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Updates from June, 2012
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Michael Saunders & Company International Brochure
MSC Marketing
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Normal Service is Resumed
MSC Marketing
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Mayfair International February 2012 Newsletter
Beth Ward
Which Real Estate Agent Should You Fall For?
With romance in the air this February Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty takes a loving look at how we could fall head over heels with…a real estate agent.
Spring is round the corner and love is in the air. Yet spare a thought for poor real estate agents. These, often undervalued, creatures are amongst the least likely to receive a lot of affection from their clients on Valentine’s Day – or any other day for that matter.
But right at the moment, in this challenging economic climate, good brokers and agents are a bit like perfect sweethearts. There are times in life when it is best to have someone by your side who really values you, who will fight for you, who won’t answer back – too much, who will only hang around your home when you want them to and has all your best interests at heart. Such a person may not make such a bad partner.
Of course there are good partners and bad partners. Selling real estate well rests heavily on the partnership built up between seller and agent. A good agent will lovingly put your home on a pedestal and then negotiate fiercely to achieve the best deal for you. On the other hand, a lesser agent may just put your property on the internet with all the others and then haggle to find the easiest deal all round.
There is a great difference between the two – often many thousands of dollars. You could come to love the former but hate the latter. The trick is finding the right one at the outset. It’s a bit like finding the best date. They all may look roughly the same but in practice they each act very differently.
So if you are searching for the type of broker or agent you could come to love this spring invite a few around to give you some marketing advice and see how you get on. Then ask yourself which you would prefer, the flashy one who brags a lot and is cheap or the one who you feel most comfortable with to act in the most decent way: the one you can come to depend on.
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How to be Top
MSC Marketing
As we enter a New Year Nick Churton of Mayfair international Realty takes a look at what may lie ahead for the real estate market. Although mature real estate brokers and agents are apt to say that they have seen it all before, this time it is different. No one has seen this market under this set of national and international financial conditions before. But what is rather refreshing is that the uncertainty now cuts down the speculation aspect of a home purchase and strips the requirement to buy down to the real and age-old essentials. This makes for easier choices.
Le Corbusier, the pioneering architect, stated that, “The requirements for a house should be to provide a shelter against heat, cold, rain, thieves and the inquisitive”. He didn’t add that a home should also provide its owner with an investment return of seven per cent year-on-year.
For the first time since, perhaps, the 1960s property investment can take more of a back seat in the home buying mindset and, instead, fundamental life requirements can come back to the fore. Of course with other financial instruments providing so little in the way of return, real estate is a natural arena in which to invest. But with little or no indication about if or when the market will return in any zest we are left with simpler decisions and choices – does a home suit our requirements in size, location, style and price?
It is although our needs have been simplified in the way they may have been fifty years ago. With less frenzy and greater choice, for a while at least, this may be a very good time to choose a primary or secondary home for all the very best lifestyle reasons.
We quickly learn to expect that there is an investment opportunity to be gained from property purchase in a rising market. But we are rather slow to appreciate the reverse is likely in a poor market and/or in particularly adverse economic circumstances as we have now.
2011 was a hard year in property and this year may not be much better. We may have new US, Russian and French presidents, more ructions in Europe and the Middle East, and greater privations at home before we see greater improvement. But still there is a reassuring level of market activity that has more to do with need than discretion. This is the market we have and this is the market we have to deal with – and deal with it we will.
But real estate buyers and sellers should not be deterred. Indeed they should be encouraged as the more life there is in the real estate market the more life there is in the economy. But those still insisting on the sort of financial profit they may have achieved several years ago should perhaps think again and get real. It will be the enlightened that get to the top of the property class in 2012, not those in denial.
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Mayfair International Realty Winter 2011 Newsletter
Beth Ward
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Mayfair International Realty our London Office will be attending the Hurlingham Exibition
MSC Marketing
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Mayfair International Seasonal Message
Beth Ward
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Top of the Class
Beth Ward
By Nick Churton, Mayfair International RealtyAugust 22, 2011
Everyone knows that selling real estate is like shelling peas. Right? Brokers and agents have it easy. They just put on the internet – and the property is as good as gone at its ambitious asking price. Right?
Wrong!
What about selling real estate at a time when not so many are interested in buying? When buyers are strapped for cash; when the banks aren’t lending so much or so easily; when the country is facing a harsh austerity period and at a time of tenacious financial uncertainty. What about selling real estate when a seller may be demanding more than the market will stand? What about selling real estate when people have more pressing things to think about? And how about selling real estate for someone whose personal circumstances – joyous, sad or desperate – crucially depend on an agent’s efforts, despite all the above negative market conditions. Then selling real estate is not quite so easy as many might suggest.
But, cometh the moment cometh the agent. Of course when the market is in overdrive it is easier to sell homes. But now, in many areas, matters are more serious. Selling property in this market needs an agent with experience, with heart and foresight and skill and purpose. One with a steady hand who understands that moving home is often played out over two legs. There’s the home leg, selling, and the away leg, buying. This is a time to play the long game and to see and understand the bigger picture – and to be able to communicate this to anxious clients. There comes a time when selling property has to be put into the hands of someone who is seriously good at what they do. This is the time for hiring the top of the class.
If you want the agent who – even against your own optimistic judgement – has priced your home way higher than every one else, do go ahead if that makes you feel good. But what will really make you feel good is selling your home and moving on to another. And for that, right now, you need a professional.
Red Adair, the famous oil well fire fighter said it perfectly, “If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur!”
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Michael Saunders & Company International Brochure
Beth Ward
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Michael Saunders & Company International Affiliations
MSC Marketing
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