Various people are carrying the report that the Law Society has indicated many estate agents are breaking the law and not conforming with the HIPs process.
Law Society president, Mr Marsh told BBC Radio 4's Today programme, "The evidence is that these Hips are being ordered and not being processed. They are being suspended until such time as a buyer is found."
"I don't think it is within the spirit of the regulations. Actually, I don't think it is within the regulations."
The NAEA, not unsurprisingly, stated that "there probably are some estate agents who are flouting the law, but it is understandable in this absolutely catastrophically bad market."
"We don't condone flouting the law, but I can certainly understand why they are doing it, especially as the pack is completely useless to buyer and seller,"
Useless, uncessary and unwelcome appears to be the feedback and during bleak times this has shades of the Poll Tax. I don't foresee riots, but perhaps Milliband will use this as a weapon to bring down Brown. The Tories have already indicated they would scrap HIPS so not good news for the HIP providers either way.
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Blogging
Poppy at Zoomf writes a great post, as always :) about blogging.
To extend the point a little, try a google search of: 'rightmove blog'.
Yep, there we both are and no sign of rightmove's blog!
Cheers
To extend the point a little, try a google search of: 'rightmove blog'.
Yep, there we both are and no sign of rightmove's blog!
Cheers
Tuesday, 29 July 2008
Estate agent lists gay couple as a selling particular
This is London posts a news item about a gay couple who were 'outed' by their estate agent.
Apparently, one of the selling particulars was the word lesbians which was listed where the reference number should have been and then uploaded to Rightmove. The intention appears to be that this property is owned by lesbians.
Not surprisingly, the owners complained to the agents who unbelievably wrote back to say they didn't see how they could have been discriminated against. What!? Outstanding customer service! Cowardly seeking shelter in an aggressive letter, the sheer arrogance is beyond belief. And we wonder why the general public don't worry about estate agents going bankrupt.
Having settled out of Court, the agent's final comment was staff will go on diversity training. Plainly, their staff need to go on a basic right and wrong course or maybe back to school to learn the basics of common decency.
There is mention that this was a joke, but whether this was a joke or a mistake does not warrant discussion, the mere fact that someone was stupid enough to actually uploaded the word is cause for concern.
The offending agents, Jackson-Stops and Staff, are well known in the area and perhaps they just wanted to be up there with Foxtons as agents the public love to hate. Impeccable timing to boot!
Apparently, one of the selling particulars was the word lesbians which was listed where the reference number should have been and then uploaded to Rightmove. The intention appears to be that this property is owned by lesbians.
Not surprisingly, the owners complained to the agents who unbelievably wrote back to say they didn't see how they could have been discriminated against. What!? Outstanding customer service! Cowardly seeking shelter in an aggressive letter, the sheer arrogance is beyond belief. And we wonder why the general public don't worry about estate agents going bankrupt.
Having settled out of Court, the agent's final comment was staff will go on diversity training. Plainly, their staff need to go on a basic right and wrong course or maybe back to school to learn the basics of common decency.
There is mention that this was a joke, but whether this was a joke or a mistake does not warrant discussion, the mere fact that someone was stupid enough to actually uploaded the word is cause for concern.
The offending agents, Jackson-Stops and Staff, are well known in the area and perhaps they just wanted to be up there with Foxtons as agents the public love to hate. Impeccable timing to boot!
Google launches Knol
Search Engine Land posts on the recent launch of Google's Knol.
I am guessing we are all sat here thinking how we can get on to (a) benefit the user and (b) generate more traffic for our respective customers/clients/sites.
For those that don't know (i had forgotten) the knol project
'...is a site that hosts many knols — units of knowledge — written about various subjects. The authors of the knols can take credit for their writing, provide credentials, and elicit peer reviews and comments. Users can provide feedback, comments, related information. So the Knol project is a platform for sharing information, with multiple cues that help you evaluate the quality and veracity of information...'
It feels like a cross between a social networking site and wiki, but I thought I would experiment. I searched real estate and property and estate agents and a few others, which delivered nothing. So I uploaded one of our articles that appeared in the press, it is supposed to be more for lengthier pieces by the sound of it. Let's see what happens and see what happens with search results.
If you read the post from Search Engine Land you will realise that the real importance could lie in the fact that it is a 'google' project and therefore any content contained within the site must benefit as knol must surely rank higher. I would tend to agree but then I am very cynical.
Will it be of use? At the moment it has loads of information about contracting various diseases, but apparently you can write anything, so a company about us section may work well, but I don't think this is the intention. That said, adopting sheep mentality, it is free and run by google so get on it.
I am guessing we are all sat here thinking how we can get on to (a) benefit the user and (b) generate more traffic for our respective customers/clients/sites.
For those that don't know (i had forgotten) the knol project
'...is a site that hosts many knols — units of knowledge — written about various subjects. The authors of the knols can take credit for their writing, provide credentials, and elicit peer reviews and comments. Users can provide feedback, comments, related information. So the Knol project is a platform for sharing information, with multiple cues that help you evaluate the quality and veracity of information...'
It feels like a cross between a social networking site and wiki, but I thought I would experiment. I searched real estate and property and estate agents and a few others, which delivered nothing. So I uploaded one of our articles that appeared in the press, it is supposed to be more for lengthier pieces by the sound of it. Let's see what happens and see what happens with search results.
If you read the post from Search Engine Land you will realise that the real importance could lie in the fact that it is a 'google' project and therefore any content contained within the site must benefit as knol must surely rank higher. I would tend to agree but then I am very cynical.
Will it be of use? At the moment it has loads of information about contracting various diseases, but apparently you can write anything, so a company about us section may work well, but I don't think this is the intention. That said, adopting sheep mentality, it is free and run by google so get on it.
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Ernst and Young Summer Forecast 2008
Open any paper and it is all doom and gloom. The Sunday Independent ran an article this weekend quoting Peter Spencer from Ernst and Young who published their summer forecast yesterday. In a nutshell they predict the housing market will get worse before it gets better.
This is of course not rocket science as we head towards Christmas but what is a worry is the 'R' word being touted around. 6,000 job losses at Wolesly, a plumbing and building merchants and other job losses in the supporting industries means the effects of the slow down are being felt further down the line, mainly as orders dry up and invoices are not paid. The rest of the economy has to panic as well for a recession to really bite and the press are doing their best to ensure that happens. For example, the report says the UK is 'flirting with recession', the papers say the UK is 'heading for recession'.
Anyway, my very humble opinion is that with consumer confidence so low it will only be the brave who come out of the winter property market hibernation looking to sell/buy property the rest will sit on it for another year. People with money will look at picking up deals in the second quarter next year and house builders will be forced to spend on marketing and come up with novel ways to shift their stock.
Here is what the reports says about the housing market:
And the free fall in housing market will continue
Credit markets in the developed financial markets are still showing little sign of loosening and continue to impact on the increased cost and restricted availability of mortgage finance. In light of the deteriorating economic environment, ITEM expects that house prices have significantly further to fall.
Spencer says, "We expect prices to drop by about 10% through 2008 and a further 6% through 2009. At the same time, we expect housing turnover to fall by about 35% this year and a further 10% in 2010, with all the usual effects on the associated expenditures. It is worth emphasising, however, that the correction in house prices is likely to be far greater outside London."
I also read a piece in the FT this weekend that analysed the crashes since 1720 odd and one thing is for sure, it will get better and then we will have another crash in the not so far future as apparently we never learn the basic fundamentals of risk (well, the banks never learn) and we all get caught up in the roller coaster of the good times forgetting that they cannot last inevitably.
This is of course not rocket science as we head towards Christmas but what is a worry is the 'R' word being touted around. 6,000 job losses at Wolesly, a plumbing and building merchants and other job losses in the supporting industries means the effects of the slow down are being felt further down the line, mainly as orders dry up and invoices are not paid. The rest of the economy has to panic as well for a recession to really bite and the press are doing their best to ensure that happens. For example, the report says the UK is 'flirting with recession', the papers say the UK is 'heading for recession'.
Anyway, my very humble opinion is that with consumer confidence so low it will only be the brave who come out of the winter property market hibernation looking to sell/buy property the rest will sit on it for another year. People with money will look at picking up deals in the second quarter next year and house builders will be forced to spend on marketing and come up with novel ways to shift their stock.
Here is what the reports says about the housing market:
And the free fall in housing market will continue
Credit markets in the developed financial markets are still showing little sign of loosening and continue to impact on the increased cost and restricted availability of mortgage finance. In light of the deteriorating economic environment, ITEM expects that house prices have significantly further to fall.
Spencer says, "We expect prices to drop by about 10% through 2008 and a further 6% through 2009. At the same time, we expect housing turnover to fall by about 35% this year and a further 10% in 2010, with all the usual effects on the associated expenditures. It is worth emphasising, however, that the correction in house prices is likely to be far greater outside London."
I also read a piece in the FT this weekend that analysed the crashes since 1720 odd and one thing is for sure, it will get better and then we will have another crash in the not so far future as apparently we never learn the basic fundamentals of risk (well, the banks never learn) and we all get caught up in the roller coaster of the good times forgetting that they cannot last inevitably.
Thursday, 17 July 2008
The Negotiator
Hot on the heels of Estate Agent Today, the Negotiator has launched a new web site.
Early days and more content needed, but good to see this space is changing.
Early days and more content needed, but good to see this space is changing.
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
New Web 2.0 mind map
1000watt consulting have just released their updated mind map for all things web 2.0 in the real estate game.
This is an essential reference tool and the old one has had much use from us so it is (a) great to see an updated version and (b) great to see us on there. We are flattered and thanks to readers and the guys at 1000watt.
Agents should spend a few minutes to look at the many excellent sites on this map and whilst many are states based it is all starting to happen over here so look into the crystal ball and see where you should be in 12 months.
This is an essential reference tool and the old one has had much use from us so it is (a) great to see an updated version and (b) great to see us on there. We are flattered and thanks to readers and the guys at 1000watt.
Agents should spend a few minutes to look at the many excellent sites on this map and whilst many are states based it is all starting to happen over here so look into the crystal ball and see where you should be in 12 months.
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