Bring on the summer!

Last week was a very good week all round both for me personally and for Bradleys. I was on holiday and broke the back of the staircase build along with completing a few other areas of my house build but now it's back to the real world and back to the real work!

Bradleys had a good week while I was away (what does that say?) with the best sales agreed for quite some time. Does that mean the market is picking up? Well one Swallow doesn't make a Summer but it has stopped raining, at least for a while anyway and everyone I know seems to be happier. Perhaps the continuous rain in June and early July dampened all of our spirits more than we all realised. Could it be that if the sun continues to shine the houses will continue to sell? I certainly hope so. Sam in Callington office lives next door to David Braine the weather forecaster so I will ask her to have a word with him and see what he can do to oblige us!  

Francis Marshall FNAEA
Managing Director
Bradleys Group

Why Buy in Brixham?

If anyone needs convincing that Brixham is the place to buy a property, check out the picture of me swimming in the sea in one of the many little coves that can be found all around Brixham, on a nice summers day the water is amazing.

If that’s not enough I was lucky enough to be treated to a delicious meal on Saturday evening in Poopdeck, one of my favourite local restaurants, as a thank you for helping my wife’s Auntie who we helped move here recently from Bath. I can highly recommend the Hot Shellfish Platter – Check it out for yourself www.poopdeckrestaurant.com .

Elsewhere in Brixham the market seems to be showing signs of life after its recent 3-4 week slump, the team and I managed to get a couple of sales away in the last week. I said previously that some better weather may well make the buyers return and it seems to be the case…. albeit slowly. Let’s hope the long range forecast is right and we can see a prolonged spell of an improved market.

Chris Mitchell MNAEA
Brixham Branch Manager

On the up! (in more ways than one)

I am pleased to say I saw a bit of an improvement in business last week after a couple of pretty dire weeks, the dreaded fall throughs abated and there were several good things to talk about around the group. Our Modern Method of Selling by on-line auction again produced the results needed for vendors who wanted to be sure of selling quickly and we sold the last house on a New Homes site in Hayle only for Chris Baxter to come up with the instructions on the next New Homes site in Hayle within a few days. There has also been some very good activity right at the top end of the market and long may that continue!

Personally I am on Holiday this week so another week building for me. Will I be climbing my own homemade circular staircase by the end of the week? I am not holding my breath but you never know as I laminated the handrails yesterday so it must be getting closer.  

Francis Marshall FNAEA
Managing Director
Bradleys Group

A warm welcome to the Brixham Blog!

Welcome everyone to the Bradleys Brixham Blog my name is Chris Mitchell and I am the Manager of the local Bradleys Office in Brixham.  After watching my MD Francis blog most weeks for the last few months I thought I would take up the mantle myself and give a more local view on all things property related in Brixham.

As Francis reported my colleagues Clare, Tara and myself are finding the market in Brixham just as unpredictable as everywhere else. We’ve had a great few months, actually culminating in the office having its best year so far since it opened over 16 years ago. However, the weather over the last 3-4 weeks seems to have kept all the buyers at home.

One thing that hasn’t slowed down all year is lettings, it seems there is year round demand from Tenants so if there are any Landlords in Brixham with vacant properties to let feel free to call into the office and meet one of the team for a chat.

Elsewhere my wife Jodie and I are expecting our first child in November…a very exciting time for us but also we are into unchartered waters so any words of wisdom will be very welcome along the way, more on that as it happens.

Hopefully a nice bit of high pressure will come in meaning we can all enjoy some sun and the buyers will decide that Brixham is the place they want to be after all. 

Chris Mitchell MNAEA

Brixham Branch Manager

Predictably unpredictable!

Another weekend over and another week begins. Looe held its annual Raft Race on Sunday which I watched in between building the never ending staircase. The Junior race was won by a pair named Noah and Solomon which was very fitting. It was fabulous to see the sun on Sunday which made everything seem more than just a little brighter although sadly it is not to last.

The market continues to be very sporadic and we are all struggling to be able to understand what is causing the highs and lows as we go through the year. I guess the only thing that is predictable is that it will continue to be unpredictable! Last week started slowly but gathered pace nicely at the end of the week, fingers crossed that will continue.

So what is the MD up to this week. 6 month reviews on Monday, visiting Penzance and Newquay on Tuesday, Head Office e to meet with Brian on Wednesday, 6 month reviews in the Exeter Offices on Thursday before a meeting with the MD of Surveyors. Friday I will be office based and catch up from a very busy last three weeks and make sure I have done all I need to have done before being off to make some serious progress with that staircase the following week!

I have had a request from Chris Mitchell who is the Manager of our Brixham office to join in the blogging. Chris I am sure will lead a bit more of an interesting existence than my nonstop weekends of house building so you will also be treated to the life of a Bradleys Manager in the future.

Francis Marshall FNAEA
Managing Director
Bradleys Group

New balls please!

A good week end for me with good staircase progress, mostly because Enid wouldn't let me watch the Grand Prix due to somebody called Andy Murray was on TV all of Sunday afternoon!

I have got a busy week lined up with Directors 6 month reviews on Monday, Managers Area meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, more reviews on Thursday and then a visit to Callington on Friday.

The market seems to have gone quiet and we are struggling to hit our sales targets so far this month, hopefully it will be better this week, fingers crossed!

Francis Marshall FNAEA

Managing Director
Bradleys Group

Presentation is everything!

So it's back to work for me after having last week off house building for a rest. The building went well, I made a start on the circular oak staircase which is just like building a boat and I got through lots of coordination of things needed to get closer to finishing. The only thing that didn't go to plan last week is we put the digger through the mains power cable which brought proceedings to a premature end for the week. It is lucky I was off because I normally spend the whole of Friday afternoon on the phone getting updates on the weeks performance and with no power there was also no phone! So if it had to happen then it happened on the right day!

The offices had a good week for exchanges of contracts last week which was good to see and that means there will be a lot of happy customers moving into their new homes over the next couple of weeks. Our current sales have slowed up again and it is very difficult to understand what is influencing the market now. I thought the financial news was not so bad at the minute and the Euro crisis hasn't had so much air time so I thought we may see a little more confidence in the market return but it is still tough and if you want to sell in the current climate then the price has to be right and the presentation brilliant.