Blog

EDITION 26

We are delighted to announce that our Best In Postcode Awards will be revealed at a new, virtual event on Friday 26th April, presented by TV property expert Phil Spencer. Unlike previous years, where those who have succeeded in making the shortlist for the ESTAS Awards categories are announced, this year [...]

EDITION 25

Parts B and C of the process to improve material information disclosure in property listings were published on 30th November by National Trading Standards, within comprehensive new guidance for sales and letting agents. So, what difference will [...]

EDITION 24

As we hurtle towards the finishing line for yet another year we all like to look back at the last 12 months and talk about the successes and challenges we’ve experienced. However it’s a far more valuable use of our time to look at the year ahead and decide - as [...]

EDITION 23

Friday 20th October saw some of the UK’s best agents, conveyancers, mortgage brokers and suppliers descend upon the Grosvenor hotel in London for the prestigious ESTAS Customer Service Awards sponsored by Coadjute. The theme was Working Together Better [...]

EDITION 22

If, like me, you’re a James Bond fan, you’ll be very familiar with Daniel Craig’s debut as the suave secret agent in Casino Royale. I’ve watched it countless times, and it remains a favourite of mine in the movie franchise. One of the most memorable scenes – and [...]

EDITION 21

The ESTAS team and I are now on the final countdown to Friday 20th October. Having run the event for twenty years now, the team and I have learned a lot about processes, time management and planning. In fact, we don’t just apply those learnings in the few weeks [...]

EDITION 20

The process of buying a property in England is getting slower. Even putting aside the uncertainty of the past few years, Landmark data found that it took an average of 29 days longer to complete a purchase in 2022 than in 2019 [...]

EDITION 19

Kensington Mortgages is the UK’s leading non-bank residential specialist mortgage lender. A Top 15 lender with around £10bn in assets under management, in the 12 months to September 2022 they lent over £2.1bn to home buyers across [...]

EDITION 18

The phrase ‘customer experience’ is banded around a lot these days, so much so that it’s sometimes easy to think that ‘customer service’ now all feels a bit old fashioned. Although for many buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants [...]

EDITION 17

Over the last decade, we have seen the length of time it takes to buy a property through Private Treaty peak at an average of 159 days* during Covid times, to sitting at an average of 132 days* over the last 12 months. That’s longer than most other places [...]

EDITION 16

The Paul Stripp Estate Agency is owned and directed by Paul Stripp, an independent estate agent with over a decade of experience in the property market. After working for most of his career in traditional estate agencies, Paul saw a need for a modern approach. One that better reflected his core values of communication [...]

EDITION 15

Letting agents in England will finally see the reforms outlined in the government's “A fairer private rented sector” white paper feature in upcoming legislation. In Wales, the PRS will be getting to grips with The Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 which took effect on 1 December 2022. Scottish agents continue [...]

EDITION 14

At the end of 2022 my wife and I finally made a decision we had talked about for years. It was one of the most important decisions we could make together but for some reason we had failed to make it until now. The decision was to finally make a legal will. How disorganised! How irresponsible I hear you say! [...]

EDITION 13

Back in June, when we released our Q2 property data in our quarterly Property Trends Report, the data reflected a relatively positive story. Overall, the market seemed to be moving towards a normal and balanced state, closer to the more stable conditions of pre-pandemic From the sky-high levels of the past [...]

EDITION 12

The largest annual event for the UK residential property industry took place on Friday 14th October when the prestigious ESTAS Customer Service Awards sponsored by Coadjute were hosted in London. As with last year agents, conveyancers [...]

EDITION 11

The findings are based on the responses of close to 500 UK property professionals. The goal was to better understand the relationship between conveyancers and estate agents, what's affecting it, and most importantly what needs to happen to improve it [...]

EDITION 10

Goodlord operates in an ever-changing market and industry - which comes with its challenges. There is no doubt that the world of lettings can be unpredictable, but it is how we manage these challenges for our customers that makes us successful and recognised [...]

EDITION 9

Prospecting or canvassing has been a long-standing marketing technique used by estate agents - and still today, it is one of the most effective forms of business generation for independent branches and large agencies alike. While the process has evolved from board [...]

EDITION 8

Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing Dan Salmons, CEO of Coadjute, to discuss blockchain technology and how Coadjute is improving the home buying and selling process. Can you please explain for us in plain English, what blockchain technology is? Start with the easy ones! When people describe blockchain technology they often quite quickly get into the technology [...]

EDITION 7

Over the last 15 months (basically since the ‘c’ word entered our daily vocabulary) your website has become more crucial than ever in attracting new business. Consumers are more informed and doing more research online about products and services they want to use than ever before. Google data says 70% of the buying decision has already been made by a new customer before [...]

EDITION 6

One of the characteristics of the property market that makes it unusual is how many different professions are involved to complete a property transaction. The estate agent of course, but also the conveyancer, mortgage broker, mortgage lender, surveyor… the list goes on. They all have to work together seamlessly to complete a property transaction. It’s no wonder [...]

EDITION 5

My piece is a very short and simple one this month. I want you to ask yourself a question, what is your reputation? By that I mean your personal reputation and your businesses reputation. Write down what you think it is and ask a selection of people inside and outside your business what they think. Trust me you’ll be very surprised at the answers. Your reputation is everything for the simple reason it arrives before you do. It determines [...]

EDITION 4

Last month I wrote about the difference between customer experience and customer service. I got some great feedback from agents, conveyancers and brokers alike and often the response was “sure I get what customer service is but how does it really impact my business”. Whenever I get this question I’m always reminded of a conversation I had with Grenville Turner who was CEO [...]

EDITION 3

Recently some people in the industry have said to me that customer service is not relevant anymore, today apparently it’s all about the customer experience or ‘CX’ as it’s often termed – sounds much sexier doesn’t it? However I would argue that customer service and customer experience are NOT the same thing. Customer experience is all about improving the customer journey [...]

EDITION 2

Over the years I’ve spoken to and met thousands of estate and letting agents, one theme that comes up on a regular basis when I start to ask agents about where or how they collect customer feedback is - “We don’t, we’re old school, all our business is through word of mouth or walks through the door. This may very well have been true in times gone by but the world has moved on and through technology customer expectations and their buying habits have [...]

EDITION 1

In today’s market, the customer has never had more choice as to who to represent them when selling their house. Nearly every village, town or city across the UK has more than enough agents to serve the local market - whether they be online/hybrid, self-employed or high street agencies - so why is it that over half of transactions aren’t completing with the original agent? The agent the vendor [...]