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John Durrant
John Durrant
MD
3195  Profile Views

About Me

Doctor Photo Ltd. (DCTR) is the property marketing specialist providing agents and developers with everything from simple photo-editing services through to fully interactive CGI walkthroughs.

my expertise in the industry

37-years as an estate agent, award-winning. 14-years as a country house photographer. 12 years building Doctor Photo Ltd to its present-day provider of first-rate design and property marketing services for agents and developers. Author of the RICS 12,000-word Property Photography Guidance.

John's Recent Activity

John Durrant
The temptation for agents when there's talk of a downturn will be to cover their ears and sing, 'la la la' but for anyone interested, there is a more complete account of my experiences in the 1973 market on LinkedIn. I can't post links in this forum so feel free to connect with me via that platform if you would like insight into how we survived. Charlie Lamdin has kindly added the post to his Best Agent Linkedin account as well so you can pick it up there. There are a lot of similarities between 1973 and now and it feels as though history is repeating itself - rampant inflation, war, industrial unrest, and so on. The main takeaway I hope agents will gain from this is that a lot of us came out stronger from that market than when we went in and that this time around, forewarned is forearmed - back then we were clueless and we ended up going from 6 instructions to over 600 and being ordered by our bosses to disinstruct ourselves from hundreds of houses where the vendors were not willing to reset their price to take account of what had become a sliding market. Think of what we would have saved if we had been sharper and not taken those houses on in the first place! If you're detecting a downturn then consider that the reasons might be something other than it being August. I appreciate why this is a popular theory but try also to put yourself into the shoes of buyers reading this headline in the Telegraph: “A ‘tsunami of repossessions’ will hit house prices”. I guarantee there will be more headlines like this soon. Be honest, if you were a FTB faced with the spectre of ever-increasing household bills probably exceeding an additional £400 a month over what you had expected, would you be rushing to buy at the moment? A market without FTB's isn't a market that's easy to live with. I THINK that we are approaching the time (if we're not already there) to be extremely cautious with your advice to prospective vendors. Nobody can be sure about the future but there are factual reasons for concern if you read my LinkedIn post. If you're seeing a change in the market and you're honest with your vendors about that then you'll likely lose instructions to more gung-ho agents - but chances are that you will win those back down the line when they don't sell. Don't take it personally when that happens. Just keep in touch and let them know you're there for them if things don't work out. If all agents could accept that taking the foot off the accelerator is a good thing, then if/when there is a crash, there will be less damage and recovery will be faster. IF the market is about to go into reverse, you'll also be doing your clients a massive favour because when the market slides, there's nothing worse for the client or more damaging to your professional ego than eventually selling a house for 10% (or more) less than the price you initially advised. It happened in 1973 it will happen again. Good luck everyone. I REALLY hope this won't be a repeat of 1973 but we live in times that are of great uncertainty. All I'm saying is, please be careful out there. Also, if you do find those good buyers are in short supply, the best way to attract their interest will be by having the best houses to sell. So - really look after your best buyers AND your best vendors - the ones who are listening to you. I truly believe that times like this play into the hands of professional estate agents. Those who are the best at property marketing, understanding what motivates people, and applying their knowledge in real-time will survive. Others might not do so well.

From: John Durrant 25 August 2022 16:51 PM

John Durrant
Oh come on. How many board rooms are in complete agreement all the time? And in her former roles, Truss would have had zero influence over tax policy or the National Health Service.

From: John Durrant 13 August 2022 10:13 AM

John Durrant
Flat in central London for £834 a month? Crumbs - bet that didn't take long to let.

From: John Durrant 23 July 2022 12:53 PM

John Durrant
Finally a reason for EPCs

From: John Durrant 13 July 2022 14:21 PM

John Durrant
I was always taught never to mock the afflicted, but in your case, I might make an exception.

From: John Durrant 06 November 2021 12:25 PM

John Durrant
Key to any recovery will be whether lenders are prepared to... lend. Everyone has to live somewhere so there is always demand. It seems likely that following the end of the lockin there will be a slowish release of the logjam that's building due to pent-up NEED to move. However, demand without the availability of funding is not effective-demand. Demand without funding would depress the market. It seems likely that because of financial distress, there will be increased demand for smaller properties. However, if lenders lend, where demand increases, prices for 'affordable' properties will likely increase to the point that there would be no point moving to a smaller property. If lenders don't lend, the market will be wide open for investors. Given the above scenario, there would be no shortage of tenants wanting to rent - perhaps due to their homes being repossessed. To my mind, the weakest link, therefore, is the lenders. Their behaviour coming out of this will set the scene for decades to come. The Government may need to twist arms so that the lenders support those in need at least until we can get some stability back into the economy.

From: John Durrant 18 April 2020 13:31 PM

John Durrant
Hi, Michael - thanks for your question. It might help to know that I wrote the 12,000-word Guidance on Property Photography for the RICS. Facelift edits are about smartening up agents' photos; correcting exposure, colour and lens distortion and adding blue sky so that they are more representative of a property than the original. Whoever saw a red brick house that looks blue in a photo and leans to one side? Adding blue skies makes them look more cheerful - the sun does shine sometimes. Doctor Photo can help make those bad photos better and good photos amazing. Look through any of the portals and you'll see many photos that look nothing like the 'real thing' because they've been taken so badly. Surgery is for houses that are incomplete or properties where the agent is trying to show what they can look like once there have been modified in some way. Taking out power stations and the like would not be what the service is designed for. Not every surgery product is achievable but many are.

From: John Durrant 22 November 2015 22:12 PM

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