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Traditional applicants are vanishing

There’s a really interesting report in this week’s Estate Agent Today about the changing behaviour of house buyers when they register with estate agents. Expert Agent analysed over 200,000 applicants registering at its member agents (over 1200 branches, so a big...

Estate Agency Contracts are too one sided

I’m always amazed that many High Street estate agents (with one or two exeptions) still insist that their clients sign restrictive contracts with lengthy tie in periods, 12 or even 16 weeks in common, and even ask for 2 weeks written notice in many cases. Signing such...

House Doctor your home

This year we have been working closely with a couple of local independent House Doctor’s (or home stagers) as we believe that helping clients present their homes properly is a crucial part of any successful sale – especially in a tough market. The concept is huge in...

Happy Birthday to BigBlackHen.com Herts!

It is exactly one year since BigBlackHen.com opened its Hertfordshire office, and what a year it has been. Only 12 months on and already our distinctive For Sale boards have become an increasingly familiar sight across the county from Arkley in the south to Old...

Hertfordshire market starts to move…

There are definite signs over the last two to three weeks that the Herts market is beginning to move. We have had more offers coming in during that period than for the last 2-3 months and properties are beginning to sell well. A flat in Welwyn has just sold within a...

A world run by estate agents

Imagine arriving at the supermarket checkout with a trolley load of shopping to be told by the assistant that you can only buy the goods if you sign a contract to shop exclusively at that store for the next 12 weeks. Oh, and you’ll have to give two week’s written...

Estate agents charge too much for what they do

A recent Which? report looked at the way in which estate agents charge for their services and concluded that estate agents are deliberately vague about what they charge consumers and the kinds of commisssions quoted can vary quite dramatically. Personally I have...

Dirty tricks show we have the competition worried!

Our office in Hertford has been open just five months and already the dirty tricks from a competitor have started. A High Street estate agent in Hoddesdon, who shall remain nameless but who are part of a national chain, has so far booked a valuation and a viewing...

Property asking prices fall, but activity is up

There are two conflicting reports out today that sum up the property market at the beginning of 2011. The first is from Zoopla and shows that sellers are dropping their prices in response to a lack of sales at the end of 2010. Indeed they show that nearly four in ten...