Happy 50th Birthday Enid Marshall !

Nick Clegg was on the TV over the weekend being totally evasive to very direct questioning about his and the Muppet Cable's plans for a mansion tax if they get to have any influence after the next election. What he did say that was quite revealing was, whilst all the property commentators are calling for the 'help to buy' scheme to be withdrawn because the market in London is rising quickly right now, the rest of the country still needs the scheme and the government cannot just legislate for London. He was completely aware of all of the stats regarding prices and lending and had obviously been in a meeting to discuss the future of the scheme which looked to me like it will now go ahead. That can only lead to a strengthening of the market and again is why if you are thinking of buying then do it now if you are able because prices will rise.

We are starting to see the market evolve when we sold more than we took on in August and the same is happening again in September. If this continues and stocks drop then we will surely see an increased demand which will force prices up through natural market demand.

I have just come back from attending a meeting of the Property Academy on internet marketing and that has given me great insight on what Bradleys should be doing with Facebook but also was further proof that review sites are what customers listen to in this day and age and I am delighted to confirm we rank so favourably on allAgents.

After the meeting in Bishops Stortford I took Enid to London for the weekend to celebrate her 50th birthday where we met up with our daughter Lisa who now lives in London and all went out on Saturday night to celebrate. Enid is slightly unhappy about being 50 and has kept it low profile so I am only sharing this on my blog as I know nobody will comment!

Francis Marshall FNAEA
Managing Director
Bradleys Group

Fingers crossed!

After a very busy August, September does seem to have started just a little quieter. It may be there were other distractions around last week but maybe everything just got a little ahead of itself and a few weeks of more normal business levels might be due in September. That said the buyers are still about so long as the property is priced correctly it can be sold reasonably quickly so if you are thinking of moving it is still a very good time.

A busy week for me this week, I have had a meeting with the new Regional Managers today and have some interviews for the vacant Bovey Tracy Managers Role. I am hopeful that we have some very good candidates. Tuesday is Area Meeting day this week meeting with the Eastern Managers in the morning at HO and the Western Managers at the end of the day in Liskeard. I am very much looking forward to that with their latest updates on Market activity. Wednesday I am in HO all day with Directors 1:1 meetings and my meet with Brian in the afternoon. Thursday is in HO again in the morning before driving to Bishops Stortford for a marketing meeting on Friday all about social media so I hope to learn something!

I think the allAgents awards are being announced next week so I have my fingers crossed for that as we have had some great reviews this year.

 

Francis Marshall FNAEA
Managing Director
Bradleys Group

Awesome August!!

As we move into September does that mean that we leave the summer behind as the evenings draw in and the sales start to slow? Absolutely not. August was the best on record for many years for the property market and at Bradleys we had excellent performance which gave us our best overall month since 2009. Sales were exceptionally good and at Bradleys we work hard with the solicitors to actually get our sales to exchange, something we think we do much better than most other agents. At least that is what the MI shown on Vizzi Home says.

We have 3 new Regional Managers in Bradleys who took up their roles yesterday and I wish them the very best of luck in their new positions. Darren Ellis will run the Easter Offices, Darren Hole Torbay and Mid Devon with Ed Parker covering Cornwall and Plymouth along with the northern part of Mid Devon. I am sure they will bring excellent skills to their new offices to help them perform at an even higher level.

So back to the market. What will the autumn bring? My advice is if you are thinking of buying then get on with it. The market is busy and instructions are scarce so prices will certainly rise over the coming months and right now there is still a decent choice to be had.

 

Francis Marshall FNAEA
Managing Director
Bradleys Group

Don't even get me going on the lawyers!

As we near the end of the month the excitement mounts to see if we will beat our targets. The big one in question is the exchange target, where we, along with the rest of the industry are being hampered by poorly run lenders who are causing many delays and where apparent incompetence is now bordering negligence on their part. It's no joke when perfectly organised people do and supply everything asked of them and everything is in order and completed quickly, then have to wait weeks for a lender to look at something and then ask for something else and then take more weeks to look at it and then ask for something else again which could all have been asked for in the first place. Once this has gone on for a couple of months or three everyone loses the will to live and somebody pulls out of a sale where both the buyer and seller were, as they used to say, very ready, willing and able. That’s just one part of the story, don't even get me going on the lawyers.

The rest of our targets all look like they have been achieved already so I will wait until Monday to see if we can celebrate a great success or not.

 

Francis Marshall FNAEA
Managing Director
Bradleys Group

the 'Brilliance of Bradleys!'

The summer sun continues to shine on the West Country property market. August is traditionally a quiet time for buying and selling in the SW, when most people's thoughts turn to the summer break. This year is proving to be the exception as we continue to see remarkable levels of sales right through our office network from Taunton to Penzance. We have already beaten our months budget target for sales with a week and a half to go! The general improved feel-good factor and confidence in the market is having a strong effect and I can only see that this will continue right through the rest of this year and then into next year as the 'Help To Buy' scheme really takes the market on to another level.

Personally I have been very busy visiting all of the Cornish offices on Monday with their new Regional Manager (Ed Parker) to introduce him to everyone as well as showing him where to park in St Ives in August. Tuesday I was in HO all day and looked at some very exciting marketing options along with plenty of other 1:1 meetings. For the rest of the week I have the opportunity to have a think about the future marketing and how we convey the "Brilliance of Bradleys" to people through the many mediums available to us. I can see very clearly from MI that we perform incredibly strongly at converting instructions to sales and sales to exchanges but are still in the mix for new instructions. We have many new and exciting developments coming which will really see a massive jump in our ability to market and communicate so I am just thinking about how to convey that the best way. Watch this space   

Francis Marshall FNAEA
Managing Director
Bradleys Group

On the up!

The nation press and all the statistic offices all say the market is on the up and I am pleased to confirm that from our own performance so far in August I would agree with them. August is traditionally a slower time for sales but this year the first 2 weeks have pretty much kept pace with the previous quarter which was very good. We had our Managers Area Meetings yesterday and the office updates from Penzance to Taunton were positive with most offices reporting serious buyers about but Managers still made the point that price is still critical and we are not yet at a point where sellers can try a bit higher to see what comes. If you want to sell then price the property correctly and there is a buyer for it. Too high and you will be waiting a very long time still.

 

The Eastern Region Meeting was interesting as we had the BBC cameras in the meeting as part of the documentary series they are making on Estate Agents and I was very pleased to see everyone looking their best. Until the program comes out we won't know how we are being relayed as with several hours filming being condensed into a couple of minutes I imagine we could be made to look however the producer wants us to look.

 

I am very proud of our high professional standards and the fact that yesterday I was able to present bottles of bubbly to 2 of our Managers who finished in the top 10 of the allAgents review site customer satisfaction awards was very gratifying, and when you realise that was awarded from 21,000 agents then it goes to prove the high quality of the people who work for Bradleys. With the company awards being announced next month I have my fingers crossed for that as well.

 

Francis Marshall FNAEA
Managing Director
Bradleys Group

Just come to Bradleys!

So what's been stopping me from writing for a while? Just busy, it's review time and I have been fairly flat out seeing everybody and there have been lots of congratulations to be passed on properly. The market does seem to be on the up but our own performance at Bradleys does appear to be outstripping the market due to our good service and professionalism. This can very clearly be seen when viewing market intelligence which often shows Bradleys in the mix for the instructions but better converters of instructions to sales and even better converters of sales to exchanges. More proof of you get what you pay for in life and if you want a professional who can value your property accurately, achieve the price quoted, or very close to it and then deliver the exchange of contracts just come to Bradleys.

Other things going on right now are: BBC2 have started their filming of us for their new series on Estate Agents to be broadcast next year. The Western Morning News have cottoned on to Bradleys have the most accurate data for property transactions across the West Country so I am giving them regular interviews to let them report prices are up £5!

On Friday evening I hosted a BBQ for the Cornish offices and it was a very fine evening. Tradition required it to rain and that was a certainty with thunder and lightning for good measure. I wasn't very mobile on Saturday so I guess we all had a good time! Apparently we are having a pool party next year.

 

Francis Marshall FNAEA
Managing Director