Bicester Agents get Blue Door'd but we come in peace

Oh yes. What agents in Abingdon and Oxford have long known and feared will now be visited on Bicester agents.

They will do market appraisals and hear potential landlords say "We've had Blue Door round, can you tell me exactly what you do differently for 12%+VAT of my monthly rent? They will probably mutter something like "We pay a man to put up an unsightly board which advertises our company at your expense" or "We will put one tiny picture of your property among 20 others on a page of a newspaper"

They will struggle to come up with anything else really because that is all they do that we don't do. the list of what we do that they don't do is a bit longer.

They need to take heed. They will need to up their web advertising from one paltry photo to at least 10 or so. They will also need to answer emails late at night, take phone calls on a Sunday, do viewings and MAs at times to suit the customer not the office tea and biscuit schedule and they will need to charge a more realistic fee for their work.

Flat fees are the way forward. No renewal fees are also more honest. We're unusual: they are all the same.

They don't yet know how many properties we have in Bicester because they won't see any boards, we don't always get time to put properties on our website either as they are snapped up too fast. We remain a mystery to the competition and that's how we like it. We expect more 'phishy' emails enquiring about our fees from dodgy Hotmail addresses as our name spreads on the lips of those who love us for what we are.

Here's a little bit of maths for you to try out.

What is 12% of £750?

Use the % button on your calculator if you like or do this: Multiply 725 by 0.12 (12 hundredths, which is what 12% is) then press equals. You get 90.00.
Make it into money £90.00 then add VAT if you are sitting down.

YIKES YIKES YIKES!

Now compare Blue Door's fees

Rent PCM	Blue Door Management Fee	Percentage of Rent
£695.00	£65.00	9%
£750.00	£65.00	8.7%
£850.00	£65.00	7.6%
£950.00	£65.00	6.8%
£1200.00	£65.00	5.4%

Even when you add VAT our fees are a reasonable £76.38

If you do the maths and find that you are paying too much for the management of your rental property give us a ring. If you don't have a rental property and this means nothing to you - tell someone else! If we get their business, you get £50. Simple.

Good news from houseladder! Click link at bottom of the post!

Decent arguments for staying in buy-to-let market

Posted: 24 Jul 2008 14:08:59 GMT

According to finance site, fool.co.uk, there are a number of "decent" arguments for landlords to stay in the housing market.

The site quotes figures from Paragon Mortgages buy-to-let survey, which shows that rental yields reached their highest level in two years in June and are now at 6.4 per cent and seven per cent.

Welsh landlords and those in the north and north-west are most profitable achieving seven per cent rental yields.

Research reveals that rental incomes have also risen by nearly 12 per cent over the last year and property values have, according to Paragon, risen by 7.5 per cent year on year.

However, Paragon did admit that property prices have only risen by 0.2 per cent over the past six months.

Commenting on the current situation for investors, Christina Jordan of fool.co.uk said: "It seems that for the serious buy-to-let investor, the market is still attractive in many ways. Added compliance costs, plus the added mortgage costs are not enough to put off landlords who are still seeing a decent return on their investment."

Ms Jordan also makes the point that with many first-time buyers finding it difficult to get on the property ladder, the demand for rental property is currently high.

© Houseladder Ltd

Mmmmm Summer

Summer makes everyone mad don't you think? We are all too hot to stand around much or rush around much. More people are antsy and irritable and I am one of them I am ashamed to say.

Did you hear the traffic news yesterday about the delays on the A34 and A44 due the 50th CLA Game Fair at Blenheim Palace? I was in it for an hour and a half in the morning trying to get to Yarnton only to get there and find that my viewing had cancelled. Then I came back to Abingdon to do a local viewing and had a call from someone who said they were waiting for me at Yarnton.

I told her I may be an hour or so and set off again for another looong journey with the air con cranked right up. (Air con is the one thing I love about my car which has no other redeeming features) I got the re at last and the electricians said they had let her in to have a look around. Thanks for letting me know. Back in the car again...

I've had cancellations all over the place this week and lots of other people tag teaming me on the phone. If you call me and you are the other half of a couple who called an hour before, can you say so? I've had three couples interested in the same property and they have all been calling me individually and it messes with my head. I don't lie and if I honestly have not heard back from a landlord about your offer and have promised to call you when I do, I will. Honest. Really. I am unusual but I'm like that.

Now I've got that off my chest, apparently some folks thought that the photo from the post below was a stock picture from somewhere or other. We don't do fake pictures here my friends, oh no. That is cake made by my lovely wife, hand-picked strawberries and Nanny Rachel's best blue china which we get out for cake-eating occasions. Here they are at another cakey-do.

I'm off to eat some more cake and have a quiet evening. Enjoy the sunshine!

Summer!

Summer is here at last and wow what rain! I can't step out of the office without getting wet. I've been out and about taking pictures of more new properties and managing to avoid getting raindrops on the lens of the camera! We've had a birthday in the family too this week and celebrated with the best home-made chocolate cake and the loveliest Peachcroft strawberries.



Is your mouth watering?

This time last year was when Blue Door really started to get busy and now we are renewing tenancies for happy tenants and letting new properties to newly-happy tenants. Our landlords and tenants have been busy since this time last year too with several having babies and others tying the knot.

Blue Door can't guarantee happiness of that order with every tenancy but we do try our best with the little things.