Hurford Salvi Carr are an innovative firm of London property advisors

These are the slides from the Worldwide Universities Network Global GIS Academy Seminar from the 22nd October. The seminar’s title is ‘What’s So New in Neogeography?’ and it is aimed largely at an academic audience with background in GIScience.

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According to Knight Frank’s latest Residential Review, the much publicized crisis in London’s property sales market is making way for a booming letting market as well as for professional property investment. According to this review the credit crunch is not a setback in demand of accommodation.

Buying an appropriate home has become impossible due to tightened mortgage conditions and considered unwise due to short term outlook for house prices. As a result of this, the demand in the letting market has increased by 30% on an yearly basis, (ie. in Central London the rents have grown up to 16% during 2007) and many potential buyers are now deciding to rent.

The demand for good quality family homes has become the trend and more and more tenants nowadays are on the look out for rented accommodation in the medium-term, since they do not view it as a short term or second rate option.

The supply of rented homes has also increased with many frustrated vendors now choosing to rent out due to the uncertain future of the sales market and a remarkable improvement on the quality of the stock on offer is being noted, ie. most previously owner-occupied homes have been furnished to high standards.

According to Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s Head of Residential Research, with rising rents and the fall of property values, it is sensible to own property purely for the rental income and this could attract more professional investors into the UK rental market.

The outlook on property market remains very uncertain according to Liam Bailey, and if the overall economic situation deteriorates, this drop could be far more significant, ie. by employment increase and inflation. Also due to high rate of stamp duty in the rising market, many buyers will be lost on their own home sale in future and will also be paying high taxes.

It is important to note that there is still an undersupply in UK’s housing market and when the decreased market does come up in the next few years, the problems of affordability and scarcity will return as house builders are entirely pulling out of the development now.

1. Inaccessibility. One of the top customer complaints of all time is, “They never called me back.” In customer speak, that translates into, “They don’t care about me, and they don’t want (or deserve) my business.” Consider these tips, and be sure you consistently:

* answer phone calls and emails within six hours,
and always within 24 hours
* contact open house attendees within three days of the event
* use automated systems to keep up with web and direct mail inquiries
* make yourself available; do NOT launch a marketing campaign and then leave town, attend
a four-day workshop or head for the beach. You laugh, but I wouldn’t mention it if I hadn’t
witnessed it myself more than once. Ours is an “instant gratification” society. People don’t like
to wait, so don’t make them!

2. Talking more than listening. I’m not sure who said it first (although I remember my mother sharing it a time or two), but this classic line really does put this point in perspective: “You were given two ears and one mouth in that proportion for a reason! Listen more than you talk.” Listening allows you to hear objections, get a real feel for the comfort and motivation level of your customers and effectively answer their questions and meet their needs. Listening attentively also makes the client feel important, connected and cared about. As Floyd Wickman once said, “They don’t care what you know until they know that you care.”

3. Dishonesty. Lies–big, small and every size in-between–have a funny way of sneaking up on you and biting you on the bottom line. Now more than ever, consumers are looking to work with professionals they can trust implicitly. When the economy gets tighter, each financial decision becomes bigger, and they need an advocate more than someone who will just tell them what they want to hear. Step up the integrity, say what you mean and mean what you say; it will mean the world to both your customers and your longevity in this business.

4. Forgetting that manners matter. It might seem to some that as generations pass and our world becomes more and more chaotic, it’s fine to let manners slide or common courtesies wane. For sales professionals at the top of the ladder, however, patience, civility and good old fashioned manners such as “please” and “thank you” as well as shaking hands, making eye contact, opening doors and being respectful are not just tools of the trade, they are marks of true character. The golden rule remains a life lesson that is truly “golden.” Top producers wouldn’t even consider:

* keeping a client on hold
* talking on a cell phone in the presence of a customer unless
negotiating on their behalf or handling a real emergency
* using profanity or any disrespectful language in front of a client

5. Quitting too soon. Sometimes “no” just means “not right now.” Too many agents stop reaching out to customers because they’re tired of sending “stuff.” I love the quote by Michael Sullivan (below) that reads: “Just when you feel like you’re tired of mailing postcards, flyers and brochures, that’s when your prospects are just getting used to hearing from you!” He’s right; it’s not about us, it’s about them. So hang in there for the long haul. Give your customers as much time, attention and patience as they need not only to be your customer right now, but also to be your customer for life. Every one that is, is worth tens of thousands to you over the course of your career.

6. Failure to get to know your customers and allow them to get to know you. Ours is a people business–and a busy one, at that! We all forget from time to time, and the more clients you have, the more likely it is to happen if you don’t have a system in place to methodically get to know everyone who will be the lifeblood of your business both today and for years to come. Create a database on your computer, or download our free BusinessBASE™ and begin to fill in the details about your VIPs–birthdays, employment, children’s names, hobbies, important events, etc. Contact everyone in some way every 30 days, and not just with sales or referral calls. “How’s the golf game?” “When is your daughter’s play?” “I saw this article and thought of you.” “Do you have any questions?” All of these are great communication strategies and a great way for you to get to know your customers and allow them to get to know you.

Statistics tell us that businesses spend six times more to gain a new customer than they do to retain their current ones. That’s truer today than it’s ever been. Think back to the “old days” when you bought a Ford because your father bought a Ford and his father bought a Ford. You used your bank because it was your parents’ bank or one insurance company because it was your family’s agent. That type of brand loyalty has all but disappeared.

With changing times come changing challenges, and those who realize that extraordinary customer service, relationship marketing and perseverance are the “tricks” of the trade will appreciate the “treats” this business provides for years to come–never even pausing to consider laying their career to rest.

King Cross Property is situated within walking distance of the West End and has Bloomsbury property and Clerkenwell property to the south and Camden and Islington to the north. It is an urban area densely populated with people from many walks of life.

The area has developed hugely over the past decade and will do so even more when the King’s Cross Central development takes place as the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras which has already begun the process. This will transform 67 acres of Brownfield land over the next 15 years and up to 2,000 new homes will be built, nearly half of which will be affordable housing.

The focal points at King’s Cross will be the Grade I listed St Pancras and its stations. The others are; the restored Midland Grand Hotel ( 245 bedroom hotel combining with 67 flats) at St Pancras; the Art Deco former Daimler Car Hire Garage and Senate House (the basis for the Ministry of Truth in Nineteen Eighty-Four); and the British Library and the University College Hospital.

Transport links put the whole of London within reach from King’s Cross; the national rail and tube network are within the reach as well as Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton airports. St Pancras International has direct Eurostar services to Paris, Brussels and Lille.

Mecklenburgh Square, John Street and Doughty Street, where Dickens once lived, are supposed to be the smartest streets at King’s Cross.

There are many restaurants and pubs and café’s, around this area ; the Konstam, The Harrison, the champagne Bar at St. Pancras, Aki, a Japanese bistro, Paolina a Thai café, Salaam Namaste, for delicious South Asian cuisine, etc. Filthy MacNasty’s Irish whiskey café; the Water Rats; the Cross Kings in York Way; Egg nightclub; Club Surya are the night clubs for entertainment.

University College of London on Gower Street, the Slade School of Fine Arts, The School of Oriental and African studies, the Birkbeck College (both part of the University of London) are near by King’s Cross, whilst Westminster Kingsway College offers further education facilities for student.

There are plenty of green spaces for relaxation in the area: Coram’s Fields, a beautiful playground and park for children; the famous Bloomsbury squares, Russell, Gordon and Tavistock; Camley Street Natural Park on Regent’s Canal; and Regent’s Park itself, a 25-minute walk away.

The ComScore numbers are out for August 2008 and all sites are down month on month and more importantly year on year. rightmove.co.uk continues to be the stand out leader in the market with 2.4m UV’s with findaproperty.co.uk in second place with 1.3m UV’s and propertyfinder.com in 3rd place with 1.1m UV’s.

Source: ComScore MediaMetrix August 2008

However, deeper analysis of the top three sites shows that although the UV gap may not be much, the frequency, total visits, total minutes, and page impression gap is much larger with rightmove.co.uk having over 6 times the number of page impressions as second placed findaproperty.co.uk. In fact rightmove.co.uk alone accounts for over 40% of all page impressions from UK real estate sites.

Source: ComScore MediaMetrix August 2008

Some people will look at the month on month variations and draw conclusions however this can be affected by seasonality, the amount of PPC spend and even short term marketing campaigns. Therefore it makes more sense to do some deeper analysis by looking at the year on year growth of the sites. As you can see, all of the top 4 major sites are down year on year with findaproperty.co.uk dropping less than the rest.

What is interesting is that below the big 4 there are two groups emerging - the second tier old school sites and the young turks. The second tier old school sites all dropped dramatically year on year - e.g. thinkproperty.com decreased 44%, homesonview.co.uk decreased 46% and so on while the young turks (nestoria.co.uk, globrix.com and zoopla.co.uk) all emerged from obscurity to be taking the place of the second tier old school sites. However there is still a long way to go for them to really take on the big 4.

Source: ComScore MediaMetrix August 2008

Over the last year, the overall UV’s to online real estate sites has decreased 19%, even through the complete internet market UV’s are up 12%. Therefore if we take the % change in real estate UV’s into account and look at what percentage of the total real estate UV’s are attracted to each site, what we see is that rightmove.co.uk has lost around 5%, findaproperty.co.uk gained 1%, propertyfinder.com lost 1%, as did primelocation. The big winner was not globrix.com but nestoria.co.uk which gained 5% of the UV market.

The King’s Cross, Bloomsbury, Fitzrovia & Covent Garden Hub takes A Fresh Approach as its theme. With the new St Pancras International station at its northern point, the area has gained both new significance and new challenges as a major gateway to London. An exciting programme of LFA2008 activities throughout the Hub reflects the changing nature of the area.

50 million passengers will travel through St Pancras every year; most will continue their journey from the station by Tube. Yet the relative proximity of King’s Cross to the River Thames, through Bloomsbury, Fitzrovia and Covent Garden, makes the Hub a natural starting point for explorations of the capital.

There is much to explore. The Hub represents London’s cultural and intellectual heart. The world’s largest concentration of leading academic and intellectual institutions – UCL, The Wellcome Trust, University College Hospital, The Architectural Association, The British Museum, Royal Opera House and Somerset House – are spread across its four quarters. It’s squares and green public spaces also set the area apart. While much of the Hub’s architecture is already highly regarded, a number of pockets of new development will have major impact, not least at King’s Cross and Central St Giles near Tottenham Court Road.

The challenge is to encourage these visitors from the UK and abroad to cross over Euston Road from St Pancras and start their exploration of London on foot. A lack of signage poses a major challenge, with the Hub’s four quarters ill defined in places, a one-way system giving dominance to motorised traffic and the potential of its many squares and green places unrealised.

LFA2008 will address these challenges by showcasing a ‘living masterplan’ for the area, offering ideas about how the area will be developed in the future. Exhibitions, installations and events will help to create routes, encouraging visitors to explore the Hub from King’s Cross St Pancras and celebrate its architectural heritage and future.

Debbie Whitfield, New London Architecture

For anyone at a loose end tomorrow we have a huge festival and street party going on around our office.

It is a family event as well with open air concerts and picnics. The focal point is the NLA Sky Walk party on Montague Place, behind the British Museum. Lots of other activities going on.

We are here from 10-3 tomorrow so if you are passing pop in and we might give you a cup of coffee and a cookie.

The first half of 2008 was a difficult time for the London residential property market. The banking liquidity crisis led to the loss of 60% of new enquiries in the sales market, compared with the first half of 2007, and resulted in a downturn in transactions that was exacerbated by reports of consumer confidence hitting the lowestpoint since 1990.

With fewer enquiries vendors, including some developers, increasingly looked to the rental sector as part of a longer term strategy, rather than sell in a buyers’ market. The private rental sector has provided a lifeline, unlike the last two major property corrections in the early 1970s and 1990s, when the rental market was not established as a viable alternative.

There were reports that 40 estate agents a week are closing. What do you see?

It’s interesting. I have to say when I read that I suddenly thought, where on earth is that coming from? Whilst we have seen closures, it’s certainly to date has not been reflected as far as our own membership is concerned.

There have been two sorts of closures generally. One, are the corporates, who have quite normally taken their opportunity to review their branch networks. …

Generally, the other people have been the little, single offices who have tended to set up over the past 10 years, but in particular last five years, on the back of a strong market, on the basis of, “any idiot can sell a property, it’s easy money, I don’t need any qualifications or experience and I don’t have to train my staff.” And it’s no surprise to me and I have little sympathy, I have to say, if they are unable to deliver the service to the client, the service the client deserves, once the market get tougher again. …

Many of our members are what you’d call the old style traditional estate agencies. They don’t just rely on sales. They have lettings, which have been very strong across here. They may have commercial, a bit of auctioneering, maybe some professional work. So they can react in a different way, tighten belts and generally try to weather the storm.

Have you seen any change in your membership numbers?

No, the end of the year we have the bulk of our renewals and interestingly enough we have had a smaller number leave this year than certainly I’ve ever had in the six years that I’ve been here. And nobody else can remember a smaller number. To give you an idea on that, on the sales side we renewed or sent out invitations to renew to 10,600 individual members. And we’ve only had to send out termination letters for non-payments to 300.

Why do you feel the situation has been blown out of proportion?

Rightly or wrongly, I’m comparing it, because everyone else seems to, with the late ‘80s, early 90s, when we did see a sizable drop in prices, when we saw record repossessions… We had raging inflation that was being controlled by interest rates and interest rates went from 8 percent to 15 percent in six months and that really hurt. We had high unemployment, much higher than now.

The difference this time around, although it still hurts when interest rates go up… mortgage rates are still quite historically reasonable figures. We’ve got low unemployment and the economy, at the moment, underlying economic factors are still OK. We have some concern over inflation, but there’s nothing like the sort of figures there were in 1990. …

Where I’m coming from is the underlying circumstances have not changed from 12 months ago. But what we’ve got is a credit situation that is affecting a number of people. … What we’ve got at the moment is a confidence crisis. And if we can get some good news, I still believe we can end up with a soft landing rather than a hard landing.

Do you think estate agents are getting a bad rap?

I actually get quite cross when people phone me up or e-mail me—and I get appalling e-mail from the public—saying this is all your fault, you pushed up prices. Well, my argument to that is no, how can agents be accused of pushing up prices? They have a job, which is to get the best possible price for their client. If somebody is prepared to pay a certain amount of money and lenders are stupid enough to lend it to them, then how can the agent be blamed? …

Agents have absolutely nothing to do with credit situation or this wait and see attitude we have at the moment.

Do you really think HIPs (Home Information Packs) really had a significant impact on the market?

I believe the government has managed to get away with HIPs. The reason I say that is because the economic situation, the credit situation, makes it impossible to actually say, aha, I told you so, HIPs have had an effect. Having said that, I have got case studies from members where they have absolute proof that potential clients are not putting their property on the market because they have not got the savings and they’re worried that they then take the property off the market, given the current climate, they’re suddenly going to have to cough up £300.

What are your members saying about the activity with overseas buyers these days?

The upper end held up much more strongly this year than the rest of the market. However, we’re beginning to get feedback over the last few weeks that some of this top end market appears to be slowing up as well.

What would you like to see happen to get you through this time?

Clearly some good news would help.

Richmond Green is one of the grandest greens in London, fringed by fine William and Mary houses and several good pubs. An annual black-tie May Ball is held there in a marquee. In aid of the Orange Tree Theatre, the ball is a glitzy event, heavily patronised by the big names of stage and screen.

Former teacher Jan Temple, who lives nearby on Old Palace Terrace, is a regular at the ball, and also walks her dog on the green daily. “The ball gets bigger every year and is great fun,” she says. “I love the fact that it is such an easy walk home.

“I’ve never known a place like this. I have lived here for nine years now and find it very villagey. People are always friendly and those with families use the green for playing. This is the friendliest place I have ever lived.” However, Jan will soon be moving as she wants to be closer to her children, now that her first grandchild is on the way. “Though I shall be sad to leave,” she says, “someone else will be able to enjoy the house and this wonderful green.”

Local communities have a fight on their hands saving village greens from developers, according to the Open Spaces Society. The campaign groups says there has been a doubling of applications for protective status for village greens in the past 12 months, with London communities determined to guard their remaining open spaces more jealously than most.

It is exactly 40 years since The Kinks released their classic single The Village Green Preservation Society, which illustrates just how much the group’s lead singer and the song’s writer, Ray Davies, was ahead of his time.

Though most would not associate London living with an idyllic life of sitting round a village green, with its cricket pitch or pond, edged by a pub, a clutch of rose-covered cottages and a looming church spire, the capital does have its “greens”.

They are not always green, as it happens, but they are precious open spaces, preserved for families who love a focal point, somewhere to gather and gossip. Pimlico Green, for example, is now paved over but is enjoyed by all the locals who flock to its Saturday farmers’ market.