Property Natter - Going for growth? United we stand.....

It was US disability rights advocate, Helen Keller, who said: ‘alone, we can do so little, together we can do so much.’

Just think about that for a second. It’s a truism, isn’t it?

Helen was talking about overcoming barriers for people who were blind and visually impaired in mid-Twentieth Century America.

But the quote had universal application then and it has universal application today.

Take this week’s King’s Speech at the State Opening of Parliament, for example. In the middle of all the pomp and ceremony and Black Rod’s historical door-knocking, His Majesty’s keynote address was barely ten seconds old when he said this:

“My Ministers’ focus is on increasing economic growth and safeguarding the health and security of the British people for generations to come.”

It doesn’t really matter whether or not you agree with any of the 21 individual measures that were announced – the point is that economically, the Government is focused on growth. And that brings me nicely back to Helen Keller.

In the pipeline

One of the keys to economic growth is technology integration. It improves data accessibility, communication and productivity – all of which contribute to growth.

And this is why we were all celebrating this week at The ValPal Network (which is owned by Angels Media) because we were able to announce a partnership with street.co.uk through which estate agency users can seamlessly access their TVPN leads through their street.co.uk CRM.

Because the two organisations worked together, estate agency professionals will be able to streamline operations and enjoy an enhanced user experience.

It’s the ‘together’ bit that’s important here. And my old friend, TVPN director, Craig Vile, tells me to watch this space because there is more to come – an integration for Movepal is in the pipeline for 2024 which will allow agents to work on a single platform while getting the nurturing benefits that Movepal offers.

“We have listened to our clients who are all saying that ease of use is important to them. We predict this integration will cut administrative tasks in half,” says Craig.

Which, in turn, will mean faster lead contact and more time to explore other opportunities.

As the PropTech landscape develops further, these are exactly the sort of collaborations that will make life easier for our agents….and boost economic growth.

And it all came about because we listened to their feedback and responded accordingly.

Top tip – if you get the chance, take a look at Street Group’s co-founder, Heather Staff’s PropTech Today column in Estate Agent Today next week. She’s writing about the undeniable benefits of integration – it’s a great read!

Keep marketing for those Christmas gifts

Now that it’s back to business as usual in Parliament, the next break that we have to look forward to is Christmas.

We realise it’s very tempting for agents to switch off their marketing plans during the holiday season – especially when times are as tough as they are now.

But the truth is that thousands of homeowners use the Christmas break to consider their next move.

Santa’s elves at TVPN have been crunching the numbers and we’ll be bringing you more stats showing that lead generation potential in the coming days. Make sure you have a read and don’t look a Christmas gift horse in the mouth.

Boost for buyers

There was some good news this week when Nationwide became the first lender in months to release a sub-5% loan deal on a two and five year fix.

It’s breaking that psychological barrier as much as anything else and we can only hope that other lenders will follow suit and cut their borrowing costs before Christmas.

It should help give a nudge to demand levels in the market.

I wonder if Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will turn that nudge into a shove in his Autumn Statement on the 22^nd. After all, we’re about to enter the Season of Goodwill.

Until next time.