ex-Proctors Estate Agents

[biscuitman1978]

The agents marketing , appearence , web site, and advertising are all to attract sellers not buyers.

Really? The agent generally doesn't get his/her commission until the house has been sold, so I imagine that attracting buyers is pretty important to them.

Property sells its self , some one wants to buy or they dont.

Property sells itself? Not really. Potential buyers have to know the property is available, they need to be able to inspect it and then they need to negotiate a price for it. Either an agent or the current homeowner needs to do that. A house doesn't sell itself.

Well its gonna be another estate agents....

So does that mean they have overtaken chicken shops, barbers, nail bars and bookies then?

Hardly bringing more variety to Sydenham's high street is it?

not impressed.

Serious question: what 'variety' would you like to see?

For what it's worth I'm pleased to see that a large, prominent unit on the high street is soon to be occupied again. Encouragingly, it's been taken up by a firm with a national presence, which suggests a degree of confidence in Sydenham.

[Dorian]

Dorian wrote:
The agents marketing , appearence , web site, and advertising are all to attract sellers not buyers.
Really? The agent generally doesn't get his/her commission until the house has been sold, so I imagine that attracting buyers is pretty important to them.

Dorian wrote:
Property sells its self , some one wants to buy or they dont.
Property sells itself? Not really. Potential buyers have to know the property is available, they need to be able to inspect it and then they need to negotiate a price for it. Either an agent or the current homeowner needs to do that. A house doesn't sell itself.

I understand that the Agent does not get paid untill the sale Completes, and the agent has to work hard sometimes to hold a problematic sale together but they need to be the chosen by the vendor as the Instructed agent first to start that process. Most corporate agents main monthly target is "Instructions" above anything else.

I understand your point but if you were looking to buy in Sydenham would you not look at all the Agents instructions ? or would you only look for your next home via those agents that had a nice web site or a nice window display ? Im not dissagreeing with you, just making a point. A nice looking shop front and office for an EA is to attract sellers not buyers.

[Tadpole]

Its rare that Estate Agents " earn " there money,

As an ex agent of around 20 years experience I would disagree. I earned every penny!
In by 8.30 shut up shop at 6.30-7pm then evening viewings after and home between 7.30-8pm.
Constant pressure to get viewings/sales/instructions and pressure from sellers to get a buyer.
Before I became one, I used to think they were over paid for shuffling papers, how wrong I was.
Pay is ok, good if you're in central London, 50 hours plus per week and everybody hates you
It did pay for great travel experiences around the world for my family though and whilst I miss the money, I enjoy the time I have now.

Properties do sell themselves....its the appointment to view that needs 'selling' followed by 'overcoming objections' if it ticks most of the boxes for a buyer, then agree price=sale and thats the start of the hassle

Cant believe fees are up to 3% now!! and do remember that 96-98% of that fee goes to the company, the rest to the agent less tax and NI.

I'll get off my soap box now, sorry

[Dorian]

I never said the Agent does not work hard , just houses attract the buyer not the Agent

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[Checkmate]

Well its gonna be another estate agents....

So does that mean they have overtaken chicken shops, barbers, nail bars and bookies then?

Hardly bringing more variety to Sydenham's high street is it?

not impressed.

Serious question: what 'variety' would you like to see?

For what it's worth I'm pleased to see that a large, prominent unit on the high street is soon to be occupied again. Encouragingly, it's been taken up by a firm with a national presence, which suggests a degree of confidence in Sydenham.

I take your point that attracting a high profile firm with a national presence is a good thing, but, to answer your question, what I didn't want to see was another chicken shop / bookies / nail bar / barbers. Attracting high profile firms of the same type will not increase confidence in Sydenham.

Picture, if you will, Sydenham with a KFC, McDonalds and Burger King as well as the Wimpy, Morleys, Miami, Dallas, Subway, Selims, Chef's Delight, .

Or picture Sydenham with a Foxtons, Gascoigne-Pees, KFH, to go with the Rightmove, etc etc etc.....you get the idea....

To answer your question, how about a WH Smith....a shoe shop....I dunno....a shop selling outsize clothes for all the fat people like me who can list all the fast food outlets up the high street

[biscuitman1978]

I understand that the Agent does not get paid untill the sale Completes, and the agent has to work hard sometimes to hold a problematic sale together but they need to be the chosen by the vendor as the Instructed agent first to start that process. Most corporate agents main monthly target is "Instructions" above anything else.

Thanks, Dorian. I see what you mean now, and you make a very fair point. But at the same time, I wouldn't instruct an agent who I didn't think could sell my house, and part of that is being able to market it properly, whether in the window of their office or on the web.

I understand your point but if you were looking to buy in Sydenham would you not look at all the Agents instructions ? or would you only look for your next home via those agents that had a nice web site or a nice window display ? Im not dissagreeing with you, just making a point. A nice looking shop front and office for an EA is to attract sellers not buyers.

You're right, as a buyer I probably would make contact with all the agents, but I suspect would gravitate towards those with the best window displays and the most user friendly websites.

I take your point that attracting a high profile firm with a national presence is a good thing, but, to answer your question, what I didn't want to see was another chicken shop / bookies / nail bar / barbers. Attracting high profile firms of the same type will not increase confidence in Sydenham.

I think it depends what they are. A high profile estate agent locating here suggests some confidence that there is (or will be) a buoyant housing market in the local area. But I accept that more chicken shops would suggest that the area is treading water at best.

To answer your question, how about a WH Smith....a shoe shop....I dunno....a shop selling outsize clothes for all the fat people like me who can list all the fast food outlets up the high street

Perfectly reasonable aspirations. But I think the difficulty, for Sydenham and other centres of a similar size, is that the major supermarkets now sell a very wide range of goods (including clothes and electricals), for a much lower price than stores on Sydenham high street could ever hope to compete with. Not only that, larger retail destinations (in the case of Sydenham, Croydon, Bromley, the West End, Canary Wharf and, soon enough, Stratford) are easily accessible, with a wide ranging retail offer (both in terms of products and price). So I think that the high street will probably need to focus on what people want or need on their doorstep.

That means services (dry cleaners, banks, estate agents, nail bars, etc), restaurants/take aways/pubs and top-up grocery shopping, together with some specialist food which goes beyond what people can get from the supermarket (greengrocer, fishmonger, butcher, etc). There will be room for a few other specialist shops (Kirkdale bookshop and the pet shop are proof of this), but I think the range of shops (as opposed to services and restaurants/take aways) which might realistically survive in the high street is now much more limited than it was in years gone by. Sadly, the return of the likes of Cobb's department store http://sydenhamforesthillhistory.blogsp ... enham.html looks unlikely...