NEWS & INSIGHTS: ARCHIVE
Haringtons IN THE PRESS...
March 22, 2016
Now you see them, now you don’t…
A popular device among novelists is to take the hero of the story down a tortuous road and then dribble misfortune after misfortune on his head, until the reader really begins to wonder “whatever next”? Read more
November 9, 2015
Should I stay or should I go?
As I write this in October, it seems clear that the Indian summer of the last few weeks is finally over and, as the joyful colours of autumn spread across the countryside and six months after the election, it would seem like a good time to reflect o… Read more
One of the most important parts of our job is understanding the psychology of the seller
My first boss said, ‘we are not agents we are nannies’ and forty years on I can safely say he was not far wrong. Understanding the psychology of both the seller and buyer is vital to make a deal happen and helps prevent what I have always called… Read more
Where do you find your properties?
People often ask where we find our properties and, without wanting to sound evasive, the straight answer is anywhere and everywhere we can; towards the lower end of the market price-wise, a high proportion will be on the market via selling agents, a… Read more
What ever happened to the property auctions at the top end of the market?
In our view the best and most transparent form of sale is an auction. Everybody can see what is going on: the contract is exchanged so the buyer goes home knowing he has bought a property with no danger of a gazump. Sadly, however, modern day sellin… Read more
Protecting Our Client’s Privacy
Keeping secrets has to be a stock in trade for a premium house buyer. Everybody values their privacy; you don’t have to be a celebrity to want to keep your personal circumstances private. The press take an interest in the top properties and then w… Read more
The importance of cementing relations between seller and purchaser
It is absolutely vital that there is a good relationship between the purchasers and the vendors. It makes the negotiations that much easier if the owners actually like the buyers, (hopefully more than other interested parties) and it also helps wi… Read more
Is the role of the property buying agent the same in 2015 as it was in 1985?
People think the buying agent role is a relatively modern, new phenomena. But this really isn’t the case at all. It all started in the mid-1980s with houses, but it had been going on for many years before with farms and estates. Read more
What’s the difference between a Buying Agent and a Search Agent?
Is it just terminology? Is it just about the name? Yes, some call themselves search agents – and as you can see I call myself a “buying” agent. But the searching in my view is a very small part of the business. A buying agent has to add value … Read more
How much luck is involved in buying a house privately or “off market”?
I always say that, for us, finding the house is the easy part. And do you know, the majority of the houses and estates we buy – and I’ve bought 193 at last count – are what’s known as sold ‘off market’? That means, buying a house pri… Read more
April 16, 2015
The Law of unintended consequences
Once again it’s election season and – contrary to what we read in the papers – I genuinely think that most people are fundamentally good by nature; at home, they love their families and when they go to work, they try to do the best they can an… Read more
October 5, 2014
Mind the Gap
In our Spring Market Review we commented that the country had experienced one of the wettest winters on record, and as the seasons change once again, following the driest September since 1910, it seems a good time to reflect on the Prime Country Pro… Read more
April 14, 2014
A Post-Christmas Carol
God bless us, every one!” cried Tiny Tim at the end of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, at which point the reader could safely put down the book, with a glisten in his or her eye, and reflect on how well everything had turned out. And so it seems wi… Read more
March 14, 2014
The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain
Spring has sprung and, at the time of writing, the rain seems to have gone to Spain. This makes quite a welcome change for the south of England, which has had the wettest winter since records began, and has left the local councils in the West Countr… Read more
April 18, 2012
Spring forward, Fall back
In years gone by the seasons were predictable, and spring officially started when the clocks went forward by an hour and autumn arrived when the clocks went back, giving most of the country the luxury of an extra hour in bed. Lately, however, the se… Read more