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Lawrence Higgins Associate Editor
This is the real thing...
T
owards the beginning of the 2008 economic downturn, property tycoon Gerald Ronson thought his adage that had seen
him through the 1990’s recession, “stay alive till ’95 – be in heaven in ’97” – would come good again. If you could make it through to 2013, you should be enjoying the fruits of survival by 2015. He has since upped the ante by saying that a living must be eked out until at least 2015. For those agents, individuals and businesses that have toiled to make a living for the past four years, this prediction offers little solace, but at least they give them something to look forward to. But what if this is it? What if that longed
would return to 2007 levels. 2013 to 2015 was the most common spread but a sizable contingent said “never”. These pessimists, or pragmatists,
depending on your viewpoint, said that 2007 was a one-off in the property market and that the pricing and buying frenzy should not, or could not happen again; a false bubble had been created. Not returning to boom times is no bad thing; no-one doubts that better economic times will come and with them
“Ronson has upped the survival ante by saying that a living must be eked out until at least 2015.”
for housing market nirvana is not actually going to come along in seven years, ten years or at all? This is the premise put forward by Jones Lang LaSalle’s Jon Neale in this month’s comment. The fact is, the position the market was in, just before the queues formed outside Northern Rock, was just as freaky a position as the double dip recession we are in now. Recent research from the BCO asked commercial property agents in the USA and UK when they felt the market
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a healthy housing market – it is just to be hoped that it will be more sustainable than previously. But if this is it, what should agents do? Those who have just tried to survive until the good times come again have probably already fallen by the wayside. Julian O’Dell this month advises agents to “make a disturbance.” That is, not to just let potential buyers and sellers put off making decisions until things get better, but to coerce them into action. Ultimately, don’t wait for it to happen; because it might not.
The Negotiator Magazine PO Box 624, Epsom, Surrey KT17 9JX tel: 0844 745 3001 email:
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Editorial Director Sheila Manchester email:
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Associate Editor Lawrence Higgins email:
lawrence@thenegotiator.co.uk tel: 0844 745 3103
Publisher Grant Leonard email:
grant@thenegotiator.co.uk tel: 0844 745 3100
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© Propertydrum Ltd 2012
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TheNegotiator l July 2012 l 3
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