Wetherell Mayfairs Fitnes Properties

An interview with Peter Wetherell. Peter shares his views on how good agency should work, how we value property and his sales & lettings methodology. Having been an agent for over 35 years his informed opinion gives a great insight into the exclusive Mayfair Property Market. August 2009

Video transcript:

Well it's either as I've got older, Mayfair has got a lot younger, it certainly has got a lot trendier, the hotels have got their act together, a lot of money has been spent on improving their services, we've seen on Mount Street all of the old antique shops that used to be here as the sort of temple of the antique business, they've tended to be replaced now by young trendier shoe shops, clothes shops, restaurants, etcetera, like Scotts, there is overall a much more younger residential feel about the area.

As a shop keeper I always think you should have a corner shop because it doubles up your window space, it makes you more prominent, we are the lighthouse of the high street. I think the service we give that is different from other people is that we are small, we are independent you deal with the people you are going write the cheque out to at the end of the day, and we have a flair for marketing, so we go beyond just being a local estate agent. We are dealing in one of the most international areas in the world.

First half of this year, the inquiry levels are substantially up on this time last year, the number of properties under offer, we have a very good pipeline, the viewings are up, the under offers are up, the exchange of contracts where the sales are actually going towards completion are agin looking very healthy. So at the moment although we don't have a problem with the value of property, there is still a volume problem, there are just not as many properties being sold as there were last year or the year before, it is not as widely indicated twenty-five percent off. Our expectation of the market, what we're seeing being sold is probably no more than fifteen percent off, for prime property.

I think to give a correct price, not only have you got to look at historical values, what things have sold before, even the same property we know has been sold three or four times, but you need to also look at how much demand there is, unsatisfied demand of properties, we recently attended an exchange of contracts on a property which never came out on the market, we could give all historical information to the buyer and the confidence to go in there and buy it, so it's very important to know what has been sold before and also the demand from the people who are as yet unsatisfied to know how to correctly value your property.