On the frontline
PENNY MOSGROVE
MD AT QUINTESSENTIALLY ESTATES
You might not think an estate agent’s office is much altered by festivities, but we, too, get the occasional Christmas shopper through the door. Even at Quintessentially Estates, where we’re used to dealing with top-end property acquisitions for some of the world’s wealthiest individuals, we sometimes find ourselves playing the search agent equivalent of Santa. One year, a husband asked us to keep up the pretence that the house his wife had fallen in love with was not available. With the advent calendar on countdown, we then had to rush through an exchange and complete before Christmas eve, so that he could give his wife her dream home as a gift on Christmas day.
We also find that the season keeps our overseas offices busy, with buyers on the search for sunshine or fresh powder on the slopes. We are currently working with a group of friends from London, who have clubbed together to buy a ski chalet in Europe as an investment and somewhere to go for long weekends.
The market tends to wind down in early December (this might be linked to the volume of drinks consumed by clients and agents alike), but this year may have more stamina than most. We are already booking in viewings for 20 December, which is unusually late and, in recent weeks, we have experienced a rise in enquiries from domestic and international buyers asking us to wield our negotiating powers before the year is out.
Much like the UK weather, the property market blows hot and cold, testing even the most expert agents during the chilly snap. You may think the limited daylight hours make fitting in property viewings more difficult, but some clients ask us to make the most of the discretion provided by dark winter days to out-manoeuvre nosey neighbours. The clocks may have gone back, but my watch is on fast forward, and I’m geared up for the challenges winter will undoubtedly throw at me, both as a Londoner and international search agent.
As the industry reports on the slowing market, my advice to buyers is to be realistic, but also open to the opportunities that are out there, rather than lulled into a false sense of seasonal security. Last year, we secured an average saving of approximately 10 per cent under the guide price for our clients in the run up to Christmas, showing that there are deals to be done before the festive season is upon us.