I am reading the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (and the latest George RR Martin novel, but that’s not as relevant. A very interesting read, which makes me stand a little outside of myself and look at my personal life and also Hayes.

Hayes is a great and growing company, with a strong residential lettings department and a strong residential estate agency department. Hayes is staffed by an enthusiastic, growing team of people and Hayes sells and lets more properties as each year goes by, but…

Hayes would sell alot more properties and have a lot less hassle if some vendors and some buyers took the time to look at the bigger picture (Ie stand outside of the immediate issue and think about what they are trying to achieve in the medium to long term).

At present we have a vendor wishing to withdraw from a sale, not because he does not want to sell, but because he cannot find his onward purchase (even though for pressing family reasons he needs to move).

We have another vendor who is likely to have his property repossesed, he has the ‘right offer’ on the table, but again he is not willing to accept it because he wants more (a figure that will not be achieved due to a stamp duty threshold).

We recently lost a sale because the vendor decided that to save £250.00 on indemnity insurance he would put his property retrospectively through the grade II planning process (a matter of months. He will not sell the property again at that high price.

Not all vendors are blinkered, the majority are sensible, pragmatic people who work with Hayes and their buyers to get to an exchange of contracts. This majority of vendors and buyers are I am sure, much happier because they are controlling their lives, rather than letting circumstances and intractability, control them.

Hayes enjoyed a record revenue month in Lettings in April, 2012, lots of move-ins lots of lets. A testament to the hard work of the Lettings Team. Lots of late nights and long weekends at present (hence the recruitment of an additional full time member of staff).

But Hayes has plenty of applicants at all levels, if you are thinking about letting out your property please do contact us, we are letting properties quicker than we are being instructed.

Hayes estate agency arm had a good day yesterday with sales agreed on Oak Crest and Old Barn at Berrow, Hayes was also negotiating sales on three other properties ranging from £195,000 through £350,000, to £750,000. Hayes is expecting an offer on another property on Thursday and first and second viewings are plentiful at present.

With the six sales agreed so far in May, 4 of them have been on with Hayes for a while, the other two are new instructions, so Hayes policy of constantly working the database and constantly working existing properties (as well as new instructions) has paid off.

Talking of new instructions, Hayes continues to be instructed on a variety of properties, across a wide price range and geographic area. As ever a large swathe are brand new to the market, others have been marketed by other estate agents who have failed to sell them.

So working hard, marketing well, properties seem to be selling.

At Hayes we have a dedicated Sales Progressor in the form of Petra Curry. It is Petra’s role to work with vendors, buyers and solicitors to progress an agreed sale through from offer to exchange of contracts. It is a very stressful and difficult job, not because Hayes sells complicated properties (we do), not because sometimes said properties have issues in law or structure (sometimes they do) but because people are involved in the transaction.

In a year Hayes will complete on between 80 and 100 properties and sadly we can count on the fingers of one hand, the number of sales that progress easily through from offer to exchange of contracts, it is Petra’s job to keep these difficult sales alive, often going above and beyond the call of duty, including arranging insurance, finding rental properties and being an agony aunt.

Sales progression is an art and that makes Petra Curry an artist.

Hayes Sales and Lettings (known as Hayes) is 7 weeks away from year end. Like for like comparison of Hayes estate agency arm and Hayes letting agency arm has shown strong growth in both areas. Overall anticipated revenue at year end will be 33% higher than at year end June 2011.

Clearly we are all pleased with this growth, particularly against a flat market locally. Hayes has grown for a number of reasons, but mostly it is because local people have taken the time and trouble to sing our praises (when appropriate). It makes me personally proud to live in an area where good work is trumpeted, a testament to the people of the Three Counties. (sorry I went a little bit ‘gushy’ there, but ignoring the saccharine, the sentiment is still sound).

So Hayes Lettings and Hayes Estate Agency are growing, but clearly we cannot and will not be complacent. We constantly strive to improve our marketing, our customer service our sales and negotiation.

Hayes sells period, country properties, a huge subset being equestrian properties. Estate agency is a seasonal business, with more activity and sales taking place in the peak months of Easter to Mid-July, then a lull until end of August, a second resurgence in September and October (November is weather dependent). Poor sales months tend to be December, January and Februay, then the cycle begins all over again.

As a specialist Estate Agency, Hayes finds that our peak activity starts a little later in the year, the majority of larger properties have lovely gardens/land and this tends to look better in spring.  So although Hayes has sold Donnington Hall and also agreed a sale on Hillend Farm it is only now that we are beginning to see £1,000,000 + properties coming to the market.

Hayes has been instructed on four separate £1,000,000 + properties in the last few days, with a variety of uses, although all bar one will be of strong interest to the equestrian market. So exciting times for Hayes.

Hayes is a huge fan of appropriate video tours and a vehement opponent of ‘bad’ video tours. I have been unlucky enough to view some video tours which have left me queasy with motion sickness (the fisheye, spinning lense approach).

Equally I know that Hayes has sold properties, because the video tours highlighted the excellent features of a barn conversion, that from the outside was a little bit ugly.

Video tours are tools to provide an insight into what it might be like to live in a property, they don’t sell properties per se, rather they highlight features, they are another virtual window into that house. They work, when done correctly. Bad Video Tours, put buyers off the right property.

Those searching Hayes Website for properties to buy can click once and then start to view the details of Hayes properties, this compares to many of Hayes competitors, where it is several clicks before you can even start to view properties.

Hayes then presents relatively large professional photographs. This is to help the potential buyer, decide whether that property is right for him/her. Small photographs do not help the buyer decide, and in my experience are more likely to make the buyer rule out a property, rather than ‘rule it in’.

Full Details include everything that is standard:

• Large Photos, which can be turned into a fullscreen slideshow
• Floorplans that can be viewed at full size
• Propmaps of land
• EPC details
• Brochure Text
• Location Map
• Street View
• Aerial View
• Directions

But in addition Hayes tries to answer some of the most commonly asked questions:

• Local schools
• Local communications
• Council Tax Band
• Equestrian Facilities
• Costs of Borrowing
• Costs from Foreign Currencies

This is by no means a definitive answer to all the potential questions, but it goes some way to helping potential buyers rule in or indeed rule out properties. The Hayes Website is the virtual window into Hayes properties, we try to give you the best possible glimpse of the property, before you take the time and trouble to visit the real thing.

Hayes website is largely well regarded by vendors, purchasers, landlords and tenants. It is not perfect, but it is relatively easy to use, with lots of relevant information appropriately presented. I am conscious of its limitations and its imperfections and slowly the website is tweaked to improve it.

As you would expect, I look at lots of other estate agents and letting agents websites and I am amazed at the overall low quality. I am not going to pick out individual sites, but I will highlight my own thoughts on what an estate agency or letting agency website should provide.

Perhaps the most critical question is what is the primary purpose of an estate agency website?

• To enable buyers to choose and ultimately buy houses

This is a fairly obvious answer, but so many estate agencies seem to think that the primary purpose is to talk about their company, rather than enable buyers to buy houses.

• How many estate agency websites have you visited which tell you how great they are, but seem to hide their properties?
• How many estate agency websites have you visited, where the photos of the properties are small, perhaps out of focus and crooked?
• How many estate agency sites have keyword searches that do not work?
• How many estate agency websites have floorplans that are so small that they are illegible, without any ability to increase their size?
• I have visited company websites that portray less information that is on Rightmove, negating any reason for having their own website.

An estate agency website is there as the virtual window into your potential new home, it should provide relevant and useful information in a consistent, easy to use manner. Anything less is doing your clients a disservice.

Whilst Hayes website is not perfect, we do at least try to put our customers at the forefront of what we do. As ever, any constructive criticism is welcome. Please do contact me via email craig.coldicott@hayesgb.com or via this blog.

Hayes is enjoying superb growth in our Lettings Department, partly because the team of Janet Weston, Clemetine Sandbach and Araminta White works so hard (an additional full time person is joining the team within the next few weeks) but also because Hayes Letting Department is known for its strong marketing.

• Properties to let through Hayes are automatically professionally photographed
• Properties to let through Hayes all have floorplans undertaken.
• Properties to let through Hayes are all promoted on all the major property portals:
  • www.hayesgb.com
  • www.primelocation.com
  • www.rightmove.co.uk
  • www.findaproperty.co.uk
  • www.globrix.com

So if you are struggling to let out your property or are thinking about letting out your property, please contact Janet Weston on 01531 630030 or janet.weston@hayesgb.com