October has been another incredibly busy month for Applegate with the latest branch of our company, Applegate Properties, launching this month.With such a fantastic track record in lettings, extending our services to include sales seems like a natural progression and with the consistently positive feedback that we receive from landlords (and also a total lack of withdrawals we should add!) we already have the customer base to provide it for. The business has grown at an unprecedented rate and we know that the positive referrals from our existing clients have definitely had something to do with that. It’s because of this that we feel extending our services to include sales is a natural evolution – many of our team have a background in sales anyway but over the years, despite having so many people asking us if we were able to sell their properties for them, we’ve remained as solely a letting agent, maintaining our focus on building Applegate into the business it has become today. However, we’ve reached a point now where we just can’t say no. Have a look at
www.applegateproperties.co.uk for more information and discounts for existing landlords wishing to sell will of course be available!
Managing Director Amy Wray attended the Client Accounting & Overseas Landlords Tax updated ARLA course in Chester in October, a training course which reiterates the importance of maintaining correct client accounts and dealing with overseas landlords and the tax implications that arise with them. Amy attends this course on an annual basis to ensure that she and her team are compliant in all of these areas as well as attending other courses to keep up with current legislation. Amy had the added bonus on the day of meeting Ian Potter, Managing Director of ARLA, and managed to speak to him throughout the day. In particular he mentioned the importance of being a ‘Licenced Agent’ and keeping up to date with continual development on an annual basis which at Applegate we do of course!
We’ve mentioned in previous news items about Amy Wray being nominated for the Young Business Woman of the Year award at this month’s upcoming Forward Ladies Women in Business Awards 2013. October saw editorial pieces on the awards appearing in several newspapers including the Yorkshire Post, Huddersfield Examiner and the Holme Valley Review. We were pleased to receive so many messages of congratulations to Amy for her nomination from existing clients and peers within the industry but there were also a couple of messages that Amy was especially surprised to receive. One message in particular came in the form of a handwritten letter from local MP Jason McCartney, congratulating Amy on her nomination and wishing her luck on the night after reading about it in the Huddersfield Examiner! Thanks again to everyone who has supported Amy and we’ll be heading to the awards ceremony on 15th November to see how she does on the night!
We’ve had yet another month of zero withdrawals and 64% of new business has come from existing clients – another month of statistics that we’re extremely proud of! We also have another new member of staff starting in November – we’ll have more information on that in next month’s round up!
Image: Courtesy of Rightmove
