A November 2011 Home Sale Network survey amongst its members has found that buyers and sellers continue to enter the property market. Indeed, 95% stated that buyers and sellers active in the UK property market at this time of year are ‘serious about moving home’ and therefore it remains a proactive time to buy or sell.

Despite the traditionally quiet time of year in the weeks leading up to Christmas, the vast majority of survey respondents recommend that sellers list their property as soon as possible with a further 78% expecting to continue to see activity in the market over the next few weeks. Indeed, with the Stamp Duty Land Tax holiday set to end in March 2012, many more buyers will be entering the market to take advantage of the Government tax break.

A specially selected, national network of independent estate agents across England, Scotland and Wales, Home Sale Network is able to provide a good indication of the current trends in the UK property market.

With 95% of our member agents indicating that now remains a proactive time to buy or sell, we encourage anyone thinking of entering the property market to contact us today. Indeed, if you’re a first time buyer, you only have until March next year to take advantage of the Stamp Duty holiday!

We’re seeing a lot of activity in the East Northants area and as the Local Expert we can help sell your property and find you the right home.”

Richard James Estate Agents is delighted to announce that they have won Home Sale Network’s prestigious 2011 Best Agent Central Regional Award at the Network’s 18th Annual Conference, held at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel, London on Friday 18 November.

The annual prize gives the winning Network member the title of ‘Best Agent in the Central Region’ and is awarded on a number of criteria measuring the agent’s overall contribution to Home Sale Network, their ability to demonstrate customer satisfaction, a strong market share locally and a proven record of helping relocating buyers move both in and out of the area.

Richard James received their award at the Conference’s glamorous black tie Awards Dinner. The evening was hosted by Alexander Armstrong, one half of comedy duo Armstrong and Miller and regular host on BBC panel show, Have I Got News For You, who presented Richard Fowler with their award.

“For Richard James to have been firstly nominated as the best agent in the Central region by Home Sale Network is recognition of the hard work and combined effort of all our members of staff. However, to have won the award is absolutely fantastic and we are proud and delighted to be the Central region’s best Network estate agent.”

Richard Tucker, Home Sale Network’s Managing Director said, “Home Sale Network is a national network of independent estate agents across England, Scotland and Wales. As members of the Network, our agents promote their individual brand, but they are also encouraged to promote the Network as a whole. The 2011 Best Agent Central Regional Award is significant because it recognises the agent that has most successfully demonstrated their customer service, independent business initiatives, local market share and their commitment to the Home Sale Network principles.”

We are pleased to announce we have been nominated by Home Sale Network, a national network of independent estate agents, for the 2011 Regional Award – Central Region.

The winner will be announced at the Awards Dinner of the 18th Annual Home Sale Network Conference, being held at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel, London on Friday 18 November.

To be nominated for the 2011 Regional Award – Central Region is recognition of the hard work and combined effort, commitment and enthusiasm of our entire team.”

Home Sale Network’s 2011 Regional Award – Central Region is an annual prize for the agent that has consistently made the best overall contribution to the Network throughout the year and offers nominees the chance to become the Network’s ‘Best Network Agent in the Central Region’. Criteria for nominees include regional meeting attendance, monthly property survey returns and regional marketing initiatives.

Richard Tucker, Home Sale Network’s Managing Director commented, “Home Sale Network is a national network of independent estate agents, made up of 12 regions across England, Scotland and Wales. All members are encouraged to work together to promote the Network as a whole as well as their individual brands.
“The 2011 Regional Award – Central Region recognises the agent that has been most successful at demonstrating outstanding independent business initiatives and embracing the Network principles.”

Richard James Estate Agents will soon be travelling to London to attend Home Sale Network’s Annual Conference. Taking place on Friday 18 November at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel, the event is a national conference of Home Sale Network members who are all independent estate agents based across England, Scotland and Wales.

The Conference will include a trade exhibition and business expert speakers such as co-founder of the Intelligence Agency John Knell, bestselling author Paul McGee, economics expert Douglas McWilliams, the Future Laboratory Director Tom Savigar and brand/social media whiz, Alex Hunter. Each time that we attend Home Sale Network’s Annual Conference we always leave with fresh and exciting business ideas that benefit our customers and we’re sure that the 2011 event will be no exception.

The event always culminates in a glittering black tie evening Awards Dinner, where the guys from Richard James don their finery and celebrate the year’s successes. And this year’s ceremony is even more exciting because Alexander Armstrong, host of Have I Got News For You and the BBC One quiz show, Pointless will be the evening’s host and after dinner speaker.

We look forward to hearing from all of this year’s expert speakers and seeing our fellow members from across England, Scotland and Wales too.

We have today launched a “house drawing” competition for Keystage 1 and Keystage 2 children from local Wellingborough schools.

Keystage 1 children will draw a house in a Winter scene and Keystage 2 children a house in a Spring scene. A shortlist of drawings will be displayed in our office window for a few days in December and the winners of each category will be judged by the Mayor of Wellingborough.

The winning drawings will then be used in our forthcoming marketing campaigns and we will also donate the sum of £250 to the school of each category winner.

If men are from Mars and women are from Venus, how do they ever buy property together without falling out? Well according to a recent survey conducted by Home Sale Network amongst its Network members – quite amicably actually!

Survey results found that the UK property market is a shining example of gender equality with men and women sharing an equal knowledge of current housing market conditions. As a national network of specially selected, independent estate agents, of which Richard James Estate Agents is a member, Home Sale Network agents are ideally positioned to give insight into how men and women typically approach the buying and selling process.

Over half of Network members who took part in the survey indicated that men and women both show a similar level of awareness when it came to knowing current property prices and market availability. In fact, nearly a third of members also reported that men and women were equally willing to sacrifice property preferences given the current economic conditions.

So if you’re thinking of buying or selling with your other half this winter, it should be a (relatively) harmonious experience!

This week we introduced Quick Response codes (QR codes) to each property we market. These codes can be scanned using a mobile phone or tablet application which will then take a prospective buyer to a particular property within seconds without having to search and find it on a website.

Since the launch of our mobile website earlier this year, we have received feedback to suggest that more and more buyers are searching for properties from their mobile devices. People want information instantly at their fingertips, rather than waiting to sit down at a PC or laptop later.

You will see QR codes appearing on our window displays, Sales Particulars and other marketing material over the coming weeks.

As far as we know we are leading the way by becoming the first Estate Agent in the area to introduce these codes to our marketing and as time rolls on we feel more and more people will become familiar with their ease of use.

There are Home Sale Network members in major towns, cities and rural areas across England, Scotland and Wales. With our National Connections, Network members work together to help people buy and sell homes, wherever they may be. So if you’re selling, Home Sale Network can offer you the potential of additional out of town buyers viewing your property and if you’re buying, we can help you find your new home across England, Scotland and Wales.

Richard James Estate Agents is a member of Home Sale Network, a division of Cartus, the premier provider of global relocation services. Cartus assists more than 140,000 customers worldwide every year and in the UK, it uses Home Sale Network members to help buy and sell homes for these customers.

Focusing on Home Sale Network’s national connections, our Connecting You Nationally marketing campaign demonstrates the scope of Network offices currently based across England, Scotland and Wales. Each office represents one of Home Sale Network’s handpicked, Local Experts who help out of town buyers and sellers, providing an additional service to our local customers at no extra cost to them.

If we have a customer who is moving to an area that we do not cover, we can not only help them sell their current property but we can refer them to our fellow Network member in the town or city that they are moving to, who can then assist them in their home search. Equally, if someone from out of town is moving to then the Network member who is helping to sell their property, will refer the customer to us.

This means that as a specially selected Home Sale Network member, we’re able to offer an all round service to both buyers and sellers, local or not, connecting YOU nationally, wherever you may be.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Richard James Estate Agents. James and I opened the doors at 23 Sheep Street, a small office with high hopes to establish a business in difficult times. Within weeks of opening interest rates had soared to about 15% and house prices were dropping like a stone.

We rolled up our sleeves and both worked seven days a week for the next few years. The hard work paid off and in 1995 we were able to move to our current premises and start employing staff. From this point the business began to grow and we were able to open our second office in 1999 in Irthlingborough. For an eight year period in the last boom, from 2001 to 2009 we also had a third office on the Gleneagles estate in Wellingborough.

Over the years we have experienced all kinds of market conditions and also seen some big changes to the way we do business. The biggest impact of estate agency in general has been the introduction of digital photography. Gone are the days of sticking photos onto sales particulars. Today we load multiple high quality photographs into software that produces fantastic brochures and then uploads to various websites. The internet today controls the marketing of any house; every vendor rightly wants their house on as many high profile websites in glorious colour.

The other main change over the years is the dominance of independent estate agents. When we opened in 1991 Prudential, Woolwich, TSB and Abbey National all had offices in the area, today none of them are involved in estate agency. The strongest agents now tend to be independently owned and run businesses that live on reputation and service levels.

As we blow the candles out on our birthday cake today we will reflect on the twists and turns of the last 20 years and look forward to the challenges of the next 20!

In all honesty, I like to try and keep the blog purely for advice and tips for home buyers and sellers but every now and again it is nice to share a success story.

We recently sold a property in Irthlingborough in Fernmoor Drive, which had been sold via another estate agent, but was not going well so we found them a buyer and got their sale through in under 4 weeks. Pretty crazy considering they had a chain involved at either end too!

The owners very kindly showed their thanks by dropping off a truly amazing and very generous hamper for us to have a nibble on. Although we’re all a few pounds heavier now, we are keen to help other property owners who are struggling to sell, or are getting little to no service from their current estate agent, please give us a call (01933 651010 for Irthlingborough or 01933 224400 for Wellingborough) and we’ll discuss how we can help you.