UK estate agents are paid one of the lowest commission rates in the world, according to a spokesperson for a leading...
Archive
07 October 2023
From: Features
![Insight: ministerial changes have slipped under the radar](/upload/images/new-story-stock-images/GovernmentImage-400x310.jpg)
There has been an understandable focus on things other than Government since the death of Queen Elizabeth was announced, but Prime...
24 September 2022
From: Features
![Opinion - government mortgage plan could mean more inherited debt](/upload/images/Rental%20Market/Mortgage-image400x310.png)
There’s talk of 50-year mortgages being introduced, loans that, along with the property they finance, could be passed to the next...
09 July 2022
From: Features
![Opinion: Fairer lettings are not a horror story](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/Homes-MaginifyingGlass-400x310.jpg)
The government’s Fairer Private Rented Sector White Paper has initially caused some consternation and a strong adverse reaction from some within...
18 June 2022
From: Features
![Video tours? I don’t see it myself!](/upload/images/PropTech%20%26%20Online/VirtualTour-1-400x310.jpg)
There was an article in Estate Agent Today recently that suggested only four per cent of properties on Rightmove and Zoopla...
11 June 2022
From: Features
![Is it time to do the world a favour?](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/uk-housing400x310.png)
Estate agents are in a unique position – we handle the meeting of people’s aspirations probably more than any other profession....
21 May 2022
From: Features
![A 9 to 5 estate agent…dream on!](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/MillennialAgent-Tech-400x310.jpg)
There’s lots of talk of people moving over within estate agency to be self-employed so they can chase the dream of...
18 December 2021
From: Features
![Laying out a welcome mat for Airbnb - a breath of fresh air for deals](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/Millennials-Handshake-400x310.jpg)
There are plenty in the estate agency and lettings world who don’t like the concept of Airbnb and similar enterprises. But they...
16 October 2021
From: Features
![Sector reform - stamp out this market malaise](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/Stamp-Duty400x310.png)
Every so often it comes around – the argument that stamp duty should be reformed/removed/replaced (delete as appropriate). But why? Where’s the...
21 August 2021
From: Features
![Post stamp-duty - keep the home market’s fires burning](/img/default/eat.png)
Remember the early days of lockdown when there was a general panic? Perhaps the hot demand for toilet rolls was a sign...
24 July 2021
From: Features
![Crazy times, hazy memories - looking back at more than 35 years in the industry](/img/default/eat.png)
There are just three working days until the end of the stamp duty holiday for most buyers. That’s not even enough time...
26 June 2021
From: Features
![What should agents do with cool customers in a hot market?](/img/default/eat.png)
Property owners who play it cool when it comes to marketing their home find their frustration soon becomes overheated. The constant we...
08 May 2021
From: Features
![Starting a business? Sage advice proved to be worth acting upon](/img/default/eat.png)
It’s 12 years since we opened our doors with the Fine and Country estate agency in Drayton on April 1 2009. The...
03 April 2021
From: Features
![Why every day is Women’s Day here!](/img/default/eat.png)
You could be forgiven for overlooking International Women’s Day on Monday. Well, almost. Focus was instead turned to the first day back...
13 March 2021
From: Features
![Honesty – and a leak - see the property market through ‘crisis’](/img/default/eat.png)
Honesty is a concept that journalists will tell their readers is non-existent for estate agents. Yeah, right! But as the end...
27 February 2021
From: Features
![It’s time to stamp on stamp duty speculation](/img/default/eat.png)
You can always tell when Budget day is approaching. There’s lots of comment from every imaginable quarter about what the Chancellor of...
13 February 2021
From: Features
![Agents Do Charity - from Christmas parties to Christmas carols](/img/default/eat.png)
We’re just a few days from December so why not get into the festive spirit a little early and get some...
27 November 2020
From: Breaking News
![Revealed: Agencies’ top website hits and social media followings](/img/default/eat.png)
A new analysis of corporate estate agencies’ social media followings and websites shows the big winners to be Savills, Foxtons and...
28 July 2020
From: Breaking News
![Agency branch openings after rebranding and acquisition](/img/default/eat.png)
An estate agency in St Albans has rebranded as Fine & Country. JW&Co Langleys office in St Albans was acquired by Tom...
03 June 2019
From: Breaking News
![Property Jobs Today - this year's final update on new appointments](/img/default/eat.png)
If you thought Christmas Eve meant no more news in terms of industry movers and shakers…well, think again - we’ve one...
24 December 2018
From: Breaking News
![OnTheMarket price rise could be the right move for some of us](/img/default/eat.png)
It was interesting to see the recent story on Estate Agent Today about OnTheMarket (OTM) raising its fees after signing up...
04 August 2018
From: Features
![GDPR Weekly: Taking the first steps towards compliance](/img/default/eat.png)
Coming into force on May 25, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - which replaces the Data Protection Act 1998 -...
20 February 2018
From: Breaking News
![Will Purplebricks ruling end agents’ purple mist?](/img/default/eat.png)
So at last someone has woken up to the fact that Purplebricks needs to be clearer about how it charges for...
21 October 2017
From: Features
![A sense of déjà vu over OnTheMarket](/img/default/eat.png)
There’s a distinct sense of déjà vu over the debacle of OnTheMarket. I avoided joining two years ago because I couldn’t see...
12 August 2017
From: Features
![When estate agents subside to even lower levels…](/img/default/eat.png)
It’s traditional for estate agents to support each other when they come under attack from the press or public. After all,...
28 July 2017
From: Features
![Great expectations can be a dickens of a problem](/img/default/eat.png)
Great Expectations was a fantastic novel-cum-social-history written by Charles Dickens, who once lived in my adopted home city of Portsmouth. But these...
17 June 2017
From: Features
![Using Rightmove alone would be the wrong move](/img/default/eat.png)
It’s easy to be dismissive of the value of local newspapers for advertising residential property but things are never as straightforward...
08 April 2017
From: Features
![Don’t undervalue Which? as a useful marketing tool](/img/default/eat.png)
The guys at Which? are at it again, all over estate agents like a rash for “over valuing” properties so they...
17 February 2017
From: Features
![Agents Do Charity - as the countdown to Christmas commences](/img/default/eat.png)
There’s no need to worry but...er....there are only three weeks to go until Christmas. With traditional feelings of goodwill at this time...
02 December 2016
From: Breaking News
![Invisible juggling – estate agents’ impressive skill](/img/default/eat.png)
As circus performers, most estate agents would fail. Some of you might find that difficult to comprehend. After all, many uninformed members...
26 November 2016
From: Features
![The gloom lifts – and so does the property market](/img/default/eat.png)
It’s curious how gloom, gloom pre-Brexit Britain’s property market has gained a much brighter outlook now that the result of the...
07 October 2016
From: Features
![My favourite grouse…lazy agents who tout for my properties](/img/default/eat.png)
As I sit here writing this on the Glorious 12th, I realise I’m going on about my favourite grouse – agents...
12 August 2016
From: Features
![Keen kids kindle Kenya kindness](/img/default/eat.png)
It’s a familiar theme – kids doing charity trips and needing sponsorship or raffle prizes to help fund their fares. If we...
29 July 2016
From: Features
![Index of house prices – or accumulating crisis?](/img/default/eat.png)
So we now have a new 'official' index of house prices, and much good may it do us. For the chattering classes...
17 June 2016
From: Features
![Brexit – does anyone know, does anyone care?](/img/default/eat.png)
The glorious thing about the referendum on our EU membership is that four weeks today it will all be over –...
27 May 2016
From: Features
![Agents do Charity – as June approaches](/img/default/eat.png)
As we approach another Bank Holiday weekend, estate and letting agents across the country have again been raising thousands of pounds...
27 May 2016
From: Breaking News
![How do you protect clients from themselves?](/img/default/eat.png)
When a potential buyer comes into the office and says they want to view a property on your books, the natural...
29 April 2016
From: Features
![Naivety is a becoming a real headache](/img/default/eat.png)
The property market is racing ahead, but not everyone who wants to be part of it appears to want to keep...
12 March 2016
From: Features
![Homes’ horrible histories have little value](/img/default/eat.png)
Life is getting pretty frustrating for estate agents, and not just because getting houses onto the market is such an uphill...
13 February 2016
From: Features
![Consultation action confirms buy-to-let contempt](/img/default/eat.png)
My suspicion in my December Industry Views column that the Chancellor, George Osborne, holds certain types of property owners in contempt...
08 January 2016
From: Features
![Property ownership is fine – if it’s on an industrial scale](/img/default/eat.png)
I’m sure I’m not the only estate agent confused by the Government’s approach to residential property ownership. Many of the current ministerial...
04 December 2015
From: Features
![Why the NAEA is right to tighten money laundering screws](/img/default/eat.png)
News from the Halifax this week that the combined values of the residential properties in London amounts to £1.13 trillion, virtually...
13 November 2015
From: Features
![Traditional agents have been online for years](/img/default/eat.png)
It’s interesting to read of plans to debate which business plan really is best for the customer, online or traditional estate...
09 October 2015
From: Features
![So much bleating, I thought a goat had got in!](/img/default/eat.png)
It was interesting to see the report on Estate Agent Today about the meeting between London estate agents, NAEA, and HMRC. No,...
25 September 2015
From: Features
![Almost a love-in from Which?](/img/default/eat.png)
It’s always interesting when Which? produces a report that includes estate agency. It asked 1,990 people their views on buying and selling...
21 August 2015
From: Features
![Agency reveals 'Britain's best garden'](/img/default/eat.png)
An estate agency has announced the winner of its best British garden competition. Fine and Country carried out the competition and its...
21 August 2015
From: Breaking News
![Heard the one about the shy estate agent?](/img/default/eat.png)
What do we actually do as estate agents to serve our wonderful public? Some might think we go out, value houses, advise...
26 June 2015
From: Features
![A victory V sign to the housing sector?](/img/default/eat.png)
The Conservatives’ election victory came as a surprise, so much so that television pundits spent all night after the vote rubbishing...