Get Rightmove on your mobile

We have had a few calls from folks lately saying that they were down in Oxfordshire looking at properties which they didn't like only to go home and look at rightmove again and find a property of ours that they DID like. If you have an iPhone you never need to have that happen to you again.

Why? Because you can get an app for Rightmove!




You can download it for free and look at all the lovely pictures we use to advertise all our lovely properties. You can flick through them with your finger very easily and if you are near wifi it is amazingly fast.

Nice. Get your app and never miss a property!

Are the stars mis-aligned?

Everybody looks but no-one makes offers. No-one can commit right now and they have to have a think about it.

What is going on? Whatever happened to "I like it/it will do to keep my stuff from getting wet/I like the look of that fridge"?

All the properties we have available right now have something special about them. Either the location, the period features, the views.... they are all waiting for someone to love them or at least want to shack up with them for a year then see how it goes. We even have an office available to save a marriage from a miserable entrepreneur working from home and drinking too much coffee.

Have a look at our listings on rightmove and tell me which one you would rent.

Good things in Abingdon

We have been looking down on the street out of our window and seen some friends who have taken a while to see that we are calling them from above, not along the street! We have had some folks bold enough to ring our bell and come up and sit in our comfy chairs for a cup of tea too, which has been nice.

Over on the Abingdon blog it seems that some people think the town is going to the dogs. Whatever next! We do bemoan the lack of this and that here but it is after all a little town close to a big town so you can't complain too much. As for it looking derelict take a look at this:


What could be more idyllic? Roll on Summer.

In other business we have been looking around the internet to see what other agents are up to and finding some new lettings heads poking up above the parapet. That my friends is a sign of the sales market hitting the fan; when the market slows down they all turn to lettings for a bit of monthly income.

Some new businesses have also appeared no doubt after reading the property pages in the broadsheets saying that everyone will be renting for the foreseeable future as no-one will be able to afford a house or get a mortgage for one. One such new business declares itself to be 'Revolutionary' We make no such claims, as you know. All we do is make it simple, which is unusual.

What do you think about doing Market Appraisals on a Sunday, transparent fixed fees and being left like the un-sporty kid on the sidelines when the team is picked? The 'winning' agents refused to go out on a Sunday, charge a percentage and all sorts of add-ons, advertise with one picture and wear shiny suits. What gives? Maybe they thought I was too honest and that didn't fit with the stereotype.

It's not all bad though, as we have got a gorgeous flat on in Waddesdon just close to the Manor there which I have to say is much more in keeping with the high standard of property Blue Door - and our tenants like.

One of our long-standing landlords is cashing in his nest egg and looking to travel the world so has put his rental house up for sale. He instructed some agents who duly came and took measurements and pictures but he contacted us to say that he is really disappointed with how they are advertising his property as we did a much better job when we let it. Come on chaps! You've all got swanky digital cameras so take some more pictures and make houses look good! (It takes next to no time to upload them if you hold down the ctrl key as you select from your folders)

We are in the market for buying ourselves now that the small people are growing larger and larger but my missus is getting a bit picky about what we bother going to see if they aren't many pictures as she is a bit suspicious of what the agents might be hiding!

Wow! Blog readers!

Welcome to all our new readers who have found us via ThisAbingdon blog. We were quite surprised to see that so many people had hit our blog on Wednesday after Backstreeter's post about us.

If you are a careful checker of photos you will have noticed that one of the To Let signs he was talking about getting larger is in fact on the wall of our new office! David and Mark over at Meeson Williams will be surprised at their new found infamy!

We have had some lovely potential tenants viewing properties this week including Kathy who emailed us last week to say "I saw a few advertisements of yours on rightmove and liked your ethos and humourous approach! Please let us know if you think you have anything that would suit us. Thank you very much."

She was really pleased to see me on Saturday and find that I wasn't another greasy youth dressed in a shiny suit who didn't know anything about the property they were viewing. I rarely wear a suit nowadays or even a tie. I do wear shirts though and most of them are double-cuff if that makes any difference! I also know a lot about our properties and our service which is apparently tricky information to find out from many agents on a Saturday.

I started as a Saturday viewings lad back in the early 90s but I can assure you that I was almost as attentive to detail back then as I am now. I had very good teachers though which I think is what is missing from the business nowadays; anyone can start up an estate agents or lettings business and although many of them do a good job it isn't always a good thing.

Anyhow, I am glad that people feel that they know something about us from reading our adverts as we have always tried to set ourselves apart from the other agents in more ways than just price. If you are a landlord or a tenant give us a ring to see why we are the Unusual Agents. New office, same phone: 01235 524800

The Unusual Agent

We don't advertise much in the real world as you will know, because we believe that the internet is a much more powerful tool than any paper advertising and way more economical too.

We get at least 2 estate agent invitations through our door at home each month and they go straight in our recycling box. I'm sure most people throw them away and I really don't want to spend money on stuff which will end up in a bin. It's bad for my green credentials and it's bad for our tenants and landlords because we try to keep costs low so they don't have to pay huge fees.

Which reminds me of one of our paper adverts which went to print before I had added one vital line. It said Who is paying for all the fancy offices? Landlords You Are! It should have had a little line underneath 'See the difference at bdea.co.uk' Oooooops!

My so called friends in the lettings business laughed almost as much as they had when I was on the front page of the Property Weekly a few years ago and they faxed me copies of the photo with glasses drawn on me and one really awful one with the label Ming the Merciless!

Our phone rings red hot all day most days except between about 3 and 4.30 in the afternoon which is when I put the kettle on and talk to my office neighbours over a cup of tea.

One afternoon at just that cup of tea- time I had a call this week from the guys in the advertising section of the Property Weekly (try their interactive paper) and they told me that Bluedoor is the only agent who has ever advertised in the paper without a photo of a property. They thought it was unusual and had called to ask why. I have no idea other than our adverts are so cool that a picture of a house in the middle of one would look odd.

If even ad executives think we are unusual we must be on to something.

Busy busy busy

We haven't blogged for a while because we have been rushed off our feet!

I pass other agent's windows and see them sat there drinking coffee and surfing while I'm running around like the proverbial blue ar*** fly. What gives? There is a whisper out there that the infamous FKL are feeling the wind of Bluedoor's change a bit fiercely and no matter how often they say that they are the best in Oxfordshire a few of our new landlords beg to differ. Tee hee hee.

We have bought 3 new properties on behalf of a landlord which will be ready to let in a month or so, we have managed the renovation of an amazing and historic apartment in Oxford, moved some pilots into a gorgeous 3 storey place in Kidlington and taken on 3 properties so far this week among other things.

Happy, happy landlords and happy, happy tenants. Wouldn't you be happy if you lived in a castle with a view like this from your own balcony?

Here's the castle and that's the balcony. Back in the old days it was a knockin' shop; the current residents are delightful and work for large multinational companies!

It needed a bit of brightening up to be re-let. Look no kitchen.....

.........WOW! Great work by Malcolm. Thanks

Speaking of wow and cool things - have you ever wished that you could get into the shower and not have to fiddle around getting it to the perfect temperature? If you have then you need to rent this townhouse in Vintner's Place from us.

It has shower controls outside the shower on the bathroom wall so that you can set the temperature while you do other things and when you get under the water it is just how you like it. The dials glow blue so if you are a VW fan you'll love it - that and the magic lights that come on when you enter the rooms. Spooky the first time you experience it I can tell you!!!

Have a look at more pics here

Blue Door Covering Oxfordshire!

NO MESSING, JUST LETTING! With Blue Door Oxford's FIXED PRICE LETTING AGENT.

See the difference at www.bdea.co.uk

Our man in lettings has a nice three bed in Headington

Well just been let down due to the traffic on the A34. Viewers getting stuck in traffic. Well you must see this new three bedroom home at the end of Dene Road in Headington. To see more pictures look at www.oxfordshireletting.com or go to www.bluedoorlettings.com ! Three bedrooms for only £895 per month and it's not a student digs!!

We still need landlords RENT COLLECTION & MANAGEMENT FOR ONLY £65 Per month. Go on! Bet your paying 12% of the rent!

Call Greg even out of hours on 07855 524 500 or eMail greg@bdea.co.uk

Our latest advertising campaign

We have a new advert in the Oxfordshire Property Weekly which appears in their property paper and on their website at www.oxfordpropertyweekly.com Thanks Iain and Tony!

This seems to have landlords thinking about why they are paying through the nose for poor service. I am getting more and more enquiries from landlords who are looking for a better deal; here's one more.

Whilst checking my emails at 10pm as I usually do - in between browsing the net to add to my wealth of property knowledge - I received an inquiry from a new landlord.

Being an attentive agent I called him straightaway, much to his surprise. How many other agents do you know who will call you at that time of night? I did think twice as it was a bit late but I thought 'Hey if he's awake sending emails then he probably won't mind answering the phone' we discussed his property and its letting potential and made an appointment to meet at the property on Sunday. I can email him our terms and conditions of business along with our list of services to read before we meet and everyone's happy.

Oxfordshire's First Fixed Price Letting Agent strikes again!

Bluedoor - here when you want us.

www.bdea.co.uk