House Revolution makes a refreshing change to the normal type of estate agent we have worked with in the past.

They were professional & helpful at all times, & were extremely good at keeping in contact & keeping us informed. I always felt that each member of the team was giving us an un-boast opinion, without spin like many agents (unusual!).

I felt as though I was dealing with people just like me – straight forward, honest, & clear with no hidden agendas. It also suited us best to do our own viewings but I understand HR will organise this for you if desired. Their online feedback system is also useful so you can find out at any time what the viewer thought of your property. I would definitely recommend them – what a nice bunch of authentic people – & when you think of the money I saved, much better value for money than all other estate agents. Love Kath

I was asked today what being a new breed of estate agent actually means. Good question, read on.

New pricing –Our selling fees are lower because we have identified & recalculated what the actual cost of selling a property are – this is not about having offices in prominent locations but ensuring we get your property in front of as many prospective buyers as possible, Locally and nationally!  This is achieved through optimum presence on the internet so we do not need to pass on unrealistic charges, especially in austere times! Our attitude is “what does it cost to sell your home” and therefore what should you pay and not “How can we charge the most from every vendor”.

New values – “Traditional” estate agents exploit the boundaries of the profession and many people complain about the service they receive. We have hundreds of satisfied clients who really appreciate our revolutionary concept. The solution is a combination of transparency and honesty in all communication and dealings along with and better access to essential information. All our customers have their own online accounts which mean everything we say and do can be seen and interacted too in real time 24/7. We have abolished contracts so vendors have total flexibility and control.  

New methods – We are a mix of the traditional with the innovative and it goes without saying that our business wouldn’t succeed and our vendors would be disappointed if we didn’t sell property so we prepare your details in the traditional manner but ensure we utilise the web to give your property the maximum exposure. Vendors and purchasers alike are empowered with a suite of tools to value, change house descriptions, offer and arrange viewings which are just a few examples of the interactivity or, if you prefer we do everything. Most customer mix the two.   

New Breed –Estate agency is a people business and our team is brimming with highly professional customer focused individuals who will manage every aspect of your home moving experience, resolving issues quickly and keeping in regular contact with you from the outset in whatever method suits you best, live chat, email, SMS, mobile or calls to your home or work phones . At the team’s heart is the desire to see a change in the perception of estate agency and hopefully you will find this a welcoming and refreshing approach.

Chris Sargisson

Founder

A new survey has reviled that only one agent in London disclosed its fees on its website. About 20% of agents refused to disclose their fees over the phone or via email. 

The survey, by estate agent comparison website ipostcode, looked at 250 agents’ fees across London and found that it is not necessarily in the most expensive postcodes where agents charge the highest fees. 

The majority of the London estate agencies surveyed quoted 1.5% commission, but 15% of agents quoted 1%. The highest commission level quoted was 2.5%. 

There were several postcode where commission levels spanned the range from 1%-2.5%, which means that on a property priced at the London average of £342,749 (according to latest Land Registry figures), the seller could be paying anything from £4,113 to £10,282 including VAT to sell the same home. 

One in four agents said that their fees are negotiable based on either a realistic valuation of the property or depending on the price range of the property.  

The survey also found that estate agent fees in London at an average of 1.7% are more or less in line with the national average of 1.8% – contrary to the perception that London estate agent fees are the highest in the country. 

Remember House Revolution only charge 0.75 % +VAT. No Sale, No Fee, No contract. If you’re looking sell contact or team now: 0845 017 6060     

According to the website ‘Home’, which uses data from virtually every property portal and website in the UK, the average length of time a property is now on the market before a buyer is found  has risen to 241 days, the longest since its records began in 2004. 

Before the credit crunch, average time on the market was just 60 days.

 Home says:  “last year, asking prices barely changed, moving up by just 0.6%. However, big regional variations meant that asking prices went up by 2.3% in East Anglia and down by 2.1% in Wales. The fact that average time on market for unsold property across the UK is now at an all-time high of 241 days suggests that home prices are simply too high.” 

The site is predicting a slow market this year, accompanied by slowly falling prices. 

Remember, House Revolution provide a complete estate agency service and half the cost of the high street, just  0.75% No Sale, No Fee, No contract (no matter how long it takes to sell)

Estate agents’ branches are selling less than one new property a week each and new listings are at the lowest level ever seen.

Just 36,433 properties are currently coming on to Rightmove per week, the lowest recorded in the ten years that the site has been measuring the market.

By contrast, there is a record level of search activity, with 44 million property searches in the first ten days of this year, up 27% on a year ago – but with home-hunters facing the smallest-ever choice of new listings.

Rightmove labelled this activity the “low transaction volume pit” and until more mortgage funding becomes available we will be stuck with this situation for a while yet .

But the listings drought does not mean prices are going up. Asking prices on Rightmove now stand at £224,060, barely changed from a year ago (up 0.4%) and down just 0.8% on last month. Furthermore, asking prices are still way above actual selling prices – currently averaging just under £160,000 according to the Land Registry.

We have certainly experienced a slow start to the year, lots of viewings and a number of good acceptable offers but a seasonally low number of valuation requests.

Still, early days but now, more than ever vendors should be looking to engage with modern think estate agents like House Revolution who will comfortably sell any UK property and half the cost of the High Street. For more Information call us today : 0845 017 6060     

This is great news for all our customers as it really demonstrates that the future of estate agency is the House Revolution concept. A concept which disrupts the traditional, expensive, low service high street model by offering great customer service and amazing value for money.

Being part of the ‘Future 50′ (as its known) is a real honour as we join a group of successful and like minded entrepreneurs who challenge and change the norm. Exciting times ahead.

For more information please click here 

Chris Sargisson
Founder
House Revolution Ltd

  Reason One: Selling.  House Revolution only sells property. That is what we do and guess what? We will sell yours!  Consider this, over last four years (of very difficult trading I might add) our business has grown. This could only have been achieved by successful property sales so please be assured,  we do everything required to sell your home from displaying it on all major property sites  including Rightmove, using all the latest promotional products to ensure your home gets the best possible exposure to hands on help such as access to a comprehensive mailing list of ready buyers to which details of your home will be sent. 

Reason two : Savings.  House Revolution gives you a choice of fees. If you want No Sale, No Fee, then we will charge you 0.75% + VAT on completion of your sale, which is up to half of what a traditional agent will charge you for the same service. Or, you can elect to pay only £999+VAT when you appoint us.

Reason three: Service. House Revolution provides old fashioned levels of service with a modern twist. Our hands on team will market your home and you’ll receive immediate feedback on enquiries and viewings via the phone and your online account. Once your sale has been agreed, we will proactively manage it all the way through to the point where you hand the keys over to the new owner.

To get the process started ask us for a free, no obligation, valuation of your current home. Call 0845 017 6060

 House Revolution predicted the decline in Estate Agency high street shopping some years ago now new research by Colliers International has shown that whilst all retail sectors are suffering to varying degrees, it is the traditional high street that is experiencing the most pain, since it is being buffeted by a ‘perfect storm’ of stalled national economic growth, accelerating on-line spending, multiple retailer branch consolidation and impact from both in-town shopping centres and out of town retail, including the supermarkets.

Chris Sargisson, House Revolution’s Founder commented on the research: We recognise that home buyers search for property online. This means estate agents, like us can now afford to operate from much lower cost premises  making the High Street office a high cost branding opportunity to woo new vendors. This ultimately increases the fees to the house seller yet adds no value in helping to sell property.      

Colliers International has shown that high street footfall, excluding Central London, has fallen, on average, by more than 10% in just three years and that footfall on primary high streets has, on average, fallen at double the rate of that for secondary streets, albeit from a much higher base. 

Colliers report suggest that to halt the decline of the high street as a retail destination, falling footfall levels have to be reversed. This will require an improvement in the economic fortunes of country and consumer. In addition, national planning policy must continue to support in-centre retail development over out of centre. High streets must also be made more desirable places at which to shop, or carry out other activities, with particular attention being given to streets that find themselves out of favour following the opening of a new purpose built shopping centre. 

For a successful and lower cost approach to house selling contact House Revolution on 08450 0170600 Or visit www.houserevolution.com

The OFT has (yesterday) launched a consultation on draft guidance to estate agents and property developers which aims to help them comply with the law when they handle sales of property and land in the UK.

It follows the OFT’s Home Buying and Selling Study which found that many estate agents said the industry needed more guidance on the law.

The guidance dentifies examples of trading practices that could breach the regulations as well as practical steps that businesses can take to comply with the law when they: advertise for new business, including through flyers and newspaper adverts, provide advice to new clients and take new instructions, market properties, including when property details are put on internet portals, negotiate and make sales, deal with complaints.

The breaches discussed in the guidance include:

Giving misleading information to consumers: Misleading information may be given verbally, in writing or visually. This could include, for example:

• Misleading information given over the telephone or in the course of

discussions with prospective clients before taking instructions from them.

• Misleading details in property particulars or other marketing material, for

example newspaper advertisements, web pages and brochures.

• Misleading photographs, video clips, floor plans, artist impressions, models or

show homes.

A few examples of ‘misleading actions’:

• Advertising that you are bound by a code of conduct, but then failing to comply with its requirements.
• Making statements in your advertisements that exaggerate your sales record, or imply that your business has a presence in a particular area when it does not, or has more offices than it actually has.
•  Distributing leaflets to homes claiming that you have buyers lined up for these sorts of properties when this is not true.
•  Recommending an asking price in the market appraisal that is unrealistic in order to acquire the instruction.
•  Misusing words or phrases like ‘New Instruction’, ‘New’ or ‘New on the Market’.
•  Using out-of-date photographs that no longer provide a true depiction of the property, or significantly altering images to omit uncomplimentary features.
•  Falsely claiming or creating the impression that property for sale has met standards, accreditation, guarantees, etc., when it has not, for example saying property has planning permission when it has not.
•  Making a selling point when you have contrary information (for example ‘secluded garden’ when there is a public right of way through the garden, ‘peaceful area’ when a bypass is planned close to the property, ‘nice views of surrounding countryside’ when there is a power plant next to the property, ‘off street parking’ when the parking is on a public highway).

 House Revolution welcomes these changes. Since we launched in 2007 our focus has always been honesty, transparency and value for money. We hope guidance from the OFT will help support our behavior.

For more information on our service call our friendly team on : 0845 017 6060  

Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove, recently claimed that the state of the global economy is resulting in house prices in the UK being stuck in “limbo-land” ! Indeed, according to the latest figures from Nationwide, the cost of a typical home dropped by 0.6 per cent in the four-week period.

This means that in the last 12 months, there has been a decline of 0.4 per cent in the average cost of a house.

Chief economist at Nationwide Robert Gardner stated that the figures add up with the relative stability of the market in the UK over the course of the last year.

“Sluggish demand for homes, combined with only a gradual rise in the supply of available properties, has helped to keep property prices stable since last summer,” he said. Mr Gardner added that he expects this to be the case for the rest of the year.

House Revolution is half the cost of a typical high street estate agent. If your looking to sell your home then choose a company designed and built to do it better for less ! Call us now on :   0845 017 6060