We all know that location, location, location is key when you’re looking to buy or let a property, but how important is it when choosing an estate agency to sell or let your home?
It’s a question that people wonder but the reality is selling and letting property across London isn’t unusual for us. Thanks to the power of the internet and our transparent approach to estate agency we’re able to sell and let property anywhere in London – all from our West Hampstead office.
However we haven’t always worked across London. In fact for most of our history we predominantly focused on selling and letting mostly Victorian and Edwardian properties within a one mile radius of our office.
So why the change?
Transport
Firstly, transport. As more purpose-built flats were built and warehouses got converted, transport links to areas like Limehouse and Shoreditch improved. Consequently the tube, Overground network and DLR has reduced the time it takes us to reach these locations – in fact it’s quicker to get to Islington by public transport than it is to drive to Queens Park at certain times of the day!
To put it in perspective, the average letting negotiator at Paramount will travel 3,500 miles per annum taking on and letting properties. This is the same distance to get to New York (and wouldn’t it be great to tap into the Manhattan rental sector too!).
Internet
The second contributing factor is the internet. Thanks to the transparency of review sites it is easy to identify agencies in London that sound like they’ll provide an excellent service. We recently received a call from a landlord who had experienced poor customer service from her incumbent lettings and managing agent and felt the time was right for a change. She’d read a review of Mark and rang him to say he was her man.
Website
Dexter recently dealt with a landlord who owns a property in Bethnal Green and contacted us directly through our own website rather than a property portal like Rightmove or Zoopla. This is just one of many examples we have of potential customers conducting significant research prior to contacting an estate agency, instead of just going online and contacting their local agency.
In this instance the landlord was new to letting property which made it even more interesting to find out why she had chosen to contact us. It turned out that she’d learnt about our ‘Best Lettings Agency in the UK’ award on our Zoopla profile whilst looking at other properties online. The award was backed up by our numerous online reviews and she felt confident enough in our abilities to instruct us.
Marketing
We don’t take shortcuts at Paramount; every property we advertise for sale or to let is photographed by a professional, turned into a brochure and promoted extensively on property portals and on social media. Our approachability, marketing and strategy allows us to operate effectively and get the best results for our clients.
Buyers and tenants
A large number of buyers and applicants who are searching for property online are either new to the UK or to London – and they don’t need to consider where our office is located when scheduling a viewing. From their perspective all they want is to be dealt with professionally and to see evidence that their agent is trustworthy and ARLA / NAEA accredited.
Wider access
Whilst most estate agencies will only be able to sell properties in their patch, we’re able to take a more holistic approach to a buyer’s property search. Recently we were able to introduce buyers that had the budget to buy in central London to a larger, modern apartment in Greater London. They hadn’t considered the area but by understanding their requirements we were able to suggest something that met their needs.
Maintenance
Having a single head office doesn’t mean you can’t manage property across London. We have approved contractor pools all over London who are able to effectively manage all of our clients’ expectations, wherever they live and at whatever time of day or night that they’re needed.
