Employee fraud is a significant problem faced by organisations of all types and sizes, says, Adam Walker and there is no reason to think that estate agents and letting agents are exempt from it. Whilst we would all like to believe that our employees are loyal and honest, there are still many reasons why your […]
“Money…” How would you complete the sentence? Money makes the world go around? Money is the root of all evil? What is your instinctive answer? And why is this important? says Adam Walker. Well, the attitude that we have towards money plays a very important role in determining how much of it we earn, how […]
“Every agent has homes on their books that are overpriced, says Adam Walker. All the evidence says the house is worth £450,000 but the vendor wants £500,000. You can tell them again and again it’s too much, but they will just not listen to reason.” Well, if it’s any consolation, the same is true for […]
Let’s consider the example of a small letting agent turning over £300,000 per annum mostly from let-only properties. At the moment, they might be making a profit of 20% of turnover which is £60,000. This provides a comfortable living for the proprietor. But agents like this currently earn up to one third of their income […]
Based on this experience, these are the mistakes that you need to avoid at all costs… 1. Responding to a direct approach. What would you say to a homeowner who told you that they had agreed to sell their house to a member of the public who put a leaflet through their door? This would […]
It is becoming increasingly clear to me that a lot of letting businesses are not going to survive the tenant fee ban that is due to come into force next spring. The businesses that seem destined to fail are the let-only businesses, many of which were set up by residential sales agents in response to […]
Divorce is a terrible thing. All marriages start with such high hopes of eternal happiness and yet months, years or even decades later, over half of all marriages end in acrimony and divorce. The breakdown of a marriage is a difficult thing for both partners to deal with but the breakdown of a business partnership […]
Imagine what would happen if all the speed limits were abolished tomorrow and replaced with new legislation to say that motorists would, in future, be prosecuted for “going too fast”. And then imagine what would happen if the standard scale of speeding fines were to be repealed and replaced with a fine of up to […]
I never thought the day would come when I would write an article on this subject but I am going to use my column this month to talk about why you need to pay your tax. I haven’t suddenly become a socialist and I am certainly not going to give moral advice. I am well […]
