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As an estate agency currently tracking at 5 out of 5 stars with our Feefo reviews you might think that we think we’ve got this selling and renting lark down to a tee. But do we? No.
OK, so that might be a bit overly-humble – we do know what we’re doing of course – but the point is this: do we, as estate agents, truly understand what our customers want from us?
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What will happen to the Canary Wharf property market in 2019?
As 2018 draws to a close the question on everyone’s mind is: what will 2019 hold for the property market?
Now, there are agencies far larger than Proper Local, with whole floors of staff dedicated to research into property prices and sentiment. We can’t pretend to have a team such as this, but we do have plenty of common sense, and some good old-fashioned proper area knowledge.
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We’re not really ones to blow our own trumpet but…
We thought it might be of vague interest that we have recently awarded the ‘Highly Rated’ mark for our Lettings services by The Best Estate Agent Guide.
All forms of recognition are nice, but this award is particularly comforting because we didn’t do anything to achieve it. We didn’t apply for it. We didn’t ask for it. And we didn’t pay for it.
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Just in case you missed it, we thought it might be worth republishing this article from Andrew Ellson of The Times.
Of course, at Proper Local we couldn’t agree with Andrew more: the charging structure of most ‘traditional’ estate agents is indeed ridiculous.
Whilst Andrew doesn’t explicitly say it, the structure to which he is referring is a percentage-based fee structure. What very few agents will ever admit to you is that it’s the same amount of work whether you’re selling (or letting) a one bedroom flat as it is a four bedroom house. So quite why an agent would charge a fee which is two, three, four or even five times as much for doing the same job leaves us at a loss too. That’s why we charge a fixed fee.
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At Proper Local we specialise in properties to rent in East London, but wherever in London you are looking to rent a property, this useful guide will help you save time.
Rental contracts in the UK typically contain two month notice periods for both landlords and tenants, although if the original fixed term of the contract has expired (and has lapsed into what it is termed a ‘statutory periodic tenancy’) tenants are only required to give one month’s notice to vacate.
You may not think that tenancy law has a bearing on when you should start your rental search, but it comes back to this: when do agents start marketing properties to let?
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OK, so this is a particularly bad picture, and in all my years as an estate agent I haven’t witnessed property damage even remotely close to what you see here, but… having a bad tenant can devastate your investment if things turn out for the worse.
We’ve prepared this short guide to give you some pointers if you ever find the need to evict a tenants.
Don’t take matters into your own hands – breathe deeply, relax (as much as you can) – make a promise to yourself that that you’ll use the law & logic, not anger and emotion.
Don’t go all macho and try to throw them out of the property yourself, or cut of the electric or gas.
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As professional letting agents in London, Proper Local Estate Agents have seen a number of first-time homebuyers. Our general rule of thumb is to make the process of buying your home for the first time as easy as possible. There are however many mistakes that can be made when viewing property on the Isle of Dogs or looking at property in east London. Here are some of the top mistakes and how to avoid them:
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It’s the question asked by many, many tenants – Why do I have pay so much money to the letting agent to secure a property?
It’s a fair question, and here’s a straightforward answer – other agents charge high tenant fees purely and simply because they can (at the moment).
Whereas other agents have looked at tenant and tenancy administration fees as a source of income, we’ve never believed that it should be like that. We believe that fees charged to tenants should be fair and commensurate with the work, or indeed underlying costs, actually involved.
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Lanterns Court consists of three highly desirable residential apartment buildings. Denison House, Cobalt Point and Trinity Tower. Denison House compromises 292 units, Cobalt Point 167 and Trinity Tower 54.
Developed by City & Docklands and completed in 2010 Lanterns Court is something of a Canary Wharf mainstay. Located just off Millharbour, under a 10 minute walk away from Canary Wharf, it is arguably one of Docklands’ most prestigious residential addresses.
The development benefits from 24 hour, 7 days per week concierge, whilst the residents’-only gymnasium is located beneath Cobalt Point.
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OK, so good marketing might not sell your house, but it will make the phone ring and the email enquiries come through. Good quality marketing is more important now than it ever has been, with the vast majority of buyers and tenants using the internet to conduct their property searches.
Like you, we spend lots of time looking through online portals such as Rightmove, Zoopla and Prime Location to keep up to date with new properties in the area. And again like you, we keep spotting the same properties still on the market for months at a time.
