There was a long-awaited return to the House of Commons this week when the Renters (Reform) Bill finally rose to the...
Archive
![Take advantage of a better market](/upload/images/4%20ESTAS%20EAT%20Feature%2017th%20Feb%20by%20Simon%20Brown.jpg)
Reading the news on Estate & Letting Agent Today every day (as I’m sure you all do, too), there appears to...
17 February 2024
From: Features
![Property Natter - 2023? Keep calm and carry on](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
Happy New Year, to you all. Now that we’re all back in harness and Christmas feels like a long-distant memory, I...
14 January 2023
From: Features
![Our Oldest House Price Index - happy birthday Halifax](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Property%20Market/HousePrices_pound-400x310.png)
Readers of a certain age may remember 1983. The Space Shuttle Challenger made its first flight, Neil Kinnock was elected Labour leader,...
14 January 2023
From: Features
![Everything You Need To Know About the 2023 Housing Market](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Seasonal%20Photos/2023HappyNY-400x310.png)
New year, old worries: what’s happening in the housing market? We’ve asked experts and collated forecasts, 15 in total. On the one...
07 January 2023
From: Features
![Property Natter – the five biggest property moments of 2022](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
As we get ever closer to 2023, this final Natter of the year is dedicated to the five biggest property moments of...
17 December 2022
From: Features
![2023 - this is what’s going to happen](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Seasonal%20Photos/HappyNY-400x310.png)
Is it really just a year ago that we were nervously wondering whether yet another Christmas would be Covid-affected? Little did we...
10 December 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter – interview with Zoopla’s Charlie Bryant](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
Here at Angels Media towers, we’re always keen to get the biggest names in the business on board for interviews. And that...
03 December 2022
From: Features
![Online Estate Agents - the new dinosaurs of house selling](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/PropTech/WiFiMobile-400x310.png)
I’ve just read an article saying that this is the time of the online estate agency. The time in question is, of...
26 November 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter – is this the end for fixed-fee online estate agency?](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
Aside from all the news surrounding the Autumn Statement this week, which will have a significant bearing on the property market...
19 November 2022
From: Features
![Elon Musk and Blue Ticks - why Twitter matters to the industry](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Social%20Media/TwitterLogo-400x310.jpg)
I’ve been on Twitter for a decade and have 23,500 followers - a gratifying number and of those a couple of...
12 November 2022
From: Features
![Housing Under Rishi - don’t expect much (but be grateful for that)](/upload/images/Politics%20(MPs%2C%20party%20logos%2C%20etc)/Rishi%20Sunak%2003_400x310.png)
And…breathe. For a while back there, the only certainty for the housing market was uncertainty. That isn’t to say the election of Rishi...
29 October 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter – property is holding its own despite the turmoil](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
I can’t really write about anything else this week, can I? Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you will have...
22 October 2022
From: Features
![If You Think Truss Is Bad, Look At The System...](/upload/images/Politics%20(MPs%2C%20party%20logos%2C%20etc)/Parliament-Night-400x310.jpg)
How did the housing market transform from incredibly strong - almost too strong - early in the year, to a situation...
15 October 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter – why brand reputation is more crucial for smaller firms](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
In tougher times – as is the case now, post-Covid, post-Brexit, cost-of-living crisis, war in Ukraine, etc – reputation and consumer...
08 October 2022
From: Features
![Poor Liz and Kwasi. What Do They Do Now?](/upload/images/Politics%20(MPs%2C%20party%20logos%2C%20etc)/LizTruss01-400x310.png)
Who would be in the shoes of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng? I don’t mean who would like their power, pay and...
01 October 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter - how can agents combat the cost-of-living crisis?](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
The worst cost-of-living crisis in generations is everywhere we look and agents – and the property industry more widely – are...
24 September 2022
From: Features
![The Holiday Home Debate - a possible solution](/upload/images/library/HolidayHome-400x310.jpg)
The current period of national solidarity over the death of Queen Elizabeth II has embraced the world of property as it...
17 September 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter - why housing must always have a seat at the top table](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
First off, my own quick tribute to the Queen, who died on Thursday afternoon aged 96. Despite her age and declining...
10 September 2022
From: Features
![What do we do about a problem like Airbnb?](/upload/images/Logos/airbnb-logo400x310.png)
Some people will say: What problem? But they are getting fewer as the detrimental effect of increasing numbers of short lets on...
03 September 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter - a day in the life of a mortgage broker](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
In this latest Day in the Life of...Natter, I get an insight into one of the most vital cogs of the...
27 August 2022
From: Features
![Dear New Prime Minister - here's your housing to-do list](/upload/images/Politics%20(MPs%2C%20party%20logos%2C%20etc)/SunakvsTruss02_400x310.png)
We are only a fortnight away from having a new Prime Minister, following a contest in which housing has played a...
20 August 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter: a day in the life of a Conveyancer](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
In a welcome return to a favourite series of mine - and a timely one at that, given the current back...
13 August 2022
From: Features
![Purplebricks, Liz Truss and George Orwell - double-think about it](/upload/images/Politics%20(MPs%2C%20party%20logos%2C%20etc)/LizTruss01-400x310.png)
Double-think, for those who have not read George Orwell, is when people are expected to accept two conflicting beliefs as truth,...
06 August 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter – is LinkedIn something agency can no longer ignore?](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
For some time, LinkedIn was seen – fairly or unfairly – as stodgy, dull, corporate and formal. The uncool uncle to...
30 July 2022
From: Features
![Rishi-Tweedle-Dum and Liz-Tweedle-DumDum](/img/default/eat.png)
When it comes to housing policy, the Conservative MPs have given their party a choice between Tweedle Dum and Tweedle DumDum. Rishi...
23 July 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter – why is the property market joining the podcast party?](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
If there’s one thing that received a boost as a result of Covid and lockdowns, it’s podcasts – which reached whole...
16 July 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter - why conveyancers should charge more for a better service](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
The ongoing debate about how to boost agent and conveyancer relations, and improve the homebuying system for all, continues to rage,...
02 July 2022
From: Features
![Why haven't politicians listened to our industry?](/upload/images/Politics%20(MPs%2C%20party%20logos%2C%20etc)/Parliament-Night-400x310.jpg)
It’s often fashionable to criticise trade bodies and official groups, but right now I think that’s absolutely inappropriate. In well over 20...
25 June 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter - do agents need to worry about the metaverse?](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
Between you and me, dear reader, I had little to no idea about what the metaverse was before researching it for...
18 June 2022
From: Features
![Why are landlords so unpopular?](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/LandlordStressed-400x310.png)
This question is not as flippant as it sounds because over recent years the status of the private landlord has taken...
11 June 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter: ‘the only way to bring about change is to be proactive’](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
In this latest ‘Women in Property’ edition of the Natter, I check in with Collette Allen, who was recently appointed as...
28 May 2022
From: Features
![Industry Views - Michael Gove and His Dead Cat](/upload/images/Politics%20(MPs%2C%20party%20logos%2C%20etc)/MichaelGove-400x310.jpg)
In retrospect, it was perhaps inevitable that the infamous dead cat would come into the debate over government housing targets and...
21 May 2022
From: Features
![Video interview - what are the main challenges facing letting agents?](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/HouseViewing-10-400x310.jpg)
In this latest video interview, exclusively for EAT and LAT readers, Estate Agent Today's Lee Dahill chats with Mike Dawson from...
21 May 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter – will the challenger banks ever become major lenders?](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
Many people in recent years will have become familiar with challenger banks such as Monzo, Starling and Atom. Many will have...
14 May 2022
From: Features
![Agents prepare for planning overhaul as sector digests Queen's Speech](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/PlanningImage-400x310.jpg)
Agents have pledged to keep a close eye on planning reforms amid a proposed overhaul announced in the Queen’s Speech yesterday. Prince...
11 May 2022
From: Breaking News
![Queen’s Speech: How proposed laws may help or hinder estate agents](/upload/images/Politics%20(MPs%2C%20party%20logos%2C%20etc)/house%20of%20lords_jpg%20400%20x%20310.png)
The Queen’s Speech has unveiled proposed overhauls on planning, consumer and economic crime laws that could all have an effect on...
10 May 2022
From: Breaking News
![Right To Buy - what on earth is government playing at?](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/Mortgage-House-Keys-400x310.jpg)
What a difference two months and some local elections make. Cast your minds back to March 9 and the annual report of...
07 May 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter – the who’s who of the industry](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
The property industry is fortunate in including many great people, doing great work across a range of businesses – from traditional agency...
30 April 2022
From: Features
![Why Rental Reform Is Becoming More Important By The Day](/upload/images/Rental%20Market/UKHouses2-400x310.png)
It’s easy to overestimate the importance of something in one’s own industry or work, but there seems good reason for believing...
23 April 2022
From: Features
![Over And Out - An Editor Departs…](/upload/images/Site%20logos/eat-logo-400x310.png)
For the record, this isn’t my last Industry Views for Estate Agent Today, although by the time you read this I'll be...
02 April 2022
From: Features
![The Coming ‘Budget’ - What’s In Store For Agents?](/upload/images/Politics%20(MPs%2C%20party%20logos%2C%20etc)/RishiSunak-400x310.jpg)
If you want to sex-up the Chancellor’s financial statement scheduled for lunchtime on Wednesday, you’d call it a Budget or a...
19 March 2022
From: Features
![Estate Agent Today: as one great era ends, another begins](/upload/images/Site%20logos/eat-logo-400x310.png)
This week, you will have all seen the sad news that Graham Norwood is stepping down as editor of Estate Agent...
19 March 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter: agency with a new concept and terrific fundraising](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
As regular readers will know, I like to use this column to shout out about the independent agents who are the...
12 March 2022
From: Features
![Will The Lights Go On Again In Central London?](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/london-property400x310.png)
Almost exactly a decade ago I wrote a blog on the back of a spate on mainstream news stories about prime...
05 March 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter – meet the blockchain network quietly taking agency by storm](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
Until a few years ago, you would have been forgiven for not knowing who or what Coadjute was. But the company, founded...
26 February 2022
From: Features
![A Lesson for Agents from the Ukraine Crisis](/upload/images/Politics%20(MPs%2C%20party%20logos%2C%20etc)/ParliamentView-400x310.jpg)
If the UK and its allies have been played by Russia over the Ukraine ‘invasion’, and it’s beginning to look that...
19 February 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter – events for agents to look out for in the first half of 2022](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
Property events and functions are now back in full swing, with 2022 likely to be the first ‘normal’ year for this...
12 February 2022
From: Features
![Interest Rates - Do They Matter Any More?](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/AdobeStock_236686919.jpeg)
Here’s the odd thing about interest rates - we all care about them, but they don’t directly affect that many people...
05 February 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter – the agency helping homeless people move closer to their own home](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
Our Agents Do Charity column each Friday does a fantastic job of highlighting the amazing charitable work of agents up and...
29 January 2022
From: Features
22 January 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter – my predictions for the property market in 2022](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
As this is the first Natter back since the Christmas break, I should like to first wish all our readers a...
15 January 2022
From: Features
![Revealed: the hidden threat to 2022’s housing market](/upload/images/Energy%20and%20Green%20Homes/EnergySupply-1-400x310.jpg)
At the risk of mixing my metaphors, any mention of energy has become something of a blue touch paper in the...
08 January 2022
From: Features
![Property Natter – the A-Z of property for 2021](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
It really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas – just a week to go now. Presents all wrapped and...
18 December 2021
From: Features
![£100m deal for famous London agency - 'talks underway'](/upload/images/library/Chestertons-logo400x310.png)
Sky News reports that the little-known Lomond Group - backed by private equity money - is in exclusive talks to buy one...
17 December 2021
From: Breaking News
![Six Things We DIDN’T See In 2021](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/Homes-MaginifyingGlass-400x310.jpg)
We all know what did happen in 2021 - Covid and more Covid, the stamp duty holiday frenzy, a soaring rental...
11 December 2021
From: Features
![Property Natter - video interview with Stephen Brown and RAN 2021!](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
In a first for the Natter, this week's interview is a video affair, with me posing the questions to Stephen Brown,...
04 December 2021
From: Features
![Build To Rent - why is it so cold and unfriendly?](/upload/images/BTR%2C%20PBSA%2C%20Co-living/BTR-Block-400x310.jpg)
Let’s begin with total transparency from this author: I believe there’s a place for Build To Rent in the wider portfolio...
27 November 2021
From: Features
![Property Natter – catching up with The Singing Estate Agent](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
In this latest Natter piece zoning in on independent agents doing things differently, following on from the one I did with...
20 November 2021
From: Features
![The EPC - how it’s defied sceptics, critics and Brexiteers](/upload/images/Energy%20and%20Green%20Homes/Energyefficiency400x310.jpg)
I’ve never written the three letters ‘EPC’ more often than I have in the past week. Law changes for the private rental...
13 November 2021
From: Features
![Property Natter - checking in with some of the ESTAS' biggest winners](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
A few weeks ago the ESTAS took place at the Grosvenor House hotel in London - the first chance for many...
06 November 2021
From: Features
![Lies, Damned Lies, and House Building Targets](/upload/images/BTR%2C%20PBSA%2C%20Co-living/build-to-rent400x310.png)
We’ve probably all learned to be a little less cynical about politicians in recent weeks, given the tragic events. We perhaps...
30 October 2021
From: Features
![Property Natter – four ways agents can improve brand recognition this winter](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
As a character from a fairly well-known TV show once said, winter is coming and we’re all contemplating where 2021 has...
23 October 2021
From: Features
![Rental Sector Enforcement - time to pull our fingers out](/upload/images/Rental%20Market/RentalMarketImage-1-400x310.jpg)
Within weeks the focus of the industry will be on the White Paper to be issued on rental reform before Christmas. Let’s...
16 October 2021
From: Features
![Property Natter: are estate agents paid enough?](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
Agent wages have been in the news this week, with boastful claims from a number of self-employed businesses about the sums...
09 October 2021
From: Features
![A Taxing Time: the property industry is set for increases](/upload/images/Politics%20(MPs%2C%20party%20logos%2C%20etc)/RishiSunak-400x310.jpg)
By the time I next write this column, we’ll be just days before the next Budget and Autumn Statement. So I’ll...
02 October 2021
From: Features
![Property Natter – how can estate agents improve their green credentials?](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
As we motor towards the next major global climate change conference – the UN’s COP26 being held in Glasgow from 31...
25 September 2021
From: Features
![Property Natter: talking the secret to good photography and working for Foxtons](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
Good property marketing photos have arguably never been more important in an increasingly visual and tech-led world. We saw just the...
11 September 2021
From: Features
![Rent Controls - It’s Back To The Future](/upload/images/Rental%20Market/RentalMarketImage-1-400x310.jpg)
Few political policies have such a ring of the past as rent controls - they were last seen in this country...
04 September 2021
From: Features
![Property Natter - will UK agents ever be seen as true professionals?](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
There are some parts of the world, including in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, where estate agent isn’t seen as...
28 August 2021
From: Features
21 August 2021
From: Features
![Property Natter – has Purplebricks dealt a fatal blow to the self-employed model?](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
One of the biggest trends since Covid, in the property world and elsewhere, has been a shift towards more hybrid, flexible...
14 August 2021
From: Features
![This is what the market will do after the stamp duty holiday (maybe)](/upload/images/library/RowOfHouses-400x310.jpg)
There’s already plenty of talk about autumn - depressing huh? - with agents pondering how the housing market will respond to...
07 August 2021
From: Features
![Property Natter: half-year review – what has 2021 brought so far?](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
Well, we’re technically more than halfway through the year already, but we’ll let that slide. And what a year it’s been...
31 July 2021
From: Features
![Is This The Alternative To Stamp Duty?](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/Stamp-Duty400x310.png)
There’s gathering momentum to do ‘something’ about the unfairness of council tax and stamp duty. This isn’t new in principle. Agents have...
24 July 2021
From: Features
![Property Natter: how can agents ensure they don’t suffer costly missed opportunities?](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
Let it never be said that this column isn’t here to help out agents directly. In this week’s Natter, I speak...
17 July 2021
From: Features
![The Holiday Home Debate - Don’t Let Politicians Get Away With It](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/CornwallHomes400x310.png)
At first sight it’s a tough ask to defend holiday homes when there’s evidence that many who want to buy can’t,...
10 July 2021
From: Features
03 July 2021
From: Features
![Book Review: The Ultimate Property Listing by Neil Whitfield](/upload/images/Miscellaneous/BookReviewGraham-400x310.jpg)
I recently saw a fly-through video for a home on sale for well over £2m. The imagery was good (made better by...
26 June 2021
From: Features
![Property Natter: how tech-led will estate agency be in 10 years?](/upload/images/Site%20logos/PropertyNatter-2019-400x310.png)
Around 18 months ago, just a few months before the pandemic hit, I did a Natter with the team at software...
19 June 2021
From: Features
![Housing Market Frenzy - It’s Not Just Britain, You Know…](/img/default/eat.png)
Right now it seems that another day means another house price record, an all-time high for transactions, and a conveyancing log-jam...
12 June 2021
From: Features
![Property Natter: talking Brexit, Covid, USPs and mews homes with Lurot Brand](/img/default/eat.png)
Independent agents come in all shapes, sizes and looks, many with their own USPs and little quirks. It is this variety...
05 June 2021
From: Features
![Book Review: The Keys To The Capital by James Macleod](/img/default/eat.png)
Books about property are, relatively speaking, commonplace - books by estate agents are far less so, hence the interest in The...
29 May 2021
From: Features
![Property Natter – 5 ways estate agency has changed since May 2020](/img/default/eat.png)
It’s now over a year since the property market officially reopened after an unprecedented two-month shutdown at the height of the...
22 May 2021
From: Features
![Is the tide turning for the lettings industry?](/img/default/eat.png)
It’s been quite a week for the rental sector. Lettings agents and landlords have had such a torrid time in recent years...
15 May 2021
From: Features
![Property Natter: Day in the life of Simon Brown, ESTAS founder](/img/default/eat.png)
In a return to a favourite series of mine, as it gives an excellent insight into the very many facets of...
08 May 2021
From: Features
![Watch: what is the future of lettings sector PropTech?](/img/default/eat.png)
In a video interview for Letting Agent Today, Neil Cobbold, Chief Sales Officer of PayProp, speaks to property professional Chris Buckler...
08 May 2021
From: Features
![Vote, Vote, Vote - Housing and the 2021 Local Elections](/img/default/eat.png)
Local elections rarely set the pulse racing and this year’s poll on Thursday faces a similar problem. But this time, it’s a...
01 May 2021
From: Features
![Property Natter: why agency must never become a closed shop](/img/default/eat.png)
The biggest news story in town this last week – which has brought people who don’t usually like or watch football...
24 April 2021
From: Features
![Prince Philip: how the property landscape changed during his century](/img/default/eat.png)
For many, the funeral of HRH Prince Philip will be a solemn affair, while for some it will also be a...
17 April 2021
From: Features
![Phil Spencer: High Streets reopen - so what now for agency branches?](/img/default/eat.png)
Today is the day that non-essential retail reopens as part of the government's roadmap out of lockdown. For the majority of the...
12 April 2021
From: Breaking News
![Property Natter - will there be live property events this year?](/img/default/eat.png)
The last property event I attended in person – and I think the last physical property event held all told –...
10 April 2021
From: Features
![Boomin - What’s the verdict?](/img/default/eat.png)
The launch of Boomin has been and gone with, perhaps, something less than its expected fanfare of publicity. Of course there are...
03 April 2021
From: Features
![Property Natter: meet the agent poet doing things unconventionally](/img/default/eat.png)
As you’ll know by now, I like to use the Natter to shine a light on independent agents doing things a...
27 March 2021
From: Features
![Purplebricks - Is it joining the establishment?](/img/default/eat.png)
Purplebricks is now part of the mainstream landscape of British estate agency. There - I said it. An agency whose whispered name...
20 March 2021
From: Features
![Property Natter - is working from anywhere the future for UK estate agency?](/img/default/eat.png)
One of the biggest trends in recent times, as a direct result of the pandemic, is the concept of working from...
13 March 2021
From: Features
![Call My Agent! Celebrities find it’s not so easy to sell and buy homes…](/img/default/eat.png)
One of the biggest TV hits of lockdown has been the Netflix show Call My Agent! It’s a surprise success, perhaps, because...
06 March 2021
From: Features
![Letting agents unite to support others during the pandemic](/img/default/eat.png)
It might be tempting during the pandemic to focus simply on the business, yet many agents have been turning their attention...
06 March 2021
From: Features
![Property Natter - are virtual viewings now absolutely integral for agents?](/img/default/eat.png)
Pre-pandemic, virtual and video viewings were a nice little add-on for some agents, but they were far from universally used and...