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James Kitcher

Managing Director

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James's Recent Activity

You can trace the acquisition problems all the way back to hamptons in 2010 which was a steal but no thought was given to what would happen to John d wood and their other London brands. Its like watching British Leyland with all their different brands competing against each other and driving the business into the ground.

From: James Kitcher 23 August 2020 20:15 PM

The next CEO wont be an estate agent or salesmen. They will need to be a restructure expert. The premium parts of LSH and Hamptons will need to be separated off and the rest could be rebranded under the same name perhaps John D Wood. Also the lettings only business like Finders Keepers could be bundled up together and sold off for working capital. Simply put in these days you do not need a business as diverse as countrwide and simplification could save it.

From: James Kitcher 22 July 2020 09:47 AM

Not being funny but who was that guy, if he was so big his name would have turned up trade press like propertyweek or Estates Gazette. Sounds more and more like a chancer who eyes were to big for his stomach. How on earth did this guy get approved by due diligence.

From: James Kitcher 11 March 2020 13:43 PM

Rightmove has convinced us all that we cannot live without it. Even when it's doing crap like now. I just received my annual increase letter it's actually quite small but this year my rep hasn't tried to contact me to justify as things are so bad on the lead front with RM. At the moment Zoopla is 10 to 1 leads versus rightmove and otm is doing 3 to 1 what's rightmove's excuse. If the lead drought continues I will seriously look at dropping them

From: James Kitcher 28 January 2019 10:25 AM

Its far too early to be declaring victory. They are spending a fortune on advertising at the moment and whether they can keep that up is another question

From: James Kitcher 18 October 2018 11:58 AM

Foxtons aren't the only ones. Chestertons recently moved their Chelsea office from a big shiny space on Sloane avenue round the corner to a much smaller office on Cale st. All estate agents need to look at their property costs as the market gets tougher

From: James Kitcher 10 October 2018 11:26 AM

The problem 'Business as Usual' has seen Humberts go from one disaster to another year after year. What they need is proper strategies which sbhort, medium and long-term goals. Business as Usual will see us all back here in 6 months wondering what went wrong.

From: James Kitcher 22 May 2018 11:09 AM

And in other news, cows moo and sheep go baa! Countrywide have been playing hard and fast for years, their desperate situation has clearly affected the common sense of some staff

From: James Kitcher 08 March 2018 10:18 AM

I know Robert Bartlett from Chestertons he's got the experience, knows how to be an estate agent and is a good leader. The only problem is dragging him off the ski slope

From: James Kitcher 26 January 2018 10:28 AM

Except they are going to have to prove that they already knew they were entering a cartel. Not so easy. Also they could end up getting fined by the CMA for their 'confession'. Quite frankly, 60 out of the 1000s that have become members is not very impressive. The directors of these agencies should have realised that this was a serious long-term commitment. Crying about it now just suggested bad business judgement on their part. I was very comfortable not signing up to OTM for 5 years because I did not want that commitment

From: James Kitcher 06 May 2016 09:09 AM

PSG has something like 8000 agents across all its brands. Zoopla could now gain access to that data (with minor changes to the PSG terms & conditions) and sell up and down the chain. They could sell the info to New Homes Developers (cutting out agents), Banks (cutting out agents and their IFAs), Utilities and Telecom companies (cutting out lettings agents). They could even sell details to the big boys like Countrywide, Connells and LSL. There were unconfirmed reports that this had already happened in some areas of the country. Who owns your data will become more and more important and telling ZPG and RM that they cannot just sell your vendors and landlords details to enrich themselves is essential.

From: James Kitcher 21 April 2016 10:30 AM

I am interested to know how much the solicitors and advisors are going to be paid for all this. Nobody does anything for nothing.

From: James Kitcher 19 April 2016 16:06 PM

Oh Dear, someone forgot that most court proceedings are a matter of public record.

From: James Kitcher 18 April 2016 10:32 AM

I see. So a client who signs a 3 month contract and is unhappy after the first 2 weeks has cause to cancel their contract, that'll work well for our industry. I read the prospectus from AM all the way through and understood this was a 5 year commitment. That is why I did not take up the opportunity. Business should be run for the long-term not what is fashionable that year. AM is a good idea but it was always going to take a longer time to acheive that some short-sighted agent fooled themselves into believing

From: James Kitcher 08 April 2016 09:45 AM

But where are the estate agents? I realise that the CEO is trying to create a bold new retail company, but she still needs experts in property & financial services to advise her. If I was a big shareholder I would be concerned.

From: James Kitcher 11 February 2016 16:17 PM

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