The Great British Bake-On

In the news



Most of this blog post concerns food, so please bear with us in this introductory paragraph, where we talk about ourselves. It is relevant. You see, we're estate agents, and proud of it. We enjoy giving our clients a great experience: minimal stress (this is property purchasing, letting and management we're talking about, after all), tlc - tender loving care -, and our old fashioned values including friendliness and professionalism.
 
We also enjoy experiencing that kind of service from others, and we enjoy cakes. We went the whole hog (or perhaps loaf) a while ago with our recipe flyer which shared a recipe from the fantastic South London-based Blackbird Bakery, and it got us in the news. 

However, it is good to reflect on baking as a lively sector in Britain's economy and on the fact that some high street bakeries are thriving despite the fairly comprehensive range of baked items in supermarkets these days.Shows like The TV show The Great British Bake Off must have helped boost Britain's appreciation of bakers. Ours was already high to start with.

This didn't last long

The smallest example is our Director, Sam Samuel. Not that, as an ex-Navy boxer, Sam is all that small, but he likes to bake. Not so dissimilar to that Will Smith line in the movie Enemy of the State (with Gene Hackman and a cat), "Some people meditate, some people get massages. I blend." See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0O9H0O8gko.

The staff of life

Then, near our Tulse Hill office, there is Creative Aroma. A coffee shop, but one that produces lovely ciabatta, mouth-watering fancies, and beautiful cakes. It is amazing what amounts to a business within a business can do.

On a bigger scale, the Blackbird Bakery has a number of cafe's, and one product to look out for in any of them is a particularly fine granola.

Not too far from our Bromley office, in Orpington, there is another new baker, Hank's (named after Cockney Rhyming slang - Hank Marvin - Starvin' - or so rumour has it). Hank's is on a parade of shops where a previous bakers, Plaxtol, had closed down. Too many do. Hank's was set up by the former head baker of the local Tesco, but now he does nicer bread and the cakes are great. Peanut butter cupcakes, just one of several kinds, stand out. Well worth dropping in if you're nearby - 23, Carlton Parade, Orpington BR6 0JB.

Much further afield, on a recent holiday (we have those) in Dunbar, Scotland, we found a remarkable bakery. The Bakery, Dunbar serves really excellent bread, brownies, cakes, and - outstandingly - sausage rolls. It is a community bakery, has local (and wider) shareholders, and is award-winning. It isn't too common to find a bakery website with an Our Ethos page, but there is one, just as we publish our Values.

We enjoy it when what we do and the quality of our service is appreciated. To the bakers mentioned in this post, we hope you enjoy our words. We'll be seeing you again.

You can view our earlier posts in our Index here.

Defining what estate agency means in the 21st century

Our three proud partners: John, John, and Sam

We have already stated our values for all to see and we've already captured some of our testimonials in this blog. However, recently the two came together in a very welcome way.

We received these new testimonials:

“Thanks for letting my flat in Kenley and finding me the best tenants I could wish for! It is testimony that you have sailed the rough waters of the turbulent past markets & survived, this is because you are jolly nice, honest and smart. And it is not often one can say that about people in your profession.” – Paul

“I really don’t exaggerate when I say how much your help has eased this whole process for me, from beginning to end. Yesterday was a good news day. Not only did we complete but my brother who was recently diagnosed with cancer got a clear CT scan. So, as you can imagine, what with that and the flat drama I think I would have crumbled but for all the help you lot have given me. You define what estate agency means.” - Jeri

In a time when the number of high street estate agents offices is rising, and when the lure of online and 'do it yourself' property transaction packages is present, one might reasonably ask, why use an estate agent? Or, why use one in particular? Especially for a property sale in a time when - with a few exceptions around the country - properties are selling quickly. 

The answer to these questions is simple. Property transactions are high value in financial terms and in terms of emotional investment and potential stress. You need to get the best for your money in a transaction you may not repeat for years and to experience the minimum of stress with the best results possible. 

We believe that means working with professional, friendly, innovative people who are passionate about delivering a great service is vital. All of these positives are embedded in our values and in what we do from day to day. If they weren't, we wouldn't be getting the testimonials we do, old or new. So, it is great to be called jolly nice, honest, and smart and to define what the best of estate agency means. 

Taking a step back, though, perhaps the best message in these testimonials is that Jeri's brother got his clear CT scan. Thank goodness for that.

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.

Fifty posts, Cake, and a Manifesto for an Estate Agent

This is the 50th blog post since Edward Ashdale Estate Agents was founded and we can reflect on a lot of writing during over two years of serving many people across South East London and beyond. We deserve a bit of cake, and yes, we made this one. It disappeared very rapidly probably back around post 20 or so. So, let us reflect on cake and more, and come to our little Manifesto for an Estate Agent.

We've won an award in that time, though to be fair the one below was for golf. 

The golf winner was one of our Directors, Sam Samuel. For some reason he's the only one of our partners who has been caricatured....

 Derrick from the Tulse Hill office escaped...

 So did Director John Campolini. So far... 

John Adamthwaite, also a partner, is another to have fled the artistic scene... 

Yet we have done our bit in the local community, as shown below with the Tulse Hill Community Market, and we're not stopping...

We've doggedly just carried on making sure our clients are happy...

We've revisited the cake theme and got some attention from the press, even though they didn't get any cake (sorry, guys)...

We've certainly proved we don't take the biscuit and we're no mugs...

Oh yes, let's not forget that Manifesto.  Perhaps Manifesto is going too far, but what we're saying is we'd like all estate agents to be a bit like us, as we're worth using.

Why?

- We’re 21st Century Estate Agents with old-fashioned values. As the foregoing might suggest, we have a sense of humour too;

- That means we really do live up to our values:

- Passion to do a great job. That is why we enjoy taking people on 100% accompanied viewings. Not all estate agents do this, but we believe it is a way we can show people we really care;

- Pride in our professionalism, getting things right for our clients. That is why, unlike many estate agents, we use professional photographers to show the homes we sell or let in their best possible light;

- Friendliness. We enjoy our work and its shows in the way we are, with everyone;

- Innovation. Old-fashioned values doesn’t mean an out of date service. We use the latest IT tools and social media where they help us to help our clients.  

Also:

- We know our patch. We cover offices in the South East London and Kent from our two offices and we are constantly out and about. We believe in helping the community we’re part of and we enjoy helping out local schools. In Tulse Hill, our encouragement and sponsorship has helped to get a very special community market created by young people up and running

- We show off the properties we have for sale or let really well, using our website and our advertising on all major property search portals including Rightmove and Zoopla. The colour professional photographs and detailed floor plans we provide are a real asset

- Free EPC* (Energy Performance Certificate) – No up front costs

That just leaves us to say, if you're thinking of moving and have read this far, please call 020 8466 8445 to book your FREE MARKET APPRAISAL!


*Subject to Edward Ashdale selling the property

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 2: Don't always go with the big dogs...

I recently posted a blog called "Beware inflated valuations and expectations" - here - about sharp practices by some estate agents who tell potential clients that their properties are worth more than is realistic, in order to gain a competitive advantage.  

Smaller can be beautiful

I find that I am now in good company, as a local paper has now published an advertorial article (some writing, which is in fact a paid advertisement) written along the same lines by a reputable big chain.  

In estate agency, to use an old phrase, size isn't everything. There really isn't a great gap between what a smaller estate agency and what a regional or national chain can offer. All three pretty much advertise in the same way, through online property portals, and in one or more local newspaper and sometimes in magazines, and use flyers and a few other approaches. 

We know that we cannot rely on gaining customers simply because we have branches everywhere, so we are driven by our values to stand out for our passion, our professionalism, our friendliness, and our determination to be innovative.  We have outstanding local knowledge and contacts, and get on our bikes and get out there and talk to people locally to continually learn local "market conditions" and information of value to our clients.  We take our time to work for our clients, even starting before they are actually clients. Some agents, strangely, claim to be able to value a home in just a few minutes. We know that clients deserve proper attention and respect and we take whatever time the home needs, at the very least thirty minutes at the property to learn about it and the seller. In fact, we only do that after we've done some research before we come out.

All this does make us stand out from many other estate agents, of all sizes. We have enjoyed a very successful period over the last fifteen months. Our diary pages are full and the phone is continuously buzzing.  

So, if you are thinking about moving home - selling, buying, or renting -, talk to us first, because, big dog or not, we're worth talking to. 

Sam Samuel, MNAEA CRLM,  April 2013

We value being friendly

Some time ago, we described our values, and since then we've posted about aspects of our innovative approach and our professionalism. We also said one of our values is friendliness.

Sam Samuel

It would be easy to assume that would apply to all businesses when they relate to their clients and others. Everyday experience would, however, suggest otherwise. Just think of a few recent shopping trips or calls to bigger businesses or institutions and you will probably see what we mean.

At Edward Ashdale, we like to make things straightforward and enjoyable for the people we deal with. So, regardless of what kind of day we're having (and property transactions and management can have some interesting moments), we know we need to "Keep calm and carry on" and be friendly, because that's the way we are and the way we like to be treated too.

So, if you drop in or call us to discuss a property matter, you can be sure we'll be friendly and the experience will be a good one.

You can see how friendly we are - and say hello - if you follow us on Twitter - @edwardashdale. 

After all, a bright smile, like Sam's above right, is part of our brighter approach to moving.

Great estate agents blend the old and the new

You may have noticed that we call ourselves 21st century estate agents with traditional values.

22 years of service and counting

We believe that by putting things that have worked in our business for many years together with new approaches and technology, we will succeed for ourselves and for our clients.  A lot of our succcess is based on everyday, friendly contact with people in our branches, in their streets, and in the homes we're helping to sell, buy, let or manage. We do like a coffee and a chat. That will never change. 

At the same time, we innovate. We have this blog, our Twitter account @edwardashdale, and we've been using Quick Recognition (QR) codes before many other estate agents. 

We have other things going on or planned that will build on our success. What success? Look no further than our tweet just two days ago:

Safe - in black and white. And blue

"Another happy #Landlord. Referred by father this morning, keys given, viewing, offer, 12 months in advance, accepted! 3hrs approx #lettings" 

And another tweet that shows our commitment to our clients:

 "New paper work confirming we are @Safeagent for another year just arrived in post. 3:42!!! #RoyalMail pic.twitter.com/uWQhewZ"

For the record -  SAFE Agent is a Government endorsed mark denoting firms that protect landlords and tenants money through client money protection schemes - http://www.safeagents.co.uk 

So, if you use Edward Ashdale you can be assured of a quality service and of our strong commitment to our  clients (and to coffee). 

Take comfort in accompanied viewings

Not all estate agents offer accompanied viewings, where someone from their team is always present when a property is viewed, as a standard feature of their service.  

At time of writing, we could accompany you here

We do. Why? 

In general, it is because we take pride in our professionalism.

Encouraging people to pop off on their own to view properties for sale or to let doesn't feel professional. Here's why. 

Our accompanying people when a property is viewed is reassuring for all involved.  It shows that we believe there is a point to the viewing, that it is worth the time for the viewer and any vendor or landlord waiting in for the viewer, as well as our own time.

It also means that anyone viewing a property has the benefit of our instant expert advice on the property, the local property market, and the local area when any questions occur to them during a viewing. 

It also means that we can listen to and better understand the needs of our clients by listening to them and their questions as they view a property. So even if they don't wish to pursue the property we have suggested, we will know more to help us recommend something closer to their needs the next time.

You can read more about what sets our service apart here.







 

 

QR codes and you

Our very own Edward Ashdale QR code

Edward Ashdale Estate Agents is a 21st century estate agents with old-fashioned values.  We described what those values are in an earlier blog here.

Two of our values – professionalism and innovation – mean that we have to keep up with the latest developments to best help our clients.  Where possible, we want to take the lead in what we do.

With our use of QR codes, we are a leader.  We’re ahead of the majority of other estate agents, large, medium, and small, many of whom do not use them in any of their marketing as yet. In fact, we've been using them for months!

So, what is a QR code?

In short, a QR code is a type of barcode that can be easily scanned with smartphones. It will take you straight to a webpage, without the hassle of typing in long and complicated web addresses.  The letters QR stand for Quick Response.

Our webpages include the details of the properties we have to buy, sell, and let.  So it is helpful to our clients that, for instance, anyone looking at one of our “For sale” signs or at our newspaper property advertisements can easily use a QR code to go to our website if they have a smartphone handy.

We have used this ahead of many other estate agents because we want to be professional and innovate so our clients really enjoy our service.

However, our old-fashioned values mean we enjoy the old ways too.  So, once you learn about us through this blog or a QR code, drop in to see us and say hello.  We will be able to help you if you’re a landlord or seeking to rent, buy or sell a home, and if you do you can be sure of a Quick (and friendly) Response.

You can see our staff here (we've recently been joined by Hayley who will be added to the page soon) and this is where you can find us: 


56 Beckenham Lane
Bromley
Kent
BR2 0DQ

And:

381/383 Norwood Road
London
SE27 9BQ

We look forward to seeing you.

The Edward Ashdale Team

Welcome to the new Edward Ashdale blog - 21st century estate agents with old-fashioned values

John Adamthwaite, John Campolini, and Sam Samuel

Edward Ashdale Estate Agents is a new company that brings together Edwards Property Consultants of Tulse Hill and Ashdale Estate Agents of Bromley.

Now, both offices work together on the same business - local property sales, lettings and property management. We have a great deal of technical and practical experience and local knowledge. Our agents are highly regarded in presenting property across a wide spectrum, from studio flats to executive homes.

However, we’re much more than a business with two offices.  We’re a group of people with shared values.  These are:

1. Passion.  We love our work.  We enjoy doing our best to help our clients in moving home or managing property.  We really want our clients to enjoy our service and come back again;

2. Professionalism. We work professionally to deliver a top quality service for our clients in everything that we do.  For example, our brochures are prepared with professional photography to help them stand out and we always accompany our clients on viewings;       

3. Friendliness. We’re all friendly people who know how stressful property transactions can be.  We want to help our clients in every way possible;

4. Innovation.  Passion, professionalism and friendliness are our old-fashioned values.  Innovation is our 21st century value.  We know that to be truly professional we must keep up with the latest developments in property management, sales and lettings best practice.  Better still, we want to be leaders.  As a result, we are using social media, such as this blog, and mobile tools to help us to deliver a better service.  And that is just the start.

If you have a property transaction or management need, get in touch and we’ll show you that we are living up to our values.

John Adamthwaite, John Campolini, and Sam Samuel.   

Directors, Edward Ashdale, July 2012