One of our newest clients called today to let me know they had been chased by one of the other agents she’d had out to value. When told she did not intend to use them and had in fact appointed us, she was rather surprised at their response. Apparently the best they could come up… Read More
Online agents haven’t been much of a factor in the Bath property market in the past and, despite massive advertising campaigns, the biggest players in this sector still have less than 2.5% market share in the city (less than half of what they would claim in other areas of the country). Like many agents, in… Read More
Has Rightmove become the new Tinder? Are we treating property apps like dating apps? Swipe. Match. Chat. Swipe. Match. Buy? I recently met an applicant who had phoned into the office and booked to see two properties that had caught his eye. Whilst on the viewings, it transpired that these houses wouldn’t suit him at… Read More
“What is the market like at the moment?” A daily question for us on valuations and viewings so, if you’re wondering what is really happening in the Bath property market, here are the latest facts – our Bath Property Data Report for March 2018. All the latest figures for the Bath property market are below… Read More
When is a property sold? City investment firm Jefferies hit the headlines last week when publishing a report focussing on criticising claims made by online agent Purplebricks; Jefferies’ analysis of Purplebricks data found that it had sold 51.6pc of the homes listed in November 2016 within 10 months, versus the company’s claims that 78pc of… Read More
You’ve chosen your estate agent. The measuring and photos are done so I’d hope the next step is for your agent to send you the brochures to approve. Given the information below, they certainly should; Code of Practice for Residential Estate Agents Section 7 clause J – “Prior to commencement of marketing, the written details… Read More
As we teeter on the edge of 2018, how about a bit of crystal ball gazing to see if we can predict what the Bath property market could do in 2018? Whilst we’ve been working over the Christmas period, we’ve been having quite a few conversations with present and future owners with this question at… Read More
Another year draws to a close in the Bath property market and, after collecting data on a regular basis each month, we thought it might be interesting to add all our reports together in handy graphs and look for trends which may aid 2018 sellers in planning their marketing approach. Below, you’ll find a series… Read More
Last week we think we’ve come across such an amazing example of marketing doublespeak, we thought it was worth sharing – the sheer chutzpah of this is almost worth admiring (although not quite at the same top level of doublespeak as certain online listing agencies advertising themselves as “proper estate agents”). The first text below… Read More
What is a proper estate agent? Right in the middle of Purplebricks’ website homepage it says they are “proper estate agents” and I wish yesterdays BBC Watchdog & Radio 4 broadcasts had picked up on this point alongside the myriad other issues highlighted. Most online agents advertising seems to suggest they are “just the same… Read More
Now we are properly into Spring and the buds are blooming, here’s a snapshot of current Bath property market data versus our article from March last year to illustrate some significant changes. From the coalface, at Madison Oakley we have had a very fast start to the year with correctly priced properties attracting quick interest… Read More
After a morning of viewings and emails, the first valuation of the afternoon was on a little Bath street I know very well. Back in the day, it was the very road where I had to perform the “reversing around a corner” manoeuvre (apologies to younger readers) in my driving test, but I’ve also sold… Read More
