Radarhomes group meetings – Venues/times

02/2012 – 11:33 am

Hello,

Following our save the date email – we’re writing to CONFIRM VENUES AND TIMES for the committee meeting and internet marketing conferences.

Please RSVP to admin@radarhomes.co.uk.

All agents are welcome, members and non-members. The idea is to give an update on Radarhomes developments and also provide practical advice and training on internet marketing for agents. Recent presentations to agent groups in the Midlands, and to the teams at Bradleys, Webbers, Miller and Son have been well received.

Jeremy Harford-Tapp from our tech partner, Homeflow, will be speaking on:

  • Radarhomes developments – 2011 in review, changes in structure, plans for 2012
  • SEO advice for agent sites – practical steps to improve your ranking in Google
  • Internet portals – overview of the market changes
  • Trends we’re seeing in estate agent websites
  • Mobile websites for agents – best practice guide / and free mobile site offer
  • Work we are doing with newspaper groups

CORNWALL

Monday 20th 2:00 pm – 4.30 pm
Lanhydrock Hotel and Golf Club, Bodmin, Cornwall, PL30 5AQ.
http://www.lanhydrockhotel.com/

PLYMOUTH

Tuesday 21st 10.30 am – 12.30pm
IBIS / Novatel, Marsh Mills, Longbridge Road, Forder Valley, Plymouth, PL6 8LD.
http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-2093-ibis-plymouth/media.shtml

EXETER

Tuesday 21st 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Exeter Golf and Country Club, Countess Wear, Exeter, EX2 7AE.
http://www.exetergcc.co.uk/finest/

BARNSTAPLE

Wednesday 22nd 10.30 am – 12.30 pm
Slee Blackwell Solicitors, 10 Cross Street, Barnstaple, North Devon, EX31 1BA

http://www.sleeblackwell.co.uk/

BRISTOL / BATH

Wednesday 22nd 2:00 pm – 4.30 pm
Arnos Manor Hotel, 470 Bath Road, Arnos Vale, Bristol, BS4 3HQ.
http://www.arnosmanorhotel.co.uk/

BOURNEMOUTH:
Monday 5th March AM – Bournemouth – TBC

SALISBURY:
Tuesday 6th March PM – Salisbury – TBC

HORSHAM:
Thursday 8th March PM – Horsham – TBC

MIDLANDS:
Thursday 22nd March PM – Coventry – TBC

 

Please RSVP to admin@radarhomes.co.uk

Kind regards,

Pete, Lisa, Dan, Patrick
Radarhomes team

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Radarhomes management company restructuring

01/2012 – 12:34 pm

Valued Radar Member,

As you may or may not have heard Radarhomes management company, the company that holds 35% of Radarhomes shares and deals with the day to day running and forward development of Radarhomes has been restructured and is now Radar Homes Group (UK) Ltd. So to be clear – nothing has changed but the name.

This isn’t really a story as being reported in some of the trade press. None of the Radar Operating companies (which member pay their membership to, and hold their shareholdings in) are impacted at all.

All these companies trade perfectly normally and are growing nicely. It’s simply the technical services company that has gone through management restructuring.

We’re all still here (Pete, Lisa, Janet, Dan, Patrick) working away on Radar exactly as usual. Mark and Julian have had very little involvement in the business for the last 6+months as most of the members will be well aware. We’re still in good touch but they have gone back into estate agency.

Everything else is business as usual.

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Report from Midlands Steering Committee meeting

12/2011 – 9:48 am

Here’s a quick overview of the main talking points from the Midlands Steering Committee meeting, which took place on December 5th 2011.

Pete Henderson gave a progress report for the region and outlined the three lead streams now in operation.

Jeremy Harford-Tapp gave a presentation covering Mobile Websites, iPhone apps, telephone tracking and Radar ‘back office’ admin software system.

Areas covered by general discussion were:

  • Marketing and advertising with specific Solihull region ‘agent lead’ marketing strategies discussed.
  • Future Internet Marketing Seminars.
  • QR codes, the way forward or not?

Coffee and sandwiches were a plenty (one person had ‘Fish Finger’ sandwiches but we’re not at liberty to divulge who).

RADARHOMES – WORKING FOR YOU

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Robin Jones Estate Agents of Coventry open a Lettings Department

10/2011 – 12:42 pm

Robin Jones Estate Agents of Coventry have been members of Radarhomes since May 2010.

After many years of resisting, Robin Jones (Coventry) are setting up a letting operation through their offices in Coventry.  Max Jones said “Rentals are one of the boom areas
of the market and we feel there is a gap that we can fill locally for top quality property management.  With two Universities close by, the market in this area is huge and with the expert local knowledge of our staff, we see this a logical step forward.”

Robin Jones are initiating an aggressive campaign to recruit new landlords and to add to their already impressive and growing property management portfolio.

Radarhomes wishes Robin Jones the very best of luck.

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55% of rental homes in the UK “unaffordable”

10/2011 – 12:31 pm

The city of Exeter in Devon, the home of the Radarhomes HQ, has been branded one of the most expensive places to rent housing in the UK, says a report carried out by the housing charity Shelter.  In addition, the report also suggested 55% of homes in the UK were unaffordable.

Looking specifically at the South West region, the report suggests that 85% of homes are unaffordable, which is an extraordinary figure, and one that justifies BBC Spotlight’s recent and lengthy stories on the very same subject.

The report will have no doubt been carried out in an attempt to raise awareness of the rising cost of rents throughout the UK and the overall lack of affordable homes, which is a hot topic as local councils and the government target new builds.

In another report by the research group Centre for Cities, it has been claimed that councils are not providing enough land on which to build cheaper housing.  It has been suggested that local authorities should handle the protection of green belts, presumably to be able to free up the land required.

“Greenbelt barriers to urban expansion as one of several major protectionist political-economic barriers to housebuilding with negative effects on the supply, cost/prices, and quality of new homes.”

The CEO of Centre for Cities, Dermot Finch told the Press Association: “It’s a myth that the entire green belt is a picture postcard rural idyll. A very small slice of it could be used for housing. We are not suggesting cities should concrete over their green belt, and we are not advocating car-dependent urban sprawl, but we do need to free up more land for new homes, especially in our most buoyant cities.”

Got any opinion on this topic?  Please comment using the box below.

Source 1
Source 2
Source 3

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Telephones numbers on your listings

10/2011 – 11:35 am

Radarhomes, in partnership with our web provider Homeflow, are pleased to announce the roll out of telephone numbers across your property listings*.  Not only are the numbers prefixed by your local dialing code, but they are recorded for training and quality purposes, and are available for you to listen to from your Radarhomes control panel anytime you choose.  The system is also clever enough to try and determine the property that the customer is enquiring about, by linking their last viewed property with the call recording.

This is excellent technology for Radarhomes, and we intend to build on the calling system in the near future.  If you would like to learn more about other ways our call system can benefit your agency, please get in touch via the usual channels. (01393 829 748 – admin@radarhomes.co.uk).

* Please note: after a test phase we are now in the process of rolling out the phone numbers to all listings.

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New agent spotlight – Shouler & Son

10/2011 – 11:32 am

We welcome Shouler & Son of Melton Mowbray as the latest member agent to join Radarhomes!

Chartered Surveyors, Auctioneers, Land & Estate Agents with over 160 years experience in business, Shouler & Son are our first member
agent in the Melton Mowbray/Leicestershire area.  This is an exciting first step for Radarhomes in Leicestershire as our Regional Sales Manager, Pete Henderson, and everyone back at Radarhomes HQ will look to work closely with our current and future members to strengthen the brand in that area.

A little more about Shouler & Son …

An uncertain future for the farming industry in the 1840s, with mechanisation beginning to change old practices, was the climate in which William Shouler, then aged 21, announced that he was setting up business as Auctioneer and Appraiser in Woburn Sands. Three years later he left the area and established himself in his wife’s home town of Melton Mowbray.

For the last 160 years William’s successors have guided their clients through periods of development and stagnation, expansion and recession, in a world of property where expectations and regulations are constantly changing. His great-great-great-grandson Ben has recently become a partner in the business and his duties included assisting his uncle, Simon Shouler in the auctioneering of all effects that pass through the firms Auction Room in Melton Mowbray.

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Average age of first time mortgage applicants 36

10/2011 – 11:31 am

The average age of first time mortgage applicants is now 36! Isn’t it about time the banks were incentivised to get these deposits down to a level that first time buyers can afford without raiding parents pension funds?

All government quoted figures suggest there is a shortage of ‘low price’ starter homes/properties and yet when we get new developments to market it is a battle royal to arrange sensible mortgages for first time buyers. We certainly don’t want to get back to the ‘bad old days’ of silly 100/105 or even 110% mortgages to all and sundry but haven’t we gone much too far the other way? Isn’t there a middle course to be had whereby quality applicants can get a mortgage with an attainable deposit?

Many agents are screaming for more landlords and more letting listings.  Rents are creeping up (a recent housing study suggested 55% of rents are unaffordable in UK).  Young couples/singles will be paying rental charges well in excess of mortgage costs for similar properties because they can’t raise the deposit capital.

Is it simply case of the government investing more in new homes in the UK?  Are they doing enough?  We’d love to hear your thoughts which you can post using the comment box below.

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Report from Midlands Steering Committee meeting.

09/2011 – 2:02 pm

Jeremy Harford-Tapp gave an in-depth progress report on the progress of the Radarhomes Portal and the performance of our Search Engine Optimisation program with particular regard to improving agents’ own Google rankings as well as Radarhomes’s ranking.

Also covered was the Facebook App, the Lead Profiling/Qualification program, the designated phone numbers and phone monitoring systems, Staff Profiles and the Deep Linking on agent sites.

  • Areas covered by general discussion were:
  • Marketing and advertising
  • Sales techniques and strategies for recruiting new agents.
  • Software systems and suppliers.
  • Agent recruitment in Leicestershire.
  • A5 flyer handouts for agents.

This was a very positive meeting with all agent members contributing some great ideas and strategies for us to pursue. (And lovely cream tea).

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Radarhomes – the agent owned property portal

09/2011 – 9:25 am

Radarhomes was borne out of the increasing desire from property agents to take back control of their digital portal advertising, and the data of which they supply to portals.  Property agents enrich the property portals, yet are charged heavily for the privilege.  In addition, there is no protection against rising costs, and who knows when an increased bill might land on your doorstep.

In these uncertain times, and in this tough market, Radarhomes can give you peace of mind in that the membership fee is capped.  We believe that property agents deserve a fairer deal, and we are sure you will agree.

Fortunately, property agents throughout England have decided that they no longer wish to put up with the rising costs, and have decided to support and invest in Radarhomes; the portal owned in majority by property agents.  Many of our members have been with us since our inception, and others for well over a year, so we are well-established.

A little history

Radarhomes began in Devon and Cornwall where a small collection of agents decided to create a vehicle to fightback against the rising costs of property portal advertising.  The agents knew the internet and portal advertising were essential for their business, but they wanted a fairer deal.  In addition, they envisaged agents owning a stake in their own portal, so that benefits could come back to member agents in the future.  From there Radarhomes was created, and two years down the line, our product ethos resonates with agents more than ever.

If you wish to contact us to find out more about membership, here’s how you can:

Call us on: 01392 829748
Email us at: enquiries@radarhomes.co.uk

By radarhomes | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)
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