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Paul Collier

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Estate Agent

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Estate agency

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Richard is correct about fees and the service offered by agents - however there are a small minority of vendors who will go for the cheapest option - its the same in any business - you just have to accept that and walk away from those few - which is why the cheap online agents have a place (albeit small) in the market. As for the referendum apart from a small degree of uncertainty regarding foreign investors in the prime London market if you read all the reports carefully I agree with Adam there is very unlikely to be any real change in the market due to the referendum. There are much bigger forces at play such as the severe chronic shortage of housing and the governments unhelpful stamp duty changes and the sweeping changes imposed on landlords which will affect the market.

From: Paul Collier 27 April 2016 10:52 AM

Well spoken Graham - you have really hit the nail on the head. We employ somebody full time just to deal with progression (like many good agents do) but she spends most of her time dealing with inept conveyancers and picking up the pieces after they have made a mess. They really ought to put their own house in order before looking outside. Having said that there some very enlightened conveyancing firms that really are trying to make a difference.

From: Paul Collier 24 February 2016 09:08 AM

We operate in Somerset, Bath and Bristol and we recently reviewed our figures for the last 6 months and we are seeing similar very rapid turnover of properties. Currently our median time to sell is just 18 days. The result – prices are rising rapidly. The reason – lots of buyers and a chronic shortage of properties on the market. We shouldn’t be surprised – it’s very predictable.

From: Paul Collier 24 February 2016 08:59 AM

What a ridiculous suggestion! Another quango who clearly has no understanding of the housing market. Such a suggestion will not affect second home owners - or wealthy home owners rattling in homes which are too big for them (it might even dis-incentivise them to sell). Such a move will affect ordinary working class people who will not be able to afford to move thus reducing population mobility. As for the suggestion to levy it annually - I can only assume this was written by under employed surveyors - will the government give back the tax when prices fall (as in 2008)? Anyone with an iota of common sense knows what the problem is - we have an expanding population, and more people living singly we need to build more properties - as Gordon brown said in 2007 we need 3 million more homes by 2020 - nothing new here then!

From: Paul Collier 04 February 2016 09:04 AM

When people are looking to sell their property which is usually their most valuable asset they want a quality service they can have confidence in and an agent who will get the best price for their property. Agents (whether traditional high street or other models such as ours) should spend more time focusing on the quality of the service they offer to their customers and not join in the race to the bottom on fees - which in the long run is unsustainable.

From: Paul Collier 06 January 2016 09:00 AM

Glenn has very accurately identified the problem with joining OTM for many estate agencies like us. We were very excited about the launch of a third portal when it was announced and looked very hard at their proposal. As much as we would have loved to join it would mean a significant reduction in the exposure and marketing of our clients properties - something which we just couldn't accept. Like Glenn we wish OTM every success and hope they will realise the difficulty many of us face in joining and revise their policy.

From: Paul Collier 06 January 2016 08:50 AM

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