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One of the most important factors that separates the best estate agency and letting agents from the rest is the quality of their staff. Until now employers have competed to recruit the best staff by offering higher salaries, better cars and better promotion prospects but COVID-19 has changed all this because a huge percentage of…

My previous articles on Coronavirus have focused mostly on how to maintain your income. So, the focus of this article will be how to make savings in your running costs with a particular focus on using Prop Tech. Covid-19 has made many companies completely reassess the way that they use Prop Tech and it is…

Most estate agents and letting agents that I talk to are pretty confident now about surviving the rest of 2020. They have had the benefit of the furlough scheme, the local authority grant money, reductions in their portal costs, reduced marketing costs, deferment of a quarter’s VAT and deferment of the second tax payment on…

I was very sorry to hear that Andrew Grant in the Midlands had gone into administration. It seems a sad end for a business that has been trading for almost fifty years, but I fear that it will not be the last business casualty of Covid-19. Most letting businesses have performed well during the lockdown,…

The market for successful lettings businesses is still strong according to one of the country’s leading business transfer agents, reported Letting Agent Today on the 28th May. Adam J Walker and Associates has sold Daisy Lets in Maidstone to (local competitor) Seekers, SD Lambert in Upton to Baker and Horner and Whites Independent Lettings in…

Well, hallelujah, you are allowed to open your office, your bank balance is looking good and your business has survived the virus. Or has it? Unfortunately, it is still too soon to say. Let’s consider this example of a small business that usually banks £480,000 per year, half from sales and half from lettings. John…

The recent Pie survey showed that 57% of people who work in the property sector think that it is too soon for agents to return to work. However, most estate agency business owners are delighted that they have been allowed to reopen their businesses. Nevertheless there will be many obstacles to overcome before business can…

When the country went into lockdown last month most people expected that it would last for a few weeks and then life would return to normal. It is becoming clear that this is not how things are going to turn out and that the return to normal life is going to be a gradual process…

Despite 40 years in the property business, I never cease to be fascinated by what separates the most successful businesses from the rest. One of the key differentiators though is that successful businesses nearly always have a detailed written business plan. The crisis caused by coronavirus has demonstrated very clearly why business planning is so…

Here is a 10 minute video that I shot for Simply Conveyancing recently on some of the things that you can do to ensure that your business survives Covid 19. I hope you find it helpful. If you would like some individual advice on what your business should be doing at this very difficult time…