Did anybody see the "Tonight with Trevor Macdonald Program" yesterday, Monday? They had a financial advisor searching for mortgages who saved his client 70K on the future payments of his mortgage, he did this within thirty minutes. It put an extra 300 pounds in his pocket per month! That illustrates perfectly, to me an example of working with your head, and really really making some good bucks...eg. when I say making good bucks I mean "saving bucks"...just for thirty minutes work!!! Amazing..absolutely amazing..... If you can create any kind of business which can do that for people...How in the world are you not going to do well? How in the world are you not providing a great service to your client? This same kind of proceedure can be used for other financial produts perhaps?
No, it was'nt a windup, did you see the program? They where investigating the cheapest mortgages, they had the real life client, and the real life financial advisor, you must not have seen it! It was excellent.
It was no windup. Basically. al they werte doing was finding people who had moved from a discounted / low rate fixed mortgage onto the standard variable rate of their bank. All they then did was advise them to re-mortgage back onto another fixed / discount rate. Pretty obvious stuff really - but its amnazing how many people must not realise how much they are throwing away by not keeping an eye on their mortage terms.
lazy git !! Mortgages are getting like creidt cards now - you sign up to the good deal, wait for the 2/3/5 years and then move to the next best deal. I dont see why there is ANY reason for ANYONE to be on a standard rate these days - most will even pay the fees etc for you. (well, maybe one reason - if there is a silly redemtion fee - but then I think the OFT has determined that it must be limited to 10% of the balance owed - still could be quite a bit though)
I did not see the programme but it is obvious they took the most extreme example they had available to justify the making for prime time tv, its after Coronation Street is it not?
You too can save someone 70k, just put an ad in the paper asking for anyone with a 250k + mortgage on a variable rate with 20 + years remaining. Just tell them to take out a 1.5% discounted variable rate mortgage available at most Banks / Building Societies, simple.
Think you can save me 70k for thirty minutes work?
Bet you were also amazed at that Carol Vorderman programme where she found forgotten money/valuables for people in the studio audience. Do you think this was a truly random attendance of people to the studio or do you think some people may have been targeted beforehand and placed in the audience?
It really isn't amazing.
Also why so many recent posts? Do you work for some type of media company? and what is the indiantravelcompany bit about?
Whatever he got paid I don't know, the point that fascinates me was "the amount of money the guy saved" via the internet, that he could have done for himself. Thats the point that amazed me...the power is giving to the people, if they know how to use it.
My goodness, do you know how many people are getting married off the internet now a days?
Yah, Crumbs!! Jumping Jahosafatt, for goodness sake yah the guy saved 70K off the internet, flipping heck, I could'nt believe it, in thirty minutes..just like that...I know for one solid fact that Mr. Trevor Macdonald he is no fancy, smooth talking, chat show host, who would rig things up just for effect, absolutely no way, that was pure, genuine facts!
So it begs the question, how many others can save that kind of dosh?
AS you say, pretty obvious stuff, but just how many people are out there? Do you know the answer to that question? I nearly fell out of my chair when I realised how he saved that much money.
How can you say that about Trev! Trev is a national instutution! You can't say that about dear ole Trev..he's been the anchor man of our evening news for ages....
He's calm, composed, dignified, and above all "hes trusted"....
Yah, things like that don't help the industry!
I must admit, there are crooks in every job, in every trade, however, due to the vast and enormous riches and fabulous wealth that you all enjoy, it attracts the wrong people, thats the problem!
I find it interesting you did'nt follow up our conversation about "fantastic wealth enjoyed by estate agents at the moment"?
Not that I mind, hey, people in business should not be ashamed to make great amounts of money when the sun is shining. I take my hat of too you, and just wish I had thought about getting into Estate Agency. Trust me to be finding out just how lucrative it is, just as we are about to see a down turn in house prices...lol
Yes but the point is that it was'nt him, it was a real live internet connection and a real life client and a real life financial sales person/expert chappie.
How do you know if you did'nt watch it? Don't you think it would be better if you had watched it before you say what happened on it?
Exactly my point, however, I am pointing to the speed and ease of the internet above the traditional written media such as newspapers and face to face meetings with financial advisors.
Carol Vorderman is a completely different show.
I can assure you that this program is a genuine investigation, Trevor Macdonald is a really genuine and serious guy, the guy really did save 70K it was no stage show, no stunt show, sure they have to focus on something that is necessary to make a story, but they make stories out of facts.
Just like panorama, or are you going to say that panorama, make up all their stories just to "get a story"?
In summary, really it was an amazing thing, not amazing in itself, but it highlighted the very essence of something even more amazing, the "power of information"....that example highlighted to me the potential, it said to me....well Trev if you can save a guy 70K then what else can be saved?,
It opens the door to a thousand other possibilities.....
It was just an interesting observation of "pure information" translating instantly into "pure money"...that is what gets me enthusiastic...what purer form of business is their?
I produced some figures which suggested that I dont make a fortune out of estate agency - and I added that I have made a fortune out of other property opportunities - not sure there was a need to say more.
How old are you? I get the impression that you are quite young with plenty of time. I had 2 careers before I got into estate agency at 27, in 1987, and have seen the end of one recession, a boom, a recession, and the current boom. You can bet your bottom dollar that there will be a bit of a fall in prices, after the rising has finished, then a period of stability whilst wages catch up, then another boom, and so it will repeat until something fundamental changes (cue the voice of doom ).
I can predict an approaching boom, peak and fall, just by watching some simple figures. So could you if you had had a business for a few years.
In fact, now is a good time to start an estate agency business. I wish I had started about 4/5 years earlier, so that I could have made my fortune 10 years earlier in the last boom. If you have income from your other business, and can manage cashflow well, now could be the time to start planning it - if you are truly serious.
Of course it was him, (or his researchers), he/they found the subject and chose to use it. The estate agents were real live estate agents, not him, he chose to use them. He could easily have found thousands of honourable estate agents and, if the truth be known, many "crooked" sellers and purchasers. but that wouldnt be headline news.
Yah, you see, this is your experience, I could not have that nack so fast...as you. I am not knowing if there is to be a boom or doom..really I speak honestly and frankly...
I feel confident in my own business model, but regarding the economy as a whole and the property market, I'm sure you know more than anybody..as you are working in it.
Well, better late than never.
If you have income from your
Oh yes, I would love to have an estate agency...I have learnt one thing...that it is better to devote as much as your time as possible doing what you are best at,,and even better if you enjoy it...eg. in my case, thats chatting, and selling and communicating, I know its a good solid industry to be in, but I'm not so naive to think I can just jump into it..just like that.
I would have been brilliant had I gone into as a junior, or a sales person, or something...thats why I looked into a franchise, but, who knows, if I keep my eye open an opportunity may come along.
In my business I have, I ended up spending time driving truck loads of my product across europe..now that is totally wasted time, I should be selling selling selling all the time, so thats why I am making sure that the next step will keep me doing what I do best...
I'm quite realistic, and although I jest a bit about estate agents, I know very well not all are doing fine, however, my point about doubling profits this last couple of years was very serious...! As you say, it is just your having a good cycle and that has to compensate for the bad stages also.
Yes your quite right, however, there are programs that are having genuine stories, and quite often those stories are so genuine they lead to prosecution...I think as with everything, you have to judge it on its own merits. Same with the holiday industry, and those programs you get with the "watchdog" mentality.they quite often inadvertently give people the impression that entire industries are crook,, do you remember that chap...I cna't remember him, he was a famous investigative journalist specialising in crime, he had so many death threats etc..he was from New Zealand, in the end he gave up, but he was occasionally getting it wrong..but the vast majority of the time he was hitting the nail on the head.
Umm yes I see your point. By choosing the ones that will "make the story" they are knowingly or unknowingly giving the entire industry a bad name. Interestingly enough, I have learnt something else about estate agency. The man I selected to act as my agent is really a good chap, the absolute quentisential honorable estate agent, anyway, he told me that the "halifax" a few years ago, where paying their negotiators a percentage if they could persuade their current clients to "lower" their prices! Just to get them sold faster. What do you think of that? You must know about it, I was told it was in the Times and the major newspapers a few years back? Did you hear of this?
Yahh but equally, perhaps the estate agent who told me this was mistaken, I personally have not read it in the newspapers, or perhaps he got it second hand? One never knows, but perhaps he got it out of context?
One never knows, especially as the halifax are his competitors, even an honest man, might get something out of context eh?
Firstly I would suggest that this type of thing has been going on for many years. One of the famous name estate agents who sold out to a big insurance company was well known for the company policy of getting property on the books at any price, then talking the price down until it sold. I heard that there was actually a specific script for the call to a vendor.
Asthe mid '90's recession took a hold, I operated a price reduction policy myself, in order to help people sell their houses - after all, the value of the house they would buy would be less aswell.
However, I think we may be back to the days of some agents getting them on the books at any price and then talking the price down, and the above story/anecdotelends some support to this.
Funnily enough, I was reading the local paper tonight and saw an "unnamed" agent advertising a house at £105,000 which couldnt be worth more than £85,000 - "They are in cloud cuckoo land" I exclaimed.
Having said that, i put a house on the market a couple of weeks ago at £130,000, thinking it was worth between £120K & £130K, and the vendor suggesting that they agreed and they would consider any offers of £125K+. Today, they called to tell me to put the price up to £155,000, which is cloud cuckoo land. Having invested the money in putting the property on the market, I now have a choice of blowing them out, or agreeing to do what they ask in the hope that we either get really lucky and get a very unusual purchaser, or that they eventually see sense and drop the price again. I am also thinking that, having messed me about, I may be happy to have my sign outside their house advertising my business, rather than another agents sign.
So - some high prices are driven by sellers, and it would not be unreasonable to work on them until they see sense.
Clearly I have lots of thoughts on this, but I think the enough provides some food for thought.
The thing I love about property is the thought of selling something worth so much money....just from developing a relationship with one person....you can sell an entire house worth sometimes half a mill...quite incredible....
In November 2001 I saw a house which I really liked, but I reckoned it was about 30k too expensive. By March it was still on the market, so I tried to make a lower offer, but the agent told me that it was rejected out of hand, it seemed they didn't even want to negotiate - I also got the impression it was the first offer they'd had. A few weeks later I saw it advertised at the same price by a different agent, I wondered whether the vendor ditched the agent or vice versa! I guess they eventually sold as prices rose, but it was on the market for months at a time when some houses were selling in days (the one I actually bought had been on the market less than a week when I made an offer, and I only just beat someone else).
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