Where there is hope

So its now April - the months of 2011 have flown by so far and hopefully work will continue to get busier.

During the month of March I added to my services with Fresh as a Daisy - its an end of tenancy cleaning company that makes sure a property is properly cleaned, oven gleaming, windows smear free and smelling fresh before new tenants move in. One of the reasons for this is I am trying to save estate/letting agents and landlords time - instead of 3 phone calls to get the EPC,inventory and cleaning sorted they now have to make only 1 call (to me!) and its all organised leaving them to concentrate on obtaining new tenants/new sales etc which is of great importance in this current financial climate.

I have noticed though that the DEAs that seem to be surviving the recession are the ones that (apart from making sure they are professional, up to date and have high standards of customer care and quick turnaround times) have added additional services to their business. Its definately a case of making sure that not all your eggs are in one basket.

Have seen some promising news though today via the EAT blog - http://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/news_features/Hopeful-signs-for-spring-housing-market. Which explains that there are signs of new growth in the market!

Am very hopeful about IDEAs petition to bring down the length of time that the EPCs are valid for is taken into account soon with the powers that be - 10 years is definately too long, there is too much that can be changed during that length of time and it really does need to be only valid for 1 year. Fingers crossed!

Off now to check on the seedlings in my greenhouse - am hopeful that should be a good amount of home made salsa from homegrown cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and peppers this year! (Thats if the children stop eating them off the plants)

Before I forget the Draw an ECO house competition ends this friday so please if you have 2 minutes spare log on to Hazel Green Associates on Facebook and have a look at the fantastic drawings the children have done! They had some wonderful ideas.

Been a while

Well its been a long while since I wrote in this and there has been a bit going on........

The competition for Draw an ECO House is underway, and you can vote on the drawings by the children (follow this link.....http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=125357600814357&aid=69402 ) you have to click like on the drawing you want to vote for - you can vote once for key stage 1 and once for key stage 2.
The drawings are fantastic and you can see how much effort the children have put into this competition.

Work has been steady, could always do with it being busier but its given me time to add a new service! So along with EPCs (domestic and commercial), floorplans, photos, descriptions and inventories I now offer an end of tenancy cleaning service. Its definately becoming more of a one stop shop for letting and estate agents! But it saves time if you can get the EPC, floorplan, inventory and cleaning organised with just one phone call and know that it is done to a very high standard.

I am hoping with the news of help for first time buyers we are going to start to see the housing market pick up and start to get busier. I am also waiting to see if the petition that was organised is going to work and the "Life" span of an EPC will be brought into line with that of the gas safety certificates. Given how much can change over 10 years it would make a lot of sense if the EPC was only valid for 1 year.