CAREER OPPORTUNITY

We are now recruiting for a Senior Negotiator/Lettings Manager to join our highly motivated and performance driven team. We are looking for a property sector professional who can demonstrate an ability to secure business, lettings experience is desirable but not essential. Customer service skills and a strong team ethic will also need to be evidenced. This is a key position offering further career development opportunities within a successful and expanding lettings business, which is the market leader in its field. Applications with full CV and current salary details should be sent to Shaun Cafferty, Senior Partner, 199 Nantwich Rd, Crewe CW2 6DD

Friday, 31 October 2008

TOP AWARD FOR CREWE AND NANTWICH

Top Award for Martin & Co Crewe and Nantwich

Martin and Co (Crewe and Nantwich) have plenty to celebrate after they were named winners of a top award at the group’s AGM.

They were named Martin and Co’s agency of the year, beating off stiff competition from right across Martin & Co’s 130+ nationwide network. Local businessmen Mark Bowler and Shaun Cafferty, who own the Crewe and Nantwich agency, were presented with their award at a glittering award ceremony held at the luxury Bosworth Hall Hotel in Warwickshire.

Shaun said: “It is a massive accolade to be rated the best agency within the UK’s leading lettings group. Martin and Co is a network of independent letting specialists who commit to agreed standards and best practices, but we also have to make our own business decisions and stand on our own two feet. We are very much a locally owned business, shaped to the needs of South Cheshire people. This award is a tribute to all the hard work that everyone in both offices has put in, and is an achievement they can all be very proud of.”

Mark added, “At heart, successful lettings is all about having knowledgeable and quality people delivering a professional service, and this award underlines what we set out to deliver in Crewe and Nantwich. It’s an important recognition of what we stand for. We would like to thank our clients – landlords and tenants- whose support and feedback helped us secure this prestigious honour.”

So, if you’re thinking of becoming a landlord, or you’re looking for property to rent in Crewe or Nantwich, your choice is an easy one. Go to Martin & Co, and you’ll be dealing with winners – literally!

Friday, 31 October 2008

PEACE OF MIND FOR SOUTH CHESHIRE INVESTORS DURING ECONOMIC TURBULENCE

A LEADING lettings and property management specialist in South Cheshire has urged investor landlords and tenants to protect their property investments and interests in these troubled times by ensuring they use only accredited agents.

Shaun Cafferty of Martin & Co has stressed the importance of making sure that a letting agent has the seal of approval from a recognised professional body in the industry.

Shaun said: “We have accreditation from NALS, the National Approved Letting Scheme and we believe this gives our landlords and tenants peace of mind – something that’s priceless right now. They know they are dealing with an agent that meets defined standards – this includes the necessary insurances to protect our clients’ money.

He added: “To secure NALS accreditation, you have to go through a rigorous process, so anyone who is NALS registered is able to offer a dependable service with the highest levels of consumer protection. Letting agents can be handling large amounts in rents and deposits which is money due to landlords and tenants, and are being entrusted with properties often worth six-figure sums. Yet there is no statutary requirement to demonstrate competence or financial integrity – anyone reading this article could set themselves up as a ‘specialist’ letting agent tomorrow! We have voluntarily committed to meet agreed standards of accountability, transparency and best industry practices through the NALS scheme, and I think that if you are using an agent this is vitally important, especially in view of what is now happening elsewhere with finance and investments, and even in the property sector itself. NALS is backed by the Government and other professional bodies including The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)”.

Martin & Co also welcomed legislation last year aimed at giving much greater protection for tenants’ deposits. The long-awaited scheme, called Tenancy Deposit Protection (TDP) came into force in April 2007 and has been developed to ensure deposits are protected from misuse and misappropriation by landlords or agents, and that disputes over their return can be resolved inexpensively and impartially.

Despite economic uncertainties, Shaun believes that property investment is still a strong option, especially as it’s such a buyers market at the moment. “Although we are now over the seasonally busy summer period, the longer term prognosis is for a greater number of people needing or wanting to rent over the next few years. Whilst this will take effect gradually, the overall impact at some stage will be rising rents as demand is likely to start to outstrip supply. Falling house prices and rising rents will make investment yields more attractive.”

He also cautions investors against trusting their most valuable assets to a failing business: “Estate agents are sadly going bust in record numbers, whereas residential lettings is our only business and we are having our most successful year ever. We are well placed to let clients’ properties quickly for the best market rent, but without cutting corners on tenant referencing, deposit protection, energy certification, gas safety checks and the other legalities. In times like these, it’s obviously sensible and prudent to let safely through an agent who has Client Money Protection Insurance and is a member of the Government’s National Approved Letting Scheme”.

Friday, 31 October 2008

Can Lettings Save the Housing Market?

Our national obsession with property means that it is never far from the news. Because there is no news like bad news, in recent months we have seen a spate of depressing property stories and it would be easy to think that the entire property market is disappearing down a big black hole. However, not all property news is bad, and as always, the reality is more complex than the headlines!

Everyone is aware of the potential for economic damage caused by rising home ownership and mortgage costs, the credit crunch and higher food and domestic fuel bills. It was not surprising to see repossessions rising to 30 000 last year, with analysts forecasting a repossessions figure as high as 45 000 in 2008. As I write, the Bank of England has lowered interest rates to alleviate the problem, though with growing inflationary pressures, they could eventually find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place. Fingers crossed for a ‘soft landing’.

But events in the UK housing market have a disproportionate effect on our economic confidence compared to our European neighbours, where homeownership is less prominent. When analysts talk about ‘the housing market’ they pretty much mean ‘the owner-occupier market’. Yet nearly 1 in 5 of us now live in houses actually owned by other people! The rise and rise of renting, and its increased social respectability, brings us closer every year to a more continental model of living. If continued, it might reduce the economic volatility caused by high levels of home-ownership and consequent debt. As a ‘good news’ story, it’s not one that hits the headlines too often!

The lettings market has grown consistently over a 20 year period, and traditionally does even better when the selling market is slow. Nervousness and high entry cost means that more people look to rent rather than buy, increasing demand. On the supply side, people who can’t sell may try renting their homes out instead, and we have helped a number of such clients move in recent months. Despite the headlines, funding arrangements remain available to ease this process and make it a financially viable option. Anyone interested should call us for a fact sheet.

Landlords of course are not immune to economic variances. Since rental levels reflect local supply and demand rather than house or mortgage costs, they can become squeezed between static rents on the one hand and rising mortgage costs on the other. Investors who bought in the last three or four years without adequate advice, or who did not allow sufficient flexibility in their finances, are finding things tricky.

But sound buy to let property investment usually requires a minimum investment of seven to ten years to be truly effective, so it makes sense to hang on to investment properties if possible. There are competitive buy to let mortgages still in plentiful supply, which can reduce monthly payments. Some of our clients have already taken this option, and we will happily provide more information to any interested investors.

In contrast to all the negativity, we have never known so many of our experienced clients to be actively acquiring investment properties. The South Cheshire rental market still offers good yields and good future potential, and investors are taking advantage of the many bargain buys coming available. They are also spending money with local firms to bring them up to the standard now required for professional renting.

On the downside, the slowdown on house sales may also bring casualties amongst estate agents. The buoyancy of the housing market over the last decade has spawned lots of new players, not all of whom have proven business ability in a difficult market. Despite having had limited exposure to the complexities of the rental market, some of them may turn to lettings as a way of bringing in funds to tide them over.

The government has already legislated to prevent agents using tenants and landlord deposits as a source of unofficial borrowing. In this new economic climate, landlords should also satisfy themselves that the rent being paid by tenants to agents will still come to them if that agent suffers financial difficulty. It is a risk to use an agent who is not part of a scheme which guarantees payment to landlords and tenants in these circumstances.

These schemes usually involve insurance cover known as Client Money Protection (CMP), which pays money due to landlords or tenants if the agent fails or otherwise misappropriates the rent. For CMP, the agent pays an insurance premium, and is subject to regular audits and assessments of their financial practices and business ethics. If an agent handling your money is not part of such a scheme, you should be asking yourselves why. I would also be cautious of any agent who expects their fees in advance of letting or selling the property.

It would be wrong to claim that all is rosy in the housing market garden right now, but there are some bright spots: Buy to let and remortgage finance remains available, letting rather than selling may enable people still to move, and the rental market is thriving. Experienced and larger investors are still buying strongly, which might just provide the boost that our local housing market needs. Much of this investment is coming from other parts of the UK, so it’s not just a question of local folk looking at the area with rose-tinted specs. Perhaps we still have something good to shout about in South Cheshire!

STOP PRESS – In association with other investment professionals, we will be hosting a Buy to Let Seminar at Rookery Hall on 10th April. See our website for details or contact us for your complementary invitation.

Tuesday, 11 March 2008