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Crank Peach & Co. Independent Estate Agents, Auctioneers, Valuers & Surveyors, serving you from Stockport to High Peak |
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Selling your homeOne of the major decisions in our lives is the decision to move. Throughout history, the reasons have not changed, be it to down size, upgrade, relocate with work, retirement, divorce, financial pressure, passing away of relatives, or simply just fancying the house that came on the market round the corner. Throughout time, estate agents have been the medium to make this move possible, with the assistance of the solicitor. The passing of time alone has not made the estate agency industry terribly popular with the general public. Estate agents in many consumer surveys fair very badly, primarily for lack of feedback, lack of transparency, lack of enthusiasm and effort, failure to keep parties properly informed and an unwillingness to go the extra mile. At best the public regard estate agents with suspicion and at worst, the public believe that as a breed estate agents are unscrupulous and perhaps even dishonest. Against this background, Crank Peach & Company opened in June 2003 and in the following years has built up a reputation on reversing all of the above perceptions. The partners deliberately set out their mandate at that time and through projecting themselves differently from the rest proved that satisfaction was entirely possible, evidenced alone when the company won Best Estate Agents in The North West of England, the Gold Award in the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) Awards Ceremony held in London in June 2005. Customer care is paramount at Crank Peach & Co – whether you are buying, selling or both. The choice of estate agent to perform the often stressful task of moving house is therefore paramount. Detailed below are some of the considerations you may have when selecting your estate agent: Big is not always beautiful – the larger estate agency chains, mostly owned by the big PLC’s who bought the well known brand names in the 1980’s, sell themselves on multi branch networks and guarantee greater exposure as a result. But do those branches actually work together? Are they interlinked by their software systems? Do the staff have an interest in selling a house marketed by another branch? Will your house be marketed through the other branches? Is a big chain relevant now in the era of the global internet? Crank Peach & Co offices are fully integrated – industry leading Encore software is available in every branch and every home is offered from every branch, giving you unrivalled exposure along the vitally important “A6 Corridor” from Stockport to The High Peak. The staff work on seven day rotas and work out of any of the offices. The staff are commissioned on any of the homes they sell and have a far greater knowledge of their stock than the bigger rivals. Internet Versus Press Advertising – many pundits believe the relevance of press advertising has dwindled with the growth of the internet, so many agents don’t advertise as regularly or fill their pages with bland, poorly edited adverts that do not entice enquiries. Press advertising is expensive, so Crank Peach & Co carefully targets its advertising through The Buxton Advertiser/High Peak Courier and The Stockport Express Advertiser and Times, with co-ordinated schedules featuring newly listed properties and price reductions to catch the eye. Copies of the adverts are sent to the clients to confirm their appearances along with constructive feedback from the staff relating to specific press related enquiries. Regular market review features appear, written by the partners to assist the public to understand market conditions. The truth is that vendors still like to see their homes advertised this way. The Internet has its Place – during the last 10 years, there has been enormous growth in this area, not at the expense of press advertising, but fully alongside it as a medium of choice by vendors and purchasers alike. Crank Peach & Co takes full advantage of the higher rate subscriptions it makes to the likes of www.rightmove.co.uk and www.homemover.org whilst www.crankpeach.co.uk is probably the most well informed estate agency web site in the north west. These web sites run alongside each other. The higher subscription ensures full particulars of homes can be printed off at home, along with aerial views, street mapping, floor plans etc. Crank Peach & Co provides its clients with regular statistic bearing marketing reports through its subscription to Rightmove Plus, helping clients to determine how their homes are being seen on Rightmove and to ensure asking prices remain competitive. For Sale Signs breed More For Sale Signs or do they? – Estate agents often fall into the trap of assuming that the greater the market share the more homes they will sell. This is an outdated philosophy. Those estate agents are often the ones where branch managers (typically from PLC competitors) are being targeted to grow market presence, usually by inflating asking prices and cutting fees. The net result is lots of over priced stock that won’t sell, lots of clients who need servicing (these same firms do not increase their staffing level or their staff training) and other vendors who see these over priced homes understandably believe their home should be equally over priced when brought on to the market! Drive down any familiar thorough fare and see this at work – but how many sold slips do you see on these agent’s boards?! SOLD Slips Promote New Instructions – Crank Peach & Company has stuck hard and fast to the principle that you get what you pay for. The firm quotes the same commission rate in all of its branches and this rate has not changed since 2003. It is a fee that is similar or marginally less than the corporate estate agents and a little more than the small independently operated chains within the Greater Stockport and High Peak areas. Crank Peach & Company’s name has been synonymous with successful selling. It is this firm that always has the preponderance of SOLD slips on its boards in all of its locations. If you could wind back the clock to 2003 and put every agent’s for sale and sold boards back in all of those gardens, then you would see what this means! The tougher market means you need to choose the most proactive estate agent – inevitably you need to make a decision based on the selling track record of the agent (not the ability to list overpriced stock) and this means taking a closer look at what the agent is doing. How does the agent deal with the internet enquiries? Some pass this to the least skilled member of the team to deal with or an admin person. Crank Peach & Co automatically register and contact these applicants by phone, e mail or text message to quickly qualify their buying needs and ensure there is regular contact thereafter. How frequently or constructively is the house advertised – most agents are happy to simply wait for the internet enquiries to come in and do not use the tried and tested methods of Crank Peach & Co who are proactively seeking applicants, staying in touch, suggesting viewings, offering sound feedback to its clients, advertising when new to the market, advertising again if there is something fresh to offer, such as a price reduction, new photo, open day, stamp duty offer, no chain etc. Meet the Staff – an estate agency is only as good as the people it employs, the standard of training and creating a healthy and proactive working environment with a focus on selling and a high standard of customer care. The hands on approach of the partners Paul Crank, Alex Peach and Mike Kidd cannot be underestimated. Leading by example, carrying out all of the pre market appraisals, preparing the particulars, taking the photographs, even typing the brochures. This is a small independent estate agent at its best and there is no match for this. Read all about our staff in the section meet the staff and read about their experiences under news about staff and their achievements. Hi tech offices and personable staff – computers, love them or loathe them, one cannot deny their place in the modern working environment. Armed with Encore software, Crank Peach & Co have the best equipped and most modern offices along the A6 Corridor open 7 days a week (can you believe agents who close on Sundays?!). Our highly skilled staff will be pleased to demonstrate what Encore can do for you, from in house printing of brochures that take less than a day to produce including the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), to daily browse guides (property guides) produced in house, high quality window display cards, computerised mailing by text, e mail, phone and post. Easy Selling Terms – instruct Crank Peach & Co for a fixed period of time (usually 12 weeks) and pay no fee if you withdraw at the end of or beyond the fixed period. Fully inclusive fees, ie all marketing, advertising, viewings etc are included in the commission with only VAT to pay on top. Easy withdrawal notice of only 14 days. Many agents are now asking clients to agree to a 28 day notice period, surely designed to prevent an unhappy client switching estate agents. Access to a host of additional services - not content to simply sell houses, Crank Peach & Co offer a full residential lettings and management service through Crank Peach Lettings, overseas homes through Crank Peach Florida and Energy Performance Certificates through Crank Peach Energie. Surely the most progressive estate agent in the area. Ask for your FREE pre market appraisal NOW!!
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© 2007 Crank Peach & Company | Site disclaimer |
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