Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2009/January 2010 | Page 18

life PROPERTY PROPERTY with Sam Biles Taking Stock and Season's Cheer Christmas and New Year are a time for taking stock. For many taking stock. Perhaps a good time to review things is when their they are also a time when the home is the focus of the family property is decorated and looks it best and they are surrounded celebrations. As Estate Agents take stock of 2009 they will be by family and friends. Are they happy with their agents - reflecting perhaps how much better things appear than they did are they confident that their agent is enthusiastic enough, at the end of last year - the activity levels of viewings and of pragmatic enough and experienced enough to give them the sales have dramatically increased since August. right advice and to achieve a sale in what is still a challenging People who have their homes on the market will similarly be market. The Christmas holidays are for many a natural deadline – ‘we need to move by Christmas’, or ‘we will have a last Christmas here before moving in the New Year. This means that the run up to Christmas is often one of the busiest periods for Estate Agents and Solicitors. Whilst the number of viewings may slow down, the hard work of assisting each sale through to a successful conclusion really takes over. Tempers can become frayed as survey results come in with bad news, chains falter, mortgage offers fail to arrive or deadlines pass. This is were agents really earn their money: keeping everyone calm, assisting in delicate re-negotiations and putting sales back together. This is when experience and teamwork count. Teamwork between client and agent and between solicitors and agents. Have you got the right team in place? Estate Agency at its best is a partnership between client and agent who are able to synchronise their objectives and work to mutual benefit. At its worst it can be a headache for both parties, the client feeling that they make all the running and that the agent is not doing their job. If this sounds familiar to you then it may be a case of New Year - New Agent? Sam Biles and all the team at Creasey Biles and King would like to wish all their clients and buyers, past, current and future a Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year. www.creasey-biles-king.co.uk 18