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Keith Russell

Senior Partner

2548 Profile Views

About Me

Have been an estate agent from boy to man. Have known nothing else, so one could say it runs through my veins.

my expertise in the industry

Old age & lots of experience.

Keith's Recent Activity

Damned if we do, damned if we don't. complete rock & a hard place. In my personal opinion, it is down to government to set out the strict guidelines that our industry specifically operates and for us the agents to adhere accordingly. It should be that simples!

From: Keith Russell 05 January 2021 08:27 AM

I started my career in 1982, where I first took home £150.00 per month as trainee. My Parents said I was being taken advantage of but I could see the future. Literally 3 years later I reached the dizzy heights of earning 38k in 1985. I cannot work out the relativity to income that would be today, but I do know at 21 I owned a house bought for £135,000 which I know today would be worth £700,000, so this does put this into some perspective. All this being due to unbelievable numbers of transactions. I remember well that our week started on Saturday, where our target of agreed sales by close of play on the Monday was 7 or 8 properties. We tended to eventually sell around 12-15 properties per week and complete on around 40 properties a month. This did only bring in about 60k but with an office commission of 5% plus a mere basic of 10k the commission was the driving factor. Those were the days where we literally worked from 8am - 8pm 13 days on 1 day off. At one point the directors made us open on Wednesdays until 10pm, which when only having a phone on your desk meant we personally contacted people right up until this time. I don't think people would do this today but they were great fun.... no Political Correctness in sight. Although as a non smoker it would have been nice to be in an office that wasn't full of ashtrays and smoke. I expect there are others out there that remember these days, but thought I would share this with people in this industry that joined after the mad 80's.

From: Keith Russell 04 June 2020 08:55 AM

From: Keith Russell 13 May 2020 15:37 PM

All well and good the government giving the green light to open, but where is the specifics in terms of details how agents are meant to conduct viewings, valuations etc? Is it a case of make up your own ideas or am I just not receiving this information as we are not part of a corporate organisation? Any guidance on where this is displayed would be gratefully received.

From: Keith Russell 13 May 2020 08:07 AM

Absolutely nobody on this earth knows the answer. It will be what it will be and we will have to make the best of whatever the outcome, as we always have throughout the ups & downs. For sure this one is somewhat unprecedented, apart from the World wars, where I for one was not around. But I imagine it will be nothing like what our predecessors went through during those times.

From: Keith Russell 22 April 2020 09:45 AM

This depends if money is your sole goal in life. I liken it to the vultures that looked to make a buck when the war was on, when every decent person where either fighting the war or doing something towards it. That would be my preference. The market will still be there when all of this blows over.

From: Keith Russell 03 April 2020 16:05 PM

DESPERATE! I would hope that the majority of the public would be able to see through this farce.

From: Keith Russell 03 April 2020 08:06 AM

100% concur with this post. We once had a Purple Bricks client thank us for getting their sale through. Whilst nice to be appreciated, it is hugely frustrating that our client had basically subsidised the Purple Bricks client in essence and that our fees have been reduced as a direct result their very existence . It would be interesting to know how much revenue has left our industry as a whole due this type of "agency" offering.

From: Keith Russell 02 April 2020 09:23 AM

I have to say, I am still bemused as to why agents are listing new properties? Are people really going to make viable offers on a property purely viewed on-line and more importantly see it through once they have the opportunity to view directly, whenever that might be. We have advised the opposite to our clients, where we have actually recommended to withdraw properties and re-list at a time when things return to some form of normality. By all means let me know if I am missing something here!

From: Keith Russell 30 March 2020 08:06 AM

A sledge hammer to crack a nut! If only the powers that be truly understood the reality of this business. As per usual, it is spoiled by the few, so the majority have to pay. Which PAYING will be the primary reasoning for this. I thinks I might start up a training course to make a quick buck.

From: Keith Russell 28 January 2020 11:36 AM

Purely a vehicle for floating on the stocks and selling out. Nothing more, nothing less with recent sell outs proving this to be the case. But who will be left with the baby?

From: Keith Russell 17 June 2019 09:11 AM

Soon we will be banned for actually having the audacity to charge a fee at all.

From: Keith Russell 19 June 2018 08:33 AM

You clearly failed to do your homework before instructing your "traditional agent"

From: Keith Russell 05 May 2017 09:09 AM

There are arguments for and against. One thing I agree with being, this referendum should never have been an option if a leave result is so apocalyptic. I guess only Mother time will provide the answer if we leave. If we remain, we shall of course never know.

From: Keith Russell 22 June 2016 12:33 PM

Whilst I completely agree that in this particular case, the agent should never have been found in favour of their fee, simply due to the length of time between their introduction and when the property was sold via the other agent. However, it would be quite ludicrous to suggest that if a viewer does not offer, a fee is avoidable. Otherwise, in my opinion this opens up the position of an unscrupulous buyer to approach the vendor direct to simply go through an on line £75 listing agent, as he made no offer through the real introducing agent. The simple answer is common sense, which this particular judgement appears not to have implemented. But of course, we no not the whole picture.

From: Keith Russell 03 June 2016 08:58 AM

To me it all appears to be a dot com con. Purple Bricks have been going five minutes. Yes they may well receive a high volume of instructions, but their fees are basically a packet of crisps & a pint. Their overheads from what I can see are pretty extensive and appear to be running a business on money raised through lending from very wealthy people. I would love to know how much net profit they have made to date? Truth be known, probably huge losses in real terms. The owners & investors are just building up to a very quick buck. All going to end in tears for some poor souls.

From: Keith Russell 14 May 2015 09:15 AM

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