I read an interesting article in the Sunday Times at the weekend, with regard to the pulling power of good local schools.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/best-uk-schools-guide-parent-power-tr95xdztg
It was fascinating reading and my wife commented to me that the true essence of a school cannot purely be measured by its results (as a Teacher she is more qualified than me to comment) but it can do nothing but good for house prices falling in ‘catchment’ of these high performing schools. The interesting thing about the property market is it moves up and down, but what remains constant is the key draws of the location.
Having run S&G over the last 15 years I have spoken to more than my fair share of buyers. What has been consistent during this time is that our local area always draws buyers from out of the area AND once here, buyers stay and look to upsize and downsize in the same location. This helps create demand, even when the market softens as it has done over the last few months. There are always buyers who NEED to move into the area. For me, this is another of the key roles of a good estate agent vs. a portal listing via an online agent. Yes the convenience of booking a viewing online is great, but who is actually coming through the door, can they afford it and is there a genuine requirement to move to the area? A good agent will find out what the key drivers are for a buyer and use that information to offer other properties that a portal listing may never be able to tell you.
‘Traditional’ agents like us need to up our game. The online agents have shaken the tree and created a different option for our clients. We do create value in different ways, an in-depth knowledge of our local areas & skilled agents listening to our buyers needs are just 2 of the ways we can create the value for our customers. To find out more, then please call any of the teams today.
Oh, and back to the key draws of our local areas, in my opinion, it is schools and transport links, the good news is these are better now than they were 15 years ago when I started the business. Fingers crossed we can say the same in 15 years time.
Alex Sewell, Managing Director
