AWARDS Awards and more awards for Gibbs Gillespie
Awards seem to make estate agents happy so the team at Gibbs Gillespie must be very
happy indeed with their year as they collected the National Award for Best Lettings Agent at the Landlord & Letting Awards to crown a remarkable 12 months with 10 high profile industry awards. TV presenter Melissa Porter
presented the award to Louise Felgate, Gibbs Gillespie’s Head of
INNOVATION
Cash in on screen software
Did you know flat- panel screens can do more than just show property? Using
software such as the Isis Media Manager from UK-based digital signage specialists Indigo, agents are creating new revenue streams from their displays. The software enables you to create dynamic content and deliver powerful messages to the screens promoting all aspects of the business. Because systems such as Isis operate in the ‘cloud’, these messages can be distributed across a network of screens in multiple branches instantly. From promoting specific branch events to displaying a live social media feed, this new breed of digital signage software is proving to be a powerful marketing tool. An example of making the
screens work for you is the ability to create premium services such as ‘Property of the Week’ which can be offered to vendors as part of an enhanced marketing service. You can schedule and distribute content makes it easy for agents to organise and control advertising campaigns from other complementary businesses, in turn generating new revenue. Contact Indigo Vision on
02920 798999.
www.indigovision.co.uk
Tenancy Renewals & Property Management and Mark Lander, Lettings Manager from Harrow. This latest award follows Gibbs
Gillespie’s successes at the Negotiator awards – Best Independent Lettings Agency in the UK and four, Five Star Awards at the UK Property Awards. Earlier in 2011, Gibbs Gillespie
collected three awards at the Sunday Times Lettings Awards and its mortgage broking subsidiary, The Mortgage and Insurance Bureau won the Best Newcomer Award at the annual Mortgage
Intelligence Awards. Paul Gillespie, Founding Partner of Gibbs Gillespie said, “To win ten high profile and prestigious awards in a single year is a fantastic achievement and testament to the hard work and dedication of, what I regard as, the best estate agency and mortgage team in the country.” We have undertaken a
remarkable journey in our business over the last year. This has involved significant investment and change and has resulted in our revenues and profits increasing significantly.
HEALTH & SAFETY
UK housing is ‘dangerous’
According to new research by SearchFlow, 21per cent of UK properties contain a hazard to safety so serious that the local authority has a duty to intervene. If these hazards were to be repaired, it would cost the UK’s property owners in excess of £52bn. Hazards qualifying for
CATEGORY 1 under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System include those that can cause death, lung cancer, permanent loss of consciousness, 80 per cent burn injuries, the loss of a hand or foot, eye disorders, heart attacks and poisoning. According to the Housing
INCENTIVES Art for sales sake
Sales promotions and incentives have always been a part of the marketing mix but
today’s tough market is driving innovation as builders strive to stimulate sales. Government measures aim to
help an extra 100,000 first-time buyers but research by the Digital Property Group reveals that an increasing number of developers already offer generous incentives. A number of buyers of Union
Development’s Arthaus luxury apartments in Hackney were recently given money to buy an original Damien Hirst or Andy Warhol for their living rooms. Barratt Homes, which has a ‘special offers’ section on its website, has a part exchange scheme. Scottish firm Robertson Homes is offering – for first time buyers – to match their deposit up to five per cent of the property’s value; to pay the Stamp Duty, to fit all floor covering for free and to turf the gardens.
Linden Homes help the home
mover sell their home by dealing with the estate agent direct and paying their fees, helping get the best price for their old home and paying solicitor costs. Lovell Homes will match a
buyer’s deposit up to 10 per cent of the purchase price with an interest free 10-year loan, while Morris provides tailor made incentives such as part exchange, stamp duty paid, cashback or landscaping. Sheraz Dar, DPG’s Group
Marketing Director, says, “In the past these price promotions have been ways of differentiating your product in a crowded market but today, particularly as browsing first time buyers prove difficult to convert into sales, they are becoming a crucial way of achieving sales in a challenging business environment. This is manifesting itself in an increasing variety of developer incentives, along with newly announced government incentives.”
Act 2004, these types of hazard create an obligation for local authorities to either force the property to be vacated or to require immediate repair. The English Housing survey
states that in the UK, almost five million dwellings contained such hazards and that 1.9 million dwellings contained dangerous steps and stairs. The most dangerous type of property is converted flats, in which 37.7 per cent contain at least one CATEGORY 1 hazard. Stuart Pearce, CEO of
SearchFlow said, “Many homeowners are unaware they live with serious hazards every day. When private dwellings are assessed by local authorities, there’s a one in five chance there will be a hazard present which requires immediate attention. If you don’t make the required repairs – even if you can’t afford to – local authorities have the power to issue prohibition orders, which mean you aren’t legally allowed to live there any longer. In this situation, the only option for the owner may be to sell at a knockdown price.”
PROPERTYdrum JANUARY 2012 7
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