Hooke & Mac's new website design

Sold: new UTV series on estate agents

Sold is a new drama on UTV about estate agents.

It hasn't been very well reviewed, but the reviews have generated some interesting perspectives on estate agents:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/11/16/nosplit/bvtv16last.xml

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/tv/2007/11/i_wasnt_sold_on_sold.html

http://teevieo.com/not-sold-on-itvs-new-show/

New website for JP&M Doyle

It wasn't a moment too soon in coming, but JP&M Doyle's new website (one of the 4pm sites) you could say is nearly worth the wait. It is streets ahead of the old one.


There's some pretty big claims, including: "We have a number of unique marketing tools, which no other estate agent can offer you". We can't quite find what they are on the website. Maybe someone could let us know ...

New regulatory environment

We understand that the Minister for Justice will be announcing the new Code of Practice for Property Services Providers tomorrow. We hunted around a bit online and discovered that the NPSRA has their website live: www.npsra.ie

You can download the new code here: CLICK TO DOWNLOAD >>>

The new regulatory environment.

The new legislation shall apply to the regulation of property services providers. These are persons involved either as corporate bodies, partnerships, sole traders or employees in:

• The purchase or sale, by whatever means, of any estate or interest in land (including buildings) wherever situated;
• The auction of private property other than land;
• The letting of any estate or interest in land wherever situated;
• The provision of property management services.

Thus Auctioneers, Estate Agents, Letting Agents and Property Management Agents will be regulated by the Authority. This will apply not only to property located in the Republic of Ireland, but also to transactions in Ireland which relate to property located abroad.

Regulation not only includes a licensing requirement, but also scrutiny by the Authority during the course of complaint investigations, audits or general inspections. The Authority will have power to sanction a licensee up to and including the suspension or revocation of a licence. Where it considers it necessary, the Authority may bring a prosecution against a licensee which may result in either a large fine or imprisonment or both. Where a person suffers a loss due to the dishonesty of a licensee the Authority may award compensation from the “Compensation Fund” which it will be required by law to maintain. All licensees will be required to pay into the Compensation Fund.

Sherry FitzGerald's New Look

Online ads for Sherry FitzGerald have popped up on various websites, such as independent.ie, rte.ie, facebook.com & hotmail.com promoting the agency's revamped web presence.

2 new services: TELL THE WORLD!

Property Week has launched two new services recently ...

1. Developer.IE

has been set up to hold in one place information of particular interest to property developers, especially:

• Development land on the market
• Development projects going on
• Profiles of property development companies

The most important feature of the site is a Development Land Interactive Map that enables developers to see at a glance the location & summary information of particular sites and then click for more information/the brochure if interested.

2. JobsinProperty.ie

is a simple site aimed at giving property companies a chance to target the precise audience they need to in their recruitment drives. Contact Paul on paul@propertyweek.ie to place your free* ads & notices.

Free to subscribers of PropertyWeek until end February 2008; free to all property companies who register with us until end January 2008.

RE/MAX Exclusive mark Halloween

http://www.remax-ireland.com/OfficeProfile.aspx?OfficeId=9082

Sherryfitz.ie is re-newed

Sherry FitzGerald has launched a new website. Have a look and let us know what you think (anonymously if you wish, of course).

For the occasion, Mark FitzGerald has written a new overview of the company, from which:

"In a Sherry FitzGerald business, the culture isn't what one finds in the yogurt in the fridge in our offices, rather it's the standards by how we conduct our business day in and day out."

"We don't deny that like all businesses we need to make a profit, but we believe in the mantra as echoed by the late Bill Hewlett of Hewlett Packard "Profits are like oxygen and blood, you need them but they are not an end in themselves"."

"Uneducated opportunists" please remove yourselves

Asked recently by Irish Construction,What do you think are the main challenges facing your sector in the future?

Alan Cooke of the IAVI had this to say:

"For properly educated estate agents to seize the opportunity and recover ground lost to uneducated opportunists who entered the business to take advantage of the State's heretofore lax approach to the need for estate agents to study law, valuation methodology, town planning, building construction etc.

This, coupled with the fact that most uneducated estate agents have never experienced a difficult market, presents an ideal opportunity to those for whom real estate was always a first choice career, for which they secured relevant third level qualifications, to effectively reclaim the market."

We just hope he didn't actually say that out loud, cause it's quite a mouthful.

Great agents' blog in Longford

Well worth checking out and keepting an eye on is the local property blog for Longford by Brendan Harte of RE/MAX Premier Services: http://countylongford.blogspot.com/

Restrictions on the market

"Twenty-three agencies in rural Ireland are pulling in the welcome mat with locals-only laws that require potential house builders to have jobs in their areas or even to be fluent in Gaelic, according to the European Commission. Opponents of the rules say they unfairly deny people like McGoldrick the chance to enjoy the fruits of successes achieved elsewhere.

The commission, the European Union's executive agency, is examining the restrictions to determine whether they breach an EU treaty that grants citizens of member nations the right to settle anywhere in the region."

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/08/business/land.php

Noticed a few things ...

Keating Somers are no longer with ERA. (Since when, I'm not sure.)

Justin Kinsella has left GPK Properties & set up on his own just down the road: www.justinkinsella.com.

Derek Brawn is no longer with Savills research department - not sure since when, or where he's gone.

Lowe & Associates have redesigned their website.

Watching the watchers

These sites are well worth keeping up with - offering an insight into the way the online world spin the property market:

• A Random Walk
• Daft Watch
• Irish Property Watch
• The Property Pin

And since MyHome.ie's change of format, the Irish Property Watch is now using Daft and operating from a blog called, Trees Don't Grow to the Sky: http://www.treesdontgrowtothesky.blogspot.com/

Said the agent to the developer ...

Destroy the blogosphere!

New site for Real Estate Alliance

http://www.realestatealliance.ie/ - interesting graphics/motifs being used as links to the main sections of the website.

HWBC go You Tube

Friday 7th September 2007 saw the inaugural HWBC Golf Day & BBQ at the PGA National Palmerstown House course in Johnstown Co. Kildare. Follow this link for brief video highlights....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YIKpHiqRBU

The golf scramble was won by the four man team (pictured below) of Eamon McHugh (McHugh Kinsella), Brian Hayes TD, Dermot Murphy (IAWS Group) and Simon Coyle (Mazars) who finished ahead of the other 80 golfers who partook in the shotgun start which ensured everyone was finished in time to join the non golfing fraternity for a post game BBQ. This includued live coverage of France v Argentina in the opening match of RWC 2007 on the specially installed big screen with analysis and insight provided by special guest Brent Pope.

The days other celebrity, Mike Murphy of Harcourt Developments and RTE was unlucky not to capture first prize with his playing partners; Brendan O' Regan (Boundary Capital), Fergus Dowd (Irish Life) and Declan Power (HWBC), as they finished in second place, just 0.65 of a shot off the lead.

A thoroughly enjoyable days (and evenings) entertainment was had by all and plans are already afoot to repeat the event again next year provided of course the weather agrees to co-operate again!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YIKpHiqRBU

Paris & Irishtown

Came across this on the blog of an ex-employee of PropertyWeek. Good ol' L! We still remember her with fondness.

Clarke Auctioneers

This is another commendable agent website. Clear, concise, easily navigable and attractive. Not sure who designed it but it's an excellent site! www.clarkeauctioneers.com

Property Monkey is confused by mixed messages

From the Irish Independent: "THE Broadcasting Complaints Commission yesterday rejected a complaint of bias against an RTE programme about the property market.

'Future Shock: Property Crash', broadcast on RTE1 last April, looked at the possibility of property prices in Ireland falling in the future.

The Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute made a formal complaint to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission, claiming that the programme had not been impartial and had a detrimental affect on the property market".

Builders are experiencing widespread layoffs from sites, this was the first sign mentioned in the programme wasn't it? And the BCC are affirming that it wasn't completely made up nonsense! Are the skies darkening...