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12th January 2017

Is your agency up to the challenge of 2017?

We held the first of many January on-boarding days for members of the network this week.

As usual it was a great day and really interesting to hear from members on what they are expecting from the market this year.

Obviously views differed around certain subjects but one thing came out clearly – agents are anticipating 2017 to be broadly the same as the previous 12 months with no real growth considered and in probability a bit more challenging.

We get what they are saying but would add that should the second hand market slow, the land and new homes opportunity becomes even more important to grasp.

Developers who have committed to builds over the next 12 months have to sell their properties – there’s no ‘putting off until next year.’

Last week we found a site with planning for 55 units for a developer.

The developer in question had looked at the site on numerous occassions in the past but didn’t buy it due to other sites they had their eyes on and maybe the vendors expectations were unrealistic.

What couldn’t have been foreseen was that this particular developers record of success for securing planning had seen them get refusals on 2 sites they were banking on, so they’ve now snapped up the site they’d previously turned down – great for our member as it’s a £30k fee in the bag before the end of the first quarter.

The reason why we share this with you all is that it highlights the importance of being consistent when keeping in contact with your house builder clients.

And why working with house builders provides an excellent opportunity for new business and that’s before you take into account the various spin offs.

Many agents can often be oblivious to opportunities in their marlet place.

How often do you review the local planning applications? When did you last actively look to source land?

Are your teams trained to spot a viable land opportunities?

These are just a small selection of things we cover with our Land & New Homes Network Members.

One of the things our members are finding hugely helpful in giving them an edge at the moment is a piece of Prop Tech (property industry technology) we have use of that gives a whole new dimension to land finding and research.

As with all things technical we can only see this playing a bigger role in 2017 as the rapid advancement of digital tools continues at a frightening pace (particularly scary if you don’t have access to it).

So to recap. Yes we think the market could be a bit tougher for second hand sales this year.

But we still see 2017 as a year of massive opportunities presenting themselves, especially in the land and new homes sector and particularly to well prepared and positioned agents.

The real question is, is your agency ready to make the most of them?

Thanks for reading

Ian Stratford

PS: To find out more about how the Land and New Homes Network can put your agency ahead of your competition call me on 01672 556 310 or email me at: ian@lnhnetwork.co.uk