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Agent Sensible

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my expertise in the industry

Agent 's Recent Activity

What are FMCGs ? Agree with sentiments of article - and yes agents are getting ahead of themselevs looking at how much fees they can generate from one transaction, thinking they are smart - not looking at overall bigger picture - a poor experience for the client leads to no extra referral for business - if you put over the wrong solicitor that's how you get remembered.

From: Agent Sensible 13 December 2021 10:54 AM

This isn't news - he saves interest by repaying a loan early. It's not like he is repaying furlough monies - that would be a lot more newsworthy. May as well print - agent arranged overdraft in case of the worst but didn't use it.

From: Agent Sensible 23 July 2021 08:24 AM

For a supposed 'luxury' brand they do a lot of door knocking from with that brand in West London. Might work for them but also hasn't looked great in light of current 'non urgent' meeting environment.

From: Agent Sensible 13 July 2021 20:14 PM

Cosy role at this agents together charity - I attended a recent briefing call to find out more about. One of the 'mentors' said several times 'you cannot train to be an estate agent' an incredulous comment given a) you can train for anything in this world b) the platform it was made (an academy to give support) further the comments went unchallenged by the chair Sarah Edmundson - it was fairly shambolic in my opinion.

From: Agent Sensible 23 May 2021 11:35 AM

A sample of 3 people viewing 4 properties each !! Absolute joke of an article and I don't even recognise this lot as an estate agent. They are just a listing company who do it for free to hopefully get the FS referral.

From: Agent Sensible 30 April 2021 07:53 AM

Taking Furlough money - taxpayer money used by our Government in good faith to avert an impending financial disaster should be paid back in good faith by companies who in retrospect have benefited from the pandemic environment IMO. Foxtons not only took the money, they then tapped up institutional shareholders and went on a buying spree taking at least three independent agents, including Douglas & Gordon. All with rental books to help prop up the main business that seems to me to a complete shadow of its former self in terms of staff numbers - the branches seem dead when I am in London.

From: Agent Sensible 22 April 2021 19:23 PM

"Emoov and its associated brands were acquired by Mashroom Ltd and relaunched in early 2019 but have made virtually no impact since." It made virtually no impact prior to this as well - hence it went bust, taking a lot of investor monies with it after promoting itself to investors only months prior. Complete farce that you think any self-respecting agent would care for her views let alone guidance on what makes a good estate agent.

From: Agent Sensible 18 February 2021 10:44 AM

Yawn, these awards face becoming obsolete as they are just too simple. Fill out a spreadsheet , auto send to 50 people (I'm sure even PB have 25 happy transactions) and pronto. Investor backed companies can even finance someone just to chase up reviews. Speak to clients in your local area that will give you a true depth to their customer service.

From: Agent Sensible 21 January 2021 07:46 AM

I would have a good look at Ivy Gate he founded - it's far removed to suggest this was a typical independent estate agent. It was geared towards the 'hybrid' model and was keen to point out the benefits against 'traditional' agents. As I understand it after that venture, that was backed well financially but didn't take off, he then works for a property developer/ investment company looking at JV type deals. I'm all for giving people a chance but let's have a good look at the CV and know where he's coming from before the lecture starts with being on the sofa, working in agency etc.

From: Agent Sensible 15 December 2020 07:12 AM

I hope it's not! This kind of discussion will have severe legal implications for us as an industry. Do you think the legal challenges will end with professionally qualified surveyors with us estate agents being seen as standard bearer for value ? This will be at our door in no time and the caveats and time pressure will increase

From: Agent Sensible 15 December 2020 07:02 AM

How many redundancies have been made this year by this company? How many staff have left? What is the net job creation by this company? Hypothetically, would it make sense for a established company, with strong brand awareness to move on long standing members of staff and replace with trainees?

From: Agent Sensible 08 December 2020 07:58 AM

Maybe Nick should look closer to home for business ethics. Its unbecoming how often he tries to poach my staff to set up a franchise with his sheep with various email and letter campaigns.

From: Agent Sensible 01 December 2020 07:15 AM

You should delve a bit more under the bonnet of his former agency 'Haus'- it disappeared very quickly.

From: Agent Sensible 11 November 2020 08:08 AM

I wouldn't class 'over 40k' as high earning.

From: Agent Sensible 09 November 2020 06:56 AM

Painful, cheap and immature press release. These guys deal in data - they shouldn't even be classed as estate agents. They are also leaving themselves open to potential legal redress by not working to achieve the highest price possible for their client given the need for potential buyers to use their services or in turn potential buyers are being sold to such an extent that there is reasonable expectation they should use these related services (namely mortgages). There is a story here .....if the industry press can go and grab it.

From: Agent Sensible 06 November 2020 21:13 PM

I think the real story here could be the amount of staff they have supposedly made redundant in recent months? Maybe ask them that question?

From: Agent Sensible 03 November 2020 20:12 PM

Easy to expand when pumped full of shareholder money. Would be good to get an breakdown of their new branch success.

From: Agent Sensible 14 October 2020 07:21 AM

It's quite unedifying that someone who already clearly has a lot of money and been on TV for however long, feels the need to turn out such guff or pay someone to do it on his behalf. 'Dare I say it, Move iQ is one of the consumer-friendly websites....' er it's a sponsored article so we get it, the caption on your picture , we get it - all a bit desperate...

From: Agent Sensible 05 October 2020 22:06 PM

Was Ivy Gate not an online only agent that received substantial investment but ultimately failed to make the grade? Im sure there was a few comments at the time on how it was going to shake up the industry. Don't know much else about the CV but surely a a bit of a strange appointment for a portal promoting merits of independent agency.

From: Agent Sensible 01 September 2020 08:35 AM

Jan Byers this is the usual tripe you get from people who don't cut it in the Capital.

From: Agent Sensible 19 August 2020 19:17 PM

Can we get some context here please - Johns & Co is owned by Ballymore, a construction conglomerate that is major player in the London new build market. Its not exactly a test case for estate agents given their wealth and backing.

From: Agent Sensible 13 August 2020 07:58 AM

If you look at the hard reality of this and really examine the figures. The balance sheet is much stronger due to capital raising, and they've not had to pay the vast majority of their staff for months (they opened up too on June 1 with skeleton staff and most estate agency offices in the Capital went back mid May) - strange to many at the time they postponed until June 1 but actually preserves the balance sheet as still used the furlough scheme The figures to me are atrocious but the business has been failing for years to maintain its performance of yesteryear and you can't just blame this on this year's trading environment.

From: Agent Sensible 28 July 2020 08:45 AM

Complete joke should not be classed as an 'estate agent' and certainly should not be winning ESTAS or any other award that is meant to be for the industry of estate agency. The definition of estate agency is earning a 'FEE' yes a fee! for transacting on a property. It would appear to me this company just scrapes data for mortgage application potentials

From: Agent Sensible 20 July 2020 09:22 AM

Clearly not the same Russell, one is long established with a share price once at 400p plus now trading at around 90% of that value - and the other a fledgling company that you saw fit to keep pushing to investors yet went into administration soon after. The strangest thing though is though you seem to constantly pop into these forums and lecture everyone on how to run their business.

From: Agent Sensible 12 July 2020 11:53 AM

Weeks from administration? Maybe you could give them some fundraising ideas from the general public, Russell. Experienced hand at that with the Emoov debacle.

From: Agent Sensible 12 July 2020 11:21 AM

I think this is wishful thinking Too many companies in the property industry have been sailing too close to the wind. You cannot have your cake and eat it. You cannot expect HMRC to facilitate the administration for us to pick and choose when staff can work. My accountants have had a nightmare dealing with the volume of work across Furlough - you then expect it to operate on some sort of flexible basis? I would suggest that those agents who are experiencing a spike, top up the cash reserves and we all run our businesses accordingly. Maybe too what we have been through will end the cheap fees debate once and for all.

From: Agent Sensible 27 May 2020 07:45 AM

So Foxtons now have more cash in hand, due to the share placing, than they did before the Pandemic? Completely changes the face of local markets if they now use this money wisely on gaining greater market share, in contrast to previous years where money has been wasted or removed from the business, and provides clarity to the maxim that there will be winners and losers from this recession.

From: Agent Sensible 26 May 2020 12:38 PM

No wonder they can afford to refund their paltry client numbers with the £1.2m funding. Would be good if you can report a breakdown of expenditure for the business. One suspects she will be dining out on that ex Google resume as she goes to try and be a government advisor. The thought of our taxpayer money going to such advisers deeply troubles me.

From: Agent Sensible 14 May 2020 12:57 PM

So now we fund Rightmove through the taxes we pay on the slim profit margin they leave us with?

From: Agent Sensible 28 April 2020 09:19 AM

I'm surprised you are reporting such ill-informed market opinion. There will be regional differences plus as previous comments have pointed out very different picture today re: commercialisation of buy to let market and low interest rates.

From: Agent Sensible 21 April 2020 08:10 AM

Agreed with the above from Simon. A lot of this is down to interpretation and what you can claim. Look at what football clubs are doing with the Furlough - I think we have to be strong as an industry and go for variable option. Petitions like this are misguided.

From: Agent Sensible 02 April 2020 08:34 AM

So this makes them effectively a listed by owner offering with no expertise. Surely puts them in breach of their Rightmove and Zoopla contractual terms that we all abide by?

From: Agent Sensible 30 March 2020 17:30 PM

I think this type of speculation promoted by this article is unhelpful. You can take the advice in a few ways, including the fact that they have not said not to go to work, and essentially only work away from home if what you can do cannot be replicated at home. Clearly you cannot do a viewing, key release or removal at home. I would hope that we can all focus on what the specific advice is and not go looking to make our own interpretations.

From: Agent Sensible 24 March 2020 08:09 AM

The article, and indeed some of the comments, has interpreted the information on the Government 80% payment incorrectly and you should publish a correction. It is for 'furloughed' workers. Effectively you place your allocated staff on gardening leave, and the Government pays 80% of their wages up to £2500 per month and you pay 20% towards the wages. I..e if you have an junior negotiator earning an average 24k per year, that's £2000 per month. The government will pay £1600 of this and you pay £400 for them to effectively be off work in the expectation they then return to their previous role.

From: Agent Sensible 21 March 2020 20:44 PM

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