On Wednesday 28 October 2020, the JEAA held their first virtual Propertymark Regional Workshop with speakers from both the UK and Jersey.
Sarah Davis of Propertymark organised the event and opened by introducing the speakers.
Gill Hunt – President of the JEAA and NAEA Propertymark Regional Executive for the Channel Islands thanked all delegates for attending and gave an insight into the Jersey market from the start of 2020 and post lockdown. The market had started strong at the beginning of the year and even though agency work had to stop completely during the lockdown, we defied predictions and bounced back stronger than ever. Buyers had really focused-in on what their real needs were with more looking for properties with a ‘work from home office’ or a larger outside space. We keep a close eye on the market as we approach winter-time and redundancies may take the heat out of the market.
Gill reminded agents to keep adhering to Covid restrictions to keep clients and staff safe, when carrying out viewings.
Mark Hayward – NAEA Propertymark CEO reported on the UK property market and ‘an avalanche of sales enquiries’ post lockdown, with pipelines getting larger and larger, due mainly to the extended stamp duty holiday. He reported that the demographic had changed as more people were working from home and there was less need to commute to cities. On the lettings side, Mark reported that evictions had been banned during lockdown.
Martyn Baum gave an insightful talk on the “R-Rate” – How to build relationships with people, quoting from Simon Sinek that “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”.
He followed this with how to promote your brand on social media and LinkedIn with 10 top tips for agents.
Martyn went on to say that relationships need repetition and suggests that you keep in contact with clients with a video call, or telephone call. He concluded his talk by saying that “retaining a client is easier than getting a new client”.
Sarah then asked Mark to give an update on agents Terms & Conditions and what they need to be aware of when engaging with a client vendor.
Mark talked about the Propertymark Sales Protocol Kit / Property Information Questionnaire that was available to all members to be completed by all vendors prior to putting their property on the market. This form asks for all the property information from a vendor in advance to ensure a quicker and smoother transaction.
Mark gave an update on AML and talked about a recent wealth order in the UK and mentioned that the largest fine set was £265,000 and a prison sentence.
Mark concluded by answering a question on RoPA – Regulation of Property Agents, saying that it is moving forward and “not if, but when?” When the regulations become mandatory, which currently has cross party support, all business owners will have to have gained the Level 4 qualification and other frontline staff must have a minimum of Level 3 qualification.
Sarah Davis suggested that now would be a good time to carry out a staff audit to establish who will be required to undertake qualifications and who may decide that it is not for them and retire. Sarah advised all agents to consider gaining a qualification now as the industry is taking regulation seriously.
The meeting closed with Sarah informing those present that the next Channel Island virtual workshop would be held in March 2021.
