracting when you’re trying to negotiate a sale for a client, but otherwise during the course of doing paperwork it can offer respite to a hectic day!
There is also a difference in the presentation and image of estate agents between firms based in Tulse Hill and those based in Bromley. In the Tulse Hill area, there is a less formal approach by agents. There is a trend to wear shirts with open collars, excluding ties, and the customer expectations of estate agents to appear in formal attire seem less demanding. This is in stark contrast to the estate agents of Bromley. Here, the predominantly mature agents are fully suited, and wear ties and shiny shoes. Customer expectations are higher and more demanding. The older money, for which Bromley is reputed, is usually drawn towards the more established agencies. 

 

The images of estate agents probably change throughout all areas. Take, for instance, the Prime London’s agent image of pin stripe suits, shiny shoes, tans and quiffs or the rural country agent in his Tweed jacket, cords, and brown brogues. This is generalising of course, but evident nevertheless.  Our business, like most, is all about image. Sure, you want the people selling your property to be smart, equivalent to the marketing of your property, but really, can we drop the pretension? It’s the knowledge, values and experience that are paramount in delivering a service in the estate agents industry. So, whenever you see an Edward Ashdale estate agent, you can be sure that however we look, as regards those qualities, we’re Sharp Dressed Men (and women).
 
Sam Samuel, MNAEA CRLM,  June 2013

Sam's Word 3: Current issues concerning the London residential property market

Working in South East London and the suburbs of Kent, the thread of rising demand for property is a common one throughout the regions. The biggest thing we have found since certainly the turn of the year is the growing demand for property of all types and sizes. Ostensibly when there are no properties of a certain type or size within an area, premium prices can be asked and more often than not achieved if the specification is good enough.

There are a number of factors affecting the residential market in an upward direction throughout London from Prime Central London to suburbs; foreign investment, mortgage lending constraints, a general shortage of property and in the suburbs the costs of moving eg stamp duty. All of these factors contribute to an inevitable price rise, but most importantly, or the root cause is the inexplicable rise in population and overseas investment against the shortage of property. London as a City continues to expand outwards and as the square mile grows and foreigners invest, it ripples to areas that surround it. So price increases are an issue and the need of low paid workers to find affordable accommodation nearby to the City Centre is a desperate one. I’m fortunate enough to live in a leafy suburb near to the M25, where there is still room for planning authorities to consider new residential buildings. Although when driving through Central London the number of residential buildings squeezed and crammed in to the most ludicrous of places in an attempt to facilitate access to central areas and feed demand is quite staggering. Interestingly the same is now beginning to occur in the suburbs, which can be seen as a result of the ‘ripple effect’. Some prices are inflated by Estate Agents as a result because of this demand or unrealistic vendors use it as an opportunity to command ridiculous asking prices. I have referred to this in an earlier post here.

Compared to other Cities London is an attraction for many foreign investors, Russian, Middle Eastern and European given the weak £1. Although growth in prime Central London property has a correlation with other major cities globally such as New York, Beijing, Hong Kong etc, so it’s not as though the rest of the worlds major cities in business are immune to similar property price rise levels. The outlook for the economy is steady and there will always be stable levels of employment bar another financial crash of gigantic proportions, which in my opinion is unlikely to happen given the damage the last banking crisis caused. The City is now well on the road to recovery and foreign investors recognise that. There are solid investment opportunities to be had with healthy year on year yields, plus a handy place to enjoy a short visit when the property is vacant.

I’ve been predicting this since before the financial market crash of February 2008, which was the only blip in a fast rising property market over the preceding 10 years.

Sam Samuel, MNAEA CRLM,  June 2013

Sam's Word 1: Beware inflated expectations and valuations

Sam's Word

One of the most frustrating parts of an Estate Agents’ work is losing an instruction to market a property due to a competitor misleading the prospective vendor on price. As the market becomes more competitive, particularly with low levels of stock and activity, this practise is becoming more prevalent. Often the same old brands are responsible. Over valuing a property, or inflating the price, usually serves to have an adverse affect on the successful marketing, as opposed to achieving the strongest possible price. Furthermore, it can lead to inflation in the road where the property is situated, meaning prices are mixed, which can confuse property owners and buyers. It also leads to closer scrutiny from surveyors working on behalf of mortgage companies. This is likely to weaken actually achieved prices.

Buyers are savvy

In some cases with properties in sought after areas or those that have unique features, it is possible to fetch ‘what somebody is prepared to pay for it’, but those occasions are rare, particularly in a choked market. Most buyers now have access to land registry ‘sold prices’, plus a wealth of supplemental information from the web. To put it simply, buyers are more ‘savvy’. Valuations correctly provided should be based on actual sold prices within the proximity of a quarter to a half a mile in a built up location, taking into account any additional features; such as configuration, extensions and quality of specification. This is, incidentally, how surveyors reach their conclusions in reporting back to mortgage companies, so it’s likely the property will be down valued if ridiculously inflated anyway. This is half the reason why surveyors and Estate Agent opinions are so far apart and they’re two separate professions that often will not share the same view.

Reputable Estate Agents provide realistic valuations

Reputable agents that act professionally will prove the validity of the prices they estimate, but in some cases, no matter how much evidence is produced to a prospective vendor in support of a valuation, that prospective vendor is more than likely to vote instructions with their wallet first. They will instruct the company that tells them what they want to hear, that their property will achieve the high price they desire, rather than that something lower is in fact realistic to achieve a sale. The experienced, knowledgeable and honest Estate Agent is losing ground to competitors unfairly on this basis. Corporate Estate Agents are often blamed for encouraging vendors to sign up to sell properties at an unachievable price, due to targets set or commissions paid for achieving volume of instruction.

Waste of time

Usually once the instruction is made and the contract is signed for the agent promising a high and , there is no chance of getting the opportunity to sell the property as it should have done without lost time. The agent who has won the instruction can spend wasted viewings during the early process and weeks then even months later suggest a price reduction to achieve the sale. It happens week in and week out. The party that truly suffers is the vendor, who can experience delays that can seriously hamper their own progress. They could lose a dream property they are pursuing and it can cause miscalculation of finances, which can affect their personal financial position.

Time to share

The practise has been annoying throughout my career, which has compelled me to write this blog. Whilst recently the topic has come to mind due to working on a property we valued strongly at £1.1m. The actual value that might have been achieved with reasonable negotiation was around £995k, but £1.1m was still a distinct possibility. It was a fair valuation and we set it to win the instruction. Another agent quoted a far less realistic £1.4m, whilst slating our agency in the process for being independent and not having the specific tools to find the buyer in any event. Well, I don’t see any difference in our capacity to market the property, although they have 20+ branches throughout London. We use the same, if not more, number of Internet property search portals and it’s rare that multi-branch, inter-linked offices share applicants/buyers! We also happen to be very good at what we do and have excellent local knowledge and connections, and we know how to pitch a property to suitable potential buyers.

Mystified

Recently, I was left mystified when our Sales Manager received a telephone call from a vendor that he had visited two weeks before requesting a viewing. He presumed she was not on the market, but she was, with another agent. Enquiring as to why he was not instructed, he was told the vendor had received three valuations, but she had decided to go for the middle one. Ours was the highest, by an additional £5000.00. The vendor received an asking price offer on the second day of marketing and regretted instructing the middle agent.

Help yourself, before we help you

Ultimately there is enough information now available to give you a grasp on the value of a property on-line. Allow an hour to research it before inviting the (experienced, knowledgeable and honest) agents in, to ensure you maximise the price and save valuable time.

**New Office of Fair Trading guidelines are being introduced to govern the aggressive marketing tactics of Estate Agents, which will hopefully arrest misleading practises experienced by the general public. This is another step towards cleaning up our industry, which we hope will make for an altogether more pleasant experience when it comes to selling your home.

Sam Samuel, MNAEA CRLM,  March 2013