Blue is the colour...

For once my week ahead is a bit quieter and is mostly taken up with Directors 1:1 monthly meetings so that will have me in Head Office for most of this week. A bit of calm after the weekend which contained my Birthday, the mighty Chelsea winning the Champions League and then me routering 580 meters of oak skirting and architrave!

So what is the market doing right now? I can see buyers being cautious, if something is the right price then there is a skirmish over who buys it but if there is a standard property at the standard price then interest is low so it is the outstanding properties and asking prices which are getting all of the attention.

We have just had our second online auction come to a successful conclusion within the past few days and this new modern method is a great way to sell in these tough times. Where else can you guarantee to get the market value and within a set time scale from the outset, the sale goes through quicker and hardly any go wrong due to us having taken a non-refundable reservation fee. When you realise that the seller doesn't pay any sales fees then you must start to wonder why more sales are not conducted this way.

Francis Marshall FNAEA
Managing Director
Bradleys Group

The time to buy...

Another varied week ahead. On Monday I am in Head Office doing new Managers induction. Tuesday has the Plymouth, Torbay and Cornwall Managers Area Meeting. Wednesday back to Head Office for the Eastern Region Area Meeting and then a meeting with the Directors and then The Chairman in the Afternoon. Thursday sees me visiting the 2 Exeter offices and then Friday is quite a special day for me so I am going to celebrate it by visiting the Callington office.  

The rather poor financial news both in the UK and in Europe this month seems to have upset the market which is a shame as it was starting to shape up quite well. There isn't anything we can do to change the market so we will just keep doing our best to sell in the most challenging of circumstances and hope that some confidence starts to come back soon. It's a great time to buy, with the prices realistic and loans still relatively cheap, so why let what's going on in Greece or Spain stop you from moving house in Cornwall, Devon or Somerset?

Francis Marshall FNAEA
Managing Director

Tough Gig!

I seem to have been on a tight schedule for the last couple of weeks and in the process forgot to blog last week! If you are one of my regular readers please accept my apologies and I will try to do better from now on.

So what have I been doing? Lots of office visits, seeing first-hand how everyone is working hard and seeing that even in this tough market the Bradleys teams are still agreeing sales and for that I am very thankful.

We have all just enjoyed a Bank Holiday weekend and the weather was good enough for me to get on with a bit more house building! Lisa was rowing in the World Pilot Gig Championships as part of the Looe Ladies A Crew and came 10th out of 125 teams which she is really pleased about. The Looe men's A Crew came second which was a fantastic result.

I am off to Penzance and Newquay in the morning and have a meeting with Westcountry Publications on Wednesday then a Board Meeting on Thursday so another full week is lined up.

Francis Marshall FNAEA
Managing Director

Waiting for the Looe....office to open!

Well what a thing! I have mentioned previously that I thought there was just a tiny chance things are starting to pick up.

Looe office launched the new Barratt Homes site on Saturday and had a queue which went right through our office and up the street past the bank next door. That is something I haven't seen for very many years. It used to be common for a new homes launch to have multiple buyers waiting outside the office on launch day 10 years ago but nothing like this has been seen for very many year. So, just maybe, that is a little more evidence to say something may be turning in this market.

I guess it just goes to show that if you price the property correctly then the buyers are there.

Francis Marshall FNAEA

Bradleys Managing Director

Does one swallow make a summer...?

What a fantastic sales week we have just had. The best week of the year in a 4 day week and if I am totally honest it was quite unexpected. Normally the week either side of Easter can be quiet with many buyers and sellers on holiday and not quite as interested in property as normal. Anyway I am very pleased for all of the offices who have worked so hard this year often in difficult circumstances to start to get the results to make the hard work worthwhile.

Will it continue? Is it the start of the recovery in the market? They say one swallow doesn't make a Summer but I think we may see things start to improve.

As well as a good week for sales both Chelsea and Liverpool have made it through to the FA Cup Final and with me being a Chelsea supporter and our Chairman Brian a Liverpool fan, one of us will be happy in 3 weeks' time.

Francis Marshall FNAEA

Getting our skates on..

I have been on holiday over Easter and with 3 days of trailing around DIY shops looking for bathrooms for the house I am building I will be very glad to get back to work! Apparently every shop won't be beaten on price but when I quoted some of their competitors lower prices, the quality is not the same and therefore can't be compared! I think I might have heard that one somewhere before!

The run in to Easter was a bit quiet for us so we will need to get our skates on now if we are to catch up by the end of the month.

Francis Marshall FNAEA
Bradleys Managing Director

A sunny outlook?

So here we go into April, but with the recent weather we might feel like summer is here already. I have had another BBQ over the weekend taking the tally to 3 for the which is pretty good going. The property market has matched the weather and Bradleys finished March with some reasonably decent figures. We hit our new instruction and sales targets and beat our exchanged contracts target and rentals target. April has the potential to be a banana skin for us with Bank Holidays and quite a lot of people on holiday around the Bank Holidays. I have asked everyone to work extra hard to make sure our selling doesn't drop due to less available hours to sell in!