Estate Agents Get Their Act Together

Estate Agents throughout the UK are vastly improving their service and standards according to research carried out by the 2007 Estate Agents of the Year Award, an annual event sponsored by the Property Search Group (PSG) and supported by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and FindaProperty.com.

This year’s competition revealed agents are playing an important part in ensuring that contracts are exchanged smoothly. 89 per cent of buyers and sellers said that their agent’s helpfulness was either good or excellent, with 67 per cent scouring the top mark for excellence.

The overall winner of the competition this year is Northern Ireland based, Burns & Co from Magherafelt who scored the highest marks in the competition, winning both the Gold Regional award as well as top Grand Prix prize.

Sequence won the Best National Letting Agency Chain Award. Anglesey based, Williams & Goodwin won the Gold Grand Prix, as well as the Gold Central Award in the Letting Agent of the Year category.

Tweedie Brown CBE, Managing Director of PSG said: “Estate Agents have really got their act together and are delivering on the whole a first class and much improved service. The results of this year’s competition reveal that a staggering 92 per cent of buyers and sellers would have no hesitation in recommending their estate agent.”

For the third consecutive year Peter Heron Estate Agents won the highly coveted Best North East Estate Agent at the ceremony, which was presented by Phil Spencer of Channel 4’s, Location, Location, Location.

The research showed that agents are certainly making a good impression with customers, either buyers or sellers when they first make contact with them. 95 per cent claimed that their impressions on first contacting the agents were good, or excellent.

89 per cent of customers thought that the cooperation between their agent and solicitor was good, with 64 per cent saying the service, which ensured their smooth move was excellent.

93 per cent reported that the management of the viewing process was either good or excellent. Peter Heron Partner Ashley O’Carroll tells us “This years results are truly amazing with many satisfied customers really going out of their way to sing our praises. Going far beyond the call of duty to keep our customers happy, one seller reports choosing us to handle their sale because we were the only agent in the region offering an “out of hours service seven days a week” and they were very surprised when we even watered their plants whilst they went back packing around Australia; we even cut their lawns.

The Awards, which were instigated by PSG, are intended to help raise and maintain standards in the sector, but also to reward and acknowledge good agents who are enhancing the image of the sector through good practice.

PSG was founded by Julie Hester a former policewoman in Huddersfield in 1997 when she found that solicitors were receiving poor service from local authorities who traditionally provide conveyancing searchers needed by solicitors acting on behalf of homebuyers. The small business Julie started from home now carries out, one in four of every property search in England and Wales. It was Julie’s idea to set up the estate agents awards with the objective to help raise standards and to acknowledge outstanding success in an industry, which she felt was sometimes unfairly criticised.

The results of the competition are determined by research carried out amongst customers who are asked a series of questions about the service they received from their agent. To ensure validity of the competition a totally independent adjudicator carries out spot check audits. This ensures that the results of the competition are recorded and interpreted accurately.

Phil Spencer said: “This is the fourth year of the Estate Agents and letting Agent of the year Awards and I’ve increasingly enjoyed being part of the celebrations on each occasion. It’s fantastic to see agents getting the credit they deserve after all the negative press they receive. Throughout the property industry there is a constant need to improve customer service and these awards go a long way to help agents focus on keeping clients happy”.

Jeremy Leaf, chairman of RICS Residential Faculty at the Awards said: “Being nominated or actually winning one of these prestigious awards, which are widely recognised throughout the industry demonstrates publicly an agent’s commitment to delivering the highest standards of service. This accolade is especially coveted as it is the agents customers who have judged the service to be of an excellent standard, a considerable achievement when the reputation of estate agents generally is not always so highly regarded.”

Agents are providing value for money too. 60 per cent of customers claimed that they were happy with the final costs from their agent. With 39 per cent saying that the level of service in relation to fees was “excellent”.

The Awards were presented at a luncheon at the Savoy Hotel in London on Tuesday 3rd April 2007 and upon receipt of the awards, Ashley O’Carroll tells us “I am absolutely delighted to have scooped this award for the third year running and my sales team at Peter Heron deserve all the credit”.

This years award reflects the effort they put into their role ensuring our clients are always happy with their whole moving experience. Most estate agents are very good selling their clients homes but Peter Heron are always setting new standards. Ashley O'Carroll recieves award from Phil Spencer

At Peter Heron, we don’t just sell houses; we help our clients move ! We find our clients their next home and because we have a inhouse mortgage department, inhouse conveyancing unit and inhouse removal unit, all Peter Heron clients can do everything under the one roof.

Up and above the secret to our continued success is that we are always listening to our clients and delivering what they want. Because of that our clients come back to us time and time again and the bulk of our new instructions come to us through recommendations from them.

So if you are currently with an estate agent who isn’t delivering what they promised or even if you are just thinking of selling, please ring us on 5103323 (City Centre branch) or 5486565 (Fulwell branch) for a no obligation free valuation and allow us the opportunity to show us what we can do for you.