For a Christmas full of sparkle choose Jonathan Waters Estate Agents

Jonathan Waters Estate Agents are planning to end their highly successful 21^st anniversary year in style and are offering vendors a triple special deal to help raise money for charity.

For anybody who puts their property on the market with the company before the 21^st December 2013 we are offering:

1.  21% off our standard commission fees
2.  £21.00 donated by Jonathan Waters to a charity of your choice
3.  Energy Performance Certificates £21.00 plus VAT

With three new highly experienced additions to the salesteam at Jonathan Waters the company is going from strength to strength and they are scheduled to smash their sales targets for November.

Already the 21^st anniversary year has been the company’s best ever, even without all the additional business that we will do between now and the end of the year.

The company is anticipating high demand for this triple special deal offer so contact any of our four offices to book an appointment for one of our highly experienced valuation staff to visit your home and discuss a forthcoming marketing plan.

New appointments at Jonathan Waters Estate Agents

As part of its big expansion programme Jonathan Waters Estate Agents have taken on four new, high profile members of staff, adding an additional 57 years of local estate agency experience to its already highly competent and successful team.

Furthermore, an existing member of staff has been promoted to oversee and run a brand new office in the town.

Jonathan and his team sorted through nearly 300 applications for the 4 positions following a large recruitment advert in the job vacancies section of the EADT and Evening Star.

The quality of the applications was high and had we had the positions, several more staff could have been taken on but we were in the fortunate position of being able to pick the very cream of the crop.

CharmaineSayer will run the company’s Martlesham office and comes with over eight years experience.  She has lived and worked in Ipswich all her life and joined the industry after a long spell in travel agency.

“We have had big success before with people coming to us from the travel agency industry” explained Jonathan Waters, Managing Director.  “The two industries have a number of resemblances and it’s a natural step that somebody who is very good in one will be successful in another.”

Charmaine has worked in both the sales and lettings side of estate agency, both from the Ipswich town centre area and local office sin Kesgrave and Martelsham so was therefore the ideal candidate to expand operations from our Martlesham office in the IP5 area.  The expansion of the Martlesham Heath office will also see the company spreading into the towns of both Woodbridge and Felixstowe for both sales and rentals.

Charmaine is passionate about property and providing high levels of customer service and has a cheery personality and up-beat outlook on life.

Charmaine Sayer

JohnKnighton, can you believe, started in estate agency in 1969 when Managing Director, Jonathan Waters, hadn’t even started primary school.

John has remained in the industry ever since and therefore boasts a staggering 45 years experience in estate agency, making him one of the most experienced estate agents in the area.

John compliments our existing team and will run the company’s new prestigious Silver Collection department for properties at the more expensive end of the market from £350,000 plus.

John has worked predominantly in this higher end market and for the last fifteen years has run the Select and Country Homes division of a major corporate, national estate agent.

He will therefore be bringing to the company the extensive, specialist knowledge and the different set of skills needed when marketing executive and country homes.

John bears a striking resemblance to former England fast bowler Bob Willis and stands at 6’4 tall.

“A find like John only comes along once in a blue moon” said Jonathan Waters.  “We are delighted to have been able to attract such a high calibre and experienced addition to our sales team”.

John Knighton

AlisonMcKenzie started her life in estate agency one month before Jonathan Waters, working in different regions of the same corporate estate agency.  When Jonathan received Alison’s c.v. and application, the name rang an immediate bell.

Back in 1988, Alison beat Jonathan to the highly prestigious and sought after Negotiator of the Year Award in their first year of the business.

Even more of a coincidence, Alison now sits opposite Anne Houghton who was a manager at the self same company and had started a few months before.

Alison has joined the incredibly busy sales progressing team which looks after the sale of a property from the time it is agreed to moving in day, looking after the needs of both sellers and buyers and co-ordinating everyone involved in the transaction such as solicitors, mortgage brokers, banks, building societies, surveyors etc.

Her arrival has added a massive chunk of additional experience to what was already a highly experienced and very effective team.

Alison McKenzie

Jonathan Waters was delighted to also welcome back recently Sharon Newman who had worked for the company prior to the property downturn in 2008.

Sharon can boast a very rare mixture of experience as she has been both a sales negotiator and a fully qualified mortgage consultant whilst working at Jonathan Waters in the past.

This enables Sharon to look at every transaction from both a sales side and a mortgage side, bringing essential additional skills to the team which reaps benefits for the team and is a huge advantage on many occasions.

“Sharon is an incredibly determined individual and once she gets her teeth stuck into something she doesn’t let go until a sale is agreed, leaving no stone unturned and looking at all the possible options available to the situation.  In the current market, having a negotiator on the team with that attitude and those skill sets is worth it’s weight on gold” reported a very happy Jonathan.

Sharon is also an expert at the slightly tricky area which many other negotiators in the industry shy away from.  That is having a heart to heart chat with sellers of any properties that aren’t selling and being quite straight with them on the reasons the property isn’t selling and discussing all possible avenues to increase the saleability of the home.  In situations like this, most sellers really appreciate Sharon’s direct and down to earth approach to the problem.

Sharon Newman

The new office at Jonathan Waters Estate Agents, which opened this month, has seen a promotion within the company of Andrew Blewitt to become Manager of the branch.

The office is focussing on people buying, selling and renting properties in north west Ipswich and all the towns and villages to the north and west of the town including Claydon, Needham Market and Hadleigh.

Anyone who has bought or sold a property in the Ipswich area may well have come across Andrew before as he has worked in estate agency in the town for more years than he cares to remember.

Andrew has been with Jonathan Waters Estate Agents for some time now and the passion, expertise and knowledge that Andrew has demonstrated for the north west side of the town made him the ideal candidate when a vacant office came up in Norwich Road as he also lives in the area as well.

A keen sportsman and a lifelong fan of both Ipswich Town and bizarrely Hartlepool United, Andrew was delighted with the opportunity that the new branch represents, it is the company’s fourth office in the Ipswich area.

Andrew’s attention to customer detail and his old school style of estate agency goes down very well with clients and customers.

Andrew Blewitt

Kesgrave ranked in report as one of the top places to live

A recent report showed that Kesgrave has been ranked among the top twenty places to live across the whole of England and Wales.

Out of 2,400 areas, the town was placed 19th.  Indicators such as educational attainment, crime figures and property prices were used in a Family Friendly Hotspots report which gave a rating of 70 for Kesgrave’s average key stage 4 score, which was almost double the UK average of 43.

A further attraction for house buyers considering moving to the area was that the average cost of a two bedroom house was £25,000 below the average national price for a property of that type.  In Kesgrave, that figure came out at £150,336.

Jonathan Waters, Managing Director of Jonathan Waters Estate Agents Ltd., which has two offices covering the Kesgrave area, backed up the report’s findings.

“Both my daughters went to Kesgrave High School and I can certainly vouch for what a nice school it is.  I always found teachers and staff to be very approachable, friendly and very good at their jobs.”

“We have always had a high demand for properties in the Kesgrave area and it’s an area that I would live in personally without any thoughts whatsoever.”

“One of the reasons we opened our IP5 office two years ago was to further benefit the needs of people buying or selling in the Kesgrave and Grange Farm areas.”


“If anybody is wanting to buy or sell a property in that area, please contact our IP5 office on 01473 620222 where my colleague, Charmaine Sayer will be more than happy to help you.”

Charmaine Sayer

Location, Location, Location - or not as the case may be?

The most organised purchaser I have ever met once produced a list of 56 things that they wanted in their new property.  The list was sorted into an order of priority, number one being something that was essential, that they absolutely wouldn’t compromise on under any circumstances.  Number 56 on the list was something that would be nice in a perfect world.

I worked with this buyer for a number of weeks in his search for a suitable property, eliminating a number of properties purely from looking from the outside and viewing the shortlist.

The property he finally purchased only ticked 30 of the 56 original boxes.  Even more surprising was that the property that he finally chose did not fit two of his top five most essential requirements.  How can this be?  It’s because the perfect house doesn’t exist, and nearly every purchase involves a compromise somewhere along the way.

One of my long term fascinations within the estate agency industry and where I believe the real skill in the job lies in working with a purchaser throughout the whole of the buying process.

I have never been 100% sure why sales staff in estate agency offices are called sales negotiators.  The actual negotiating part can be the shortest part of the process.  Far  more time is spent by the sales staff working with buyers and helping them both solve their house moving problems and fulfil their goals.

A person’s search for a property is dynamic – it’s changing all the time.  Depending on timescale it could change every week, every month, every day or even every hour.  We had a recent purchaser who was visiting Ipswich for one whole day with the sole target of going home in the evening of having secured the purchase of a property.  They viewed a selection of eight homes and even as early as lunchtime had changed their requirements considerably in terms of what they would and wouldn’t compromise on.

Regardless of the timescale involved and the length of the viewing process, sometimes the final compromise is on the very thing that at first was their most important essential – location.

To investigate this theory further, at Jonathan Waters Estate Agents, we once undertook some research.  We matched a number of people who had purchased and moved into their new property with us against the requirements that they had told us they were looking for on their initial contact with the company.

In over 60% of cases the final purchased property differed considerably in either location or type and size from what they originally told us they were looking for and, in some cases, both.  One couple said they were only looking for an older Victorian character property in the Christchurch Park area and ended up buying a modern home through us on Grange Farm.

I remember my first ever week in estate agency over 25 years ago going on a training course.  Here a very wise and experienced estate agent said “Jonathan, there’s only two things you have to find out from a person who is looking to buy a property.  What is there real motivation and why?”. 

I’ve enjoyed spending time with people and finding this out ever since and have helped thousands of buyers find their dream home, with a few compromises along the way.

At  Jonathan Waters Estate Agents one way we find out more about the real reasons why people are looking for a certain requirement is to accompany a vast majority of our viewings.  This has so many benefits and even if the purchaser hates the house that you are showing them round, neither party has wasted their time.  From the prospective purchasers point of view they have eliminated a property that they previously considered might be suitable.  From our point of view we have spent more time with the viewers in the  process of looking round a property to discover more and more about their motivations and what they’re really looking for.  Much more than anyone could achieve sat in front of a desk in an office.

The owners of a property that’s for sale will always know more than us estate agents about the property – after all, they have lived in it.  Generally, however, we can sell it to potential purchasers better.  Nowhere is this more applicable than with the sale of more expensive properties.

I am currently searching for a property myself.  At the end of the day, everyone buying a home to live in will generally and ultimately end up buying with their heart rather than their head and make some compromises along the way – I know I definitely will.


So if you are thinking of buying your next home why not come and tell us about your list of essential requirements and see if we can help.  Call us on 01473 215576 or visit us at our office at 35 Buttermarket in Ipswich town centre.

The speed of the decision to buy

It is said that no two houses are exactly the same.  Well in my opinion no two buyers are exactly the same either.

It has long since intrigued me on the many different ways that viewers and buyers go about the process of buying a house.

Some people view lots and lots of homes before making the decision. Others buy the first one that they see.

Some buyers make a decision there and then to buy the house. Others will come back days or even weeks later to talk about making an offer.

Sometimes the length of time the negotiation process takes is few hours, sometimes days or even weeks.

It is not unknown for viewers to have made an offer and come back months later to review that offer either making the same offer again or a higher one or even a lower depending on whether the market has been going up or down in the interim period.

Sometimes people will go back for second and even third viewings before making a decision to buy.  I think the personal record  we have experienced here at Jonathan Waters Estate Agents is somebody making an offer after the fifth viewing on a property. Others will shortlist properties and second view those on the shortlist. It is all down to personal preference.

It is understandable for viewers to want to go back for a second view with perhaps a builder or an architect or tradesman to get specialist advice on the costs of work that the viewers plan to have once they have completed on the purchase if the property requires work or there are planning permission or building regulation issues.

Other buyers have a survey before making an offer on a property that may have structural problems or other problems relating to its condition.

At the other end of the scale some buyers will make a decision to purchase there and then and never see the property again until completion day when they move in.  A visit between exchange and completion by buyers to measure up for carpets, curtains, appliances etc is quite common.  One thing is of interest though that in nearly 26 years of showing prospective purchasers round homes I have never once yet had a situation where someone who offered without seeing a property actually went through and exchanged and completed on that property.

All these variables is what makes estate agency, in my opinion, the most interesting job in the world.  Often people, and quite sensibly, will look at the property from the outside at the stage of the initial enquiry to gage whether it is in the right position for them and looking at the surrounding areas.  Sometimes I have also seen people agree only half heartedly to view a property only to find that once they get there and get through the front door they absolutely fall in love with it.  On many occasions I have seen people purchasing properties that they would never have otherwise considered viewing.

This brings me on to the point of where one of the real skills in estate agency lies.  One of the ways we continue to be so successful at Jonathan Waters Estate Agents is to use highly experienced staff with extensive local knowledge.  Between our three offices our staff have over 300 years combined estate agency experience. One of the key factors is our staff knowing details about the property for sale and equally important the circumstances and selling motivations of the vendors.

I am currently looking to purchase a property myself and have been amazed at the number of calls I have made to estate agents where the person who answers the phone hasn’t seen the property, nor do they know any information about the circumstances of the sale.  Both these factors are absolutely vital if a sale is to be agreed and proceed to completion successfully.

The art of matching the right buyers with the right motivation and the right ability to buy with the right properties and the matching motivations of the sellers is probably the single biggest difference that an estate agency sales negotiator can bring to the whole of the house buying and selling process.

However things are starting to change.  When I purchased my first property as a raw first time buyer over 25 years ago we viewed in the evening. As we knocked on the door a previous young couple were coming out having just viewed the property, and another couple were waiting on the doorstep to have the property in case we decided not to buy it ourselves.  We had no choice but to offer full price there and then.

That was in the boom of the Spring of 1988 which I have talked about extensively in blogs on the Jonathan Waters website.

The market clearly isn’t back to that level of activity yet but it has certainly warmed up considerably as 2013 has progressed.  The second phase of the Help To Buy Scheme launched last week will certainly add to the increased level of activity.

A good example of where the market is right now is an Open Day that we undertook in Beech Grove, just off Cliff Lane in south east Ipswich on Saturday.

My extensively experienced colleague Andrew Blewitt took 35 sets of details to the open day in what I thought was a somewhat over the top optimistic gesture.  In fact both Andrew and myself were wrong.  He contacted me only half way through the two-hour open day slot to say he had already run out of sales particulars and in total we had over 50 viewers in two hours.

Needless to say no one had any time to talk about second viewings there. 

There is no doubt that sensible priced property in sought after locations with a vendor who is serious about selling are creating a good deal of interest at the current time.

Jonathan Waters is the Managing Director of Jonathan Waters Estate Agents with three offices in the Ipswich area.  The company opens their fourth office in early November.

Jonathan has written numerous articles on many aspects of estate agency which have appeared in newspapers, magazines and has appeared on radio and television as a property expert.  To get the absolute latest on the market and general property news follow us on Twitter, Facebook or visit any of our offices detailed below

625 Foxhall Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP3 8ND   01473 721133  jonathan@waters-ips.co.uk
35 Buttermarket, Ipswich, Suffolk IP1 1BH   01473 281188 jonathanwaters@jonathanwaters.co.uk
Bristol Court, Betts Avenue, Martlesham Heath Business Park, Martlesham IP5 3RY   01473 620222 jonathan@waters-ips.co.uk

www.jonathanwaters.co.uk

September 2013 - our best ever sales month!

Jonathan Waters, managing director of Jonathan Waters Estate Agents was delighted to announce outstanding sales success during September.

"The September sales figures are in and the month didn't disappoint and ended in a flourish with over 60 sales agreed - our best ever sales month!" said Jonathan.

"The new additions to the sales team are proving incredibly effective too. I thought I had a strong team before but have now discovered that they are better than I ever realised!"

"However,  not one of the sales landed in our lap, all required hard work to achieve.  This is where the skill of an experienced sales team proved a massive advantage over our competitors."

"Looking at the numbers of valuations and new properties being taken on at present, it leads me to the assumption that October will be just as busy and successful!"

"It was great to treat the team to lots of goodies at the breakfast meeting this morning!"

"It's been the best ever month in lettings too and interviews are going really well for the planned expansion to our lettings team".

To join in on our success contact any of our three Ipswich offices:

625 Foxhall Road

Ipswich

Suffolk

IP3 8ND

01473 721133

jonathan@waters-ips.co.uk

35 Buttermarket

Ipswich

Suffolk

IP1 1BH

01473 281188

jonathan@waters-ips.co.uk

Unit M Bristol Court

Betts Avenue

Marltesham Heath Business Park

Marltesham

Suffolk

IP5 3RY

01473 620222

jonathan@waters-ips.co.uk

or visit

www.jonathanwaters.co.uk

Jonathan Waters more successful at getting sales through to exchange and completion than any other estate agent in the Ipswich area

New research from independent company, Vizzihomes Sales, this week has shown that year to date, Jonathan Waters Estate Agents have successfully exchanged contracts on more than twice as many properties as its next nearest competitor.

Vizzihome Sales is an independent company that does market intelligence for estate agents.  Information is sourced from estate agency internet data, collated and published by Vizzihome.

In this particular category which is the total number of exchanged properties research was undertaken in the postcode areas IP1, IP2, IP3, IP4, IP5 and IP8 and covered all types of properties from £50,000 and above.  This was for the period 4/1/13 – 27/9/13.

To qualify estate agents had to exchange on a minimum number of properties which was 55.

Jonathan Waters was 232% more than the next nearest competitor and over three times more than seven other estate agents that qualified.

A delighted Jonathan Waters commented “The combination of our unique three office marketing and the mature and extensively experienced and skilled sales team that we have clearly makes a massive difference.  But selling a home is only half the story.  It’s helping the sale progress to a satisfactory exchange and completion where a lot of the skill and experience pays the maximum dividends.”

“At Jonathan Waters Estate Agents when we agree a sale that’s really where the bulk of our work commences.  We are currently adding to the strength and depth of our sales progressing team to cope with the sheer volume of sales that we are currently agreeing.  Our sales progressors only deal with sales agreed in the Ipswich area which means their local knowledge and understanding of the individual aspects of certain areas and certain types of properties is absolutely crucial.”

“We calculated that this year alone 28 of those sales would have fallen through if it had not been for a specific item of specialist knowledge that one of the team had.”

“A vast majority of the problems that crop up our team has come across before and knows how to solve”.

Full time sales progressor, Valerie Garrett, on the phone solving another problem successfully

625 Foxhall Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP3 8ND

01473 721133

jonathan@waters-ips.co.uk

35 Buttermarket, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP1 1BH

01473 281188

jonathanwaters@jonathanwaters.co.uk

Bristol Court, Betts Avenue, Martlesham Heath Business Park, Martlesham IP5 3RY

01473 620222

jonathan@waters-ips.co.uk

or visit www.jonathanwaters.co.uk

Surprising results from recent research

Those people who may have thought that the days are numbered for high street offices for estate agents may want to think again after recent research undertaken at Jonathan Waters Estate Agents. The company has an office in the Ipswich town centre and two satellite offices, one in east Ipswich and one in Martlesham Heath. Jonathan Waters Estate Agents enjoyed their best ever month, agreeing sales on over 60 properties during September 2013. Owner, Jonathan Waters, closely inspected the details of all the sales to investigate where the buyers came from . He was amazed to discover that nearly a third of the sales agreed involved the company’s town centre office.

Jonathan Waters Estate Agents busy Ipswich town centre office
at 35 Buttermarket

A delighted Jonathan reported “this means that if you are trying to sell your home and it is being marketed from an estate agent with just a local office you could be missing out on nearly a third of all potential buyers of your home.”

“More buyers could mean a better price achieved for your home as competition between buyers iis magnified. In my 26 years experience in estate agency there’s nothing better than having buyers competing against each other for a specific property.” So don’t lose £1,000s – contact the absolute experts at selling property in the Ipswich area – Jonathan Waters Estate Agents. We market your property fully from our all our three offices which work together to sell your home for you.

 Our sales staff are on commission regardless of which office the property is sold from and therefore there is 100% co-operation between the three offices unlike many corporate estate agents where individual offices within a town or area compete with each other over commissions, bonuses and targets.

 This is just another one of the factors which makes Jonathan Waters Estate Agents so much more successful at selling homes in the Ipswich and surrounding villages.

 625 Foxhall Road,
Ipswich,
Suffolk,
IP3 8ND
01473 721133
jonathan@waters-ips.co.uk

35 Buttermarket,
Ipswich,
Suffolk,
IP1 1BH
01473 281188
jonathanwaters@jonathanwaters.co.uk

Bristol Court,
Betts Avenue,
Martlesham Heath Business Park,
Martlesham
IP5 3RY
01473 620222
jonathan@waters-ips.co.uk

 or visit www.jonathanwaters.co.uk

First time buyers account for a quarter of all sales last month

Low interest rates and budding buyer confidence gave an unexpected summer boost to the housing market.

According to figures from the National Association of Estate Agents more than 1 in 4 (26%) of home sales in August went to a First Time Buyer.

This is a proportion not reached since July 2010.

The August Housing Market Report showed encouraging growth with the average number of first time buyers increasing from 22% in July to 26% in August.

The same report also reported that National Association Members had received an increase in the number of house hunters per branch dramatically in August.

40% of homebuyers during August were aged between 41 and 55 years old said the survey.

Jonathan Waters, Managing Director of Jonathan Waters Estate agents with offices in Ipswich and the surrounding area was happy to report that these figures were mirrored within his own estate agents.

The number of enquiries we’re getting month on month with new people registering as looking for properties has increased dramatically as the summer has progressed.

One thing that we’ve experienced that bucks the trend of the National Association Report is that we have also had an increase in numbers of properties coming onto the market.

The Bank of England announced last month its intentions to keep its base rate at 0.57% with guidance that this won’t be increased until the recovery is stabilised is great news for those with a mortgage.

Jonathan continued “It also has the double benefit of potentially stirring up further interest amongst property buyers who have until now been biding their time.

With Christmas now very much on the horizon people have this time of year firmly focussed in which to find a property now to be eating their Christmas dinner round a table in their new home.”

Last week we agreed sales on 25 properties in just one week.

The combination of us marketing our clients properties from a town centre hub office and local offices is a winning combination completely unmatched by any of our competitors and that is just one of the reasons we are able to achieve such huge success.

625 Foxhall Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP3 8ND

01473 721133

jonathan@waters-ips.co.uk

35 Buttermarket, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP1 1BH

01473 281188

jonathanwaters@jonathanwaters.co.uk

Bristol Court, Betts Avenue, Martlesham Heath Business Park, Martlesham IP5 3RY

01473 620222

jonathan@waters-ips.co.uk

or visit www.jonathanwaters.co.uk

25 sales agreed in just one week!

Last week Jonathan Waters Estate Agents broke yet another new record having agreed 25 sales in just one seven day period throughout the company’s three offices.

The Friday of that week also included 8 sales in one single day which is a joint record, this also having been achieved two months ago.

Jonathan Waters, sole Managing Director of the company, was naturally delighted;  “This has been a fantastic week.  It’s down to a number of factors and is partly an indication of how the market has picked up in recent months.”

“Above all though, our combination of marketing properties from both town centre and local offices continues to prove highly effective and un-matched by any of our competitors.”

“We have also had a new addition to the sales team.  Sharon Newman, extensively experienced in estate agency and mortgages, joined us a short while ago and her expertise, energy and experience has quickly added to the strength and depth of the team.”

“Sharon’s appointment continues our long standing policy which has proved highly effective and successful of employing mature, extensively experienced local estate agency negotiating staff.”

The company’s policy of combining local offices with a town centre main office is to be expanded further in the coming weeks with the opening of an exciting new office in Norwich Road, Ipswich.  This will be specialising in the sale of properties in north west Ipswich (IP1 postcode) including the Crofts, Dales, Norwich Road, Bramford Road, Bramford Lane areas and villages to the north and west of Ipswich.

Work is on-going at the office at the moment and this represents exciting times at Jonathan Waters Estate Agents.

So, to get your property sold quickly, efficiently and professionally, call the Ipswich experts at Jonathan Waters Estate Agents.

625 Foxhall Road

Ipswich IP3 8ND

01473 721133

35 Buttermarket

Ipswich IP1 1BH

01473 281188

Gloster Road

Martlesham

01473 620222

www.jonathanwaters.co.uk

BIG EXPANSION UNDERWAY AT JONATHAN WATERS ESTATE AGENTS

Opening of new office paves way for exciting times at successful estate agency

Jonathan Waters Estate Agents is celebrating its 21st anniversary this year in some style.  Starting in Essex in 1992 the company expanded and opened the first of its Ipswich offices in 1999 in Foxhall Road, Ipswich.  Adding a town centre office in 2003, which is celebrating 10 years of success this year also, the estate agents added a third branch at Martlesham Heath covering the IP5/IP12 postcode in 2011.

An excited Jonathan Waters, Managing Director and owner of the company said “The market has  really picked up for us this year and we are 20% up on sales for the first eight months of 2013 over the same period last year and over 33% up like for like over 2011.  It’s the perfect time for us to expand further.”

The company has continually proved successful and data from companies such as Rightmove, Vizzihome and the independent For Sale Sign Analysis shows Jonathan Waters as market leaders by some distance.

“We offer a very high quality of service from vastly experienced staff and this multi-office coverage gives our client’s properties a service currently unmatchable by our competitors.  Adding a fourth office to the mix takes that advantage to the next level.”

In January this year, the company opened a new Lettings Department which has now really taken off as landlord’s are starting to realise that the high quality of service and reputation that is expected from the sales team is being equally mirrored by the lettings team.

In August, Jonathan Waters himself personally launched the long awaited and much requested Silver Collection, a specialist niche arm of the company dealing in the sale of properties of £350,000 plus which is already proving successful.

The new office which opens in October will be in Norwich Road, Ipswich and will concentrate on the needs of people buying and selling homes in the IP1 postcode and surrounding villages.

This will include the Crofts, the Dales and the Norwich Road/Bramford Road area and extend to towns to the north and west of Ipswich such as Claydon, Hadleigh and Needham Market.

Jonathan Waters Estate Agents continues to be an independent company with sole Managing Director, Jonathan Waters, actively involved on a day to day basis in all areas of the running of the business.

This gives the company the excellent combination of being big enough to be highly successful, progressive and very busy, but still small enough to care on a personal basis for both its clients and its staff.

Jonathan added “Our continued innovation and our ability to punch well above our weight in areas such as marketing, training, social media and web site presence means we can stay ahead of the competition.”

But our new office is not the only area of expansion.

Other exciting plans on the cards for 2014 including the company looking for further expansion further afield with plans afoot for a new Colchester office in 2014.The estate agents are expanding operations from their Martlesham office, setting up a new Ipswich Waterfront Department and growing their lettings team.

With well over 120 running sales, the company is also expanding its highly acclaimed sales 
progression department.

Also, we are increasing our sales negotiation team at our Foxhall Road office to cope with demand.

I think it’s nice to hear good news of a local company being successful and expanding in today’s economic climate.  It’s really positive to hear that the housing market, which also has a knock on effect to so many other areas of the economy, is on the up once again.

If you would like any further information on any of the positions we currently have available please click on the link below:

http://www.jonathanwaters.co.uk/ipswich/pages/about/vacanciesipswich.html

Heath Fire!

In Ipswich we are thoroughly spoilt to have not just one but two areas of recreational space that must be some of the best in the country.

First is our glorious town centre Christchurch Park and secondly is the vast area of open space between east Ipswich and Kesgrave - Rushmere Heath.

Before running estate agents offices in Ipswich, I grew up living next to the heath. And, from as early as I can remember myself and a large group of friends of similar age spent every second of our evenings, weekends and school holidays on the heath.  We played cricket, football, golf, tennis, frisbee, making dens, cycling, running – just about everything.  I just don’t know what we would have done without the heath and it certainly kept us out of mischief (and, on some occasions, got us into mischief!)

By far the most exciting occurrence to take place on the heath on a regular basis for us youngsters, however, was the most spectacular of phenomenon – a heath fire.

I can still remember vividly the first ever heath fire I saw.  I can only have been about four or five when my brother took me over to see it which was on the steep bank that leads up to Woodbridge Road East from the sandpit in front of the ladies 18^th tee.  I was completely mesmerised by the whole thing.  The noise, heat and crackle of the flames and the sheer height of them;  the sounds of the fire engines, the size of the crowd that had come from all over east Ipswich, Kesgrave and Rushmere-St-Andrew to watch, but above all, the massive plumes of thick, black smoke that rose into the air and could be seen for miles around.  I remember once having a day out in Debenham and being able to see the smoke from a heath fire on Rushmere Heath.

The smoke was the first tell tale sign.  In the days of the late 60s and early 70s a World War II air raid siren would go off at fire station HQ at Colchester Road to signal a fire call and was easily audible from the Australian Estate where I lived.  On hearing the siren I would always rush to the first floor bedroom front windows to see if I could see any black smoke coming from the direction of the heath.  If there was, I was off like a rabbit!

Funnily enough I was playing golf only this week on the heath and we happened to be talking about the fact that there had only been one heath fire this year, which is very unusual, despite how hot and dry it had been.

On one exciting occasion (probably now stopped through health and safety reasons) the firemen even allowed us to dampen down the fire afterwards with the hoses and we knew all the firemen by their first names.

Two huge fires stick out in my memory more than ever.  One was on Sunday, 22^nd June 1980 – yes, I kept a diary and log of every fire that had ever taken place on the heath including the day, time, location, the number of fire engines and how long it took to put out – I really was that into it!

This particular fire ran the whole length of the left hand side of the 16^th fairway, raged for over two hours, closing the then A12 (now Woodbridge Road East).

Another one was one that ran the whole length of the right hand side of the 18^th fairway going up towards the club house.  In this fire, a fireman spectacularly lost control of his hose at full pressure, soaking everyone within about 15 yards who were standing watching, including me, and taking several firemen to get the hose back under control.

Pictured is a fire from September 1984 which was to the left of the first fairway near the first green – note how dry and brown the grass is.

As equally amazing as the fire itself is the fact that the gorse always comes back, however fierce the fire was.  Within a few months, the first green shoots of recovery start to spring up and wildlife starts to return.  The second photo, taken from exactly the same spot shows the scene only three years later.

Young, knee high gorse is the most prickly thing known to man.  Every golfer who has ever played golf on Rushmere Heath will testify there is nothing sharper when looking for a golf ball than gorse.

The World War II sirens sound no more, the Colchester Road fire station is now gone to make way for a new housing development, and the two tone sounds of the fire engines from the 60s and 70s have changed.

However, the sight of a fire engine racing with blue lights flashing to a heath fire still brings back those exciting memories.

Jonathan Waters is the sole Managing Director of Jonathan Waters Estate Agents which has four estate agents offices in the Ipswich area.   Jonathan has lived in the Ipswich area for most of his life and continues to take a keen interest in the local area. He has a particular fascination for the ever changing landscape the area has to offer.

Estateagents offices Ipswich – Click here to find out how locally based estate agents Jonathan Waters can help sell your home

I was shaking so much I could barely hold my pint…..

By Jonathan Waters, the Owner/Managing Director of Jonathan Waters Estate Agents, Martlesham and Ipswich.  This is the first of a series of articles about life on Martlesham Heath before the houses were built.

Attending the control tower for the annual open day of the Martlesham Heath Aviation Society and seeing a model of the layout of the former runways on Martlesham Heath reminded me of a time back in the late 70’s and early 80s when you could still get a car onto the runway.

At that time, coming onto the Heath at the Tesco roundabout, Eagle Way finished just passed Manor Road and came to a dead end.  At this point you could drive onto the grass to the right, roughly where Demesne Gardens is now, and by driving along the grass could get onto the then virtually still untouched north/south runway.

This made it a superb location for anyone just starting to learn to drive for the first time.  My elder brother learnt to drive on Martlesham Heath; I learnt to drive there too and then went on to try to teach several girlfriends and friends to drive there – “tried” being the operative word – I would make the world’s worst driving instructor!

On learning to drive myself, my initial efforts were OK.  I had previously learnt to ride a motorbike and passed my motorbike test, so it helped enormously that I already knew the system of letting the clutch out as you applied the accelerator.  Moving off from a standing start and changing up gears as you picked up speed was therefore no problem.  My efforts on a three point turn, however, were hopeless.

I was learning in an old burgundy Austin Allegro which my dad had at the time.  I remember my dad patiently trying to assist me time and time again as we attempted a three point turn on Eagle Way somewhere about where the Squires Lane junction is now, but I just couldn’t do it.

Anyway, fast forward a year or so, and having passed my test, I was now proudly at the wheel of a burgundy Mark I Escort 1100 (VOV 409J) - I think push bikes went faster!).  I decided to try my first attempt at teaching somebody else to drive.

I can’t remember how, but I foolishly somehow got talked into teaching one of the girls from my class at school one Sunday morning.  She had never even sat in the driver’s seat of a stationery car before, so really was a total beginner.

Whilst most people have sat in an aircraft as it sped down the runway to take off, I don’t know how many of you have every actually driven a car down a runway?  I can tell you that they are very wide and very long with acres of space and, on paper, totally safe.  Yet still we managed to have a crash!

Although things had started slowly in the lesson that morning, she had improved over the course of an hour or so and was starting to get a bit more confident – perhaps too confident?  We had got up into third and possibly fourth gear and had hit speeds of 30 miles an hour.  For some reason, the car started kangaroo-ing badly, in fact worse than any car I had ever seen before or since.  She panicked, lost control of the steering, hit the accelerator instead of the brake and shot, at some speed, into a gorse bush at the side of the runway.

I was still shaking over 20 minutes later when, having abandoned the lesson there and then, she offered to buy me a pint of blackcurrant squash at the Maybush.

We met at a school reunion five years ago and some 25 years after the incident.  To this day she reckons she has never seen anyone go so white in all her life.

Undeterred, or perhaps easily persuaded would be more accurate, my cousin asked me to teach him to drive.  He’s two years younger than me and offered me the additional sweetener of offering to pay petrol, which clinched the deal.  Another first ever driving lesson and another gorse bush crash (those bushes must have had magnets in them!) later, afterwards he confessed that he had not put his contact lenses in and suffered from bad eye sight without them.

The biggest challenge, however, came a couple of years later.  By this time I had progressed onto my second Escort Mark I in lime green (TBJ 264M) – could just about keep up with push bikes!).  The car was a DIY do up project with front wings held together by baked bean cans riveted to the existing metal.

It was my next girlfriend (who I went on to marry).  These lessons actually advanced off the runway which by the mid 80s had started to disappear.  We had progressed onto the industrial side of the A12 around the Gloster Road area, where our office is now, and finally onto the A12 itself.

There was only one problem, but it was a major one: she couldn’t tell her left from her right.  We would be driving down the A12 from the Tesco roundabout to the BT roundabout and I would tell her to turn right onto the Martlesham Heath residential side, only to find ourselves driving past the entrance to BT!

Despite the fact that this caused many arguments, she did go on to pass her test first time (as did my other former pupils).  So, things can’t have been all bad.

It’s quite ironic that my daughter, who has recently passed her test, now lives on the very same spot that the runway used to be. For her starting to drive for the first time, there were no facilities around the area like my friends and I were able to enjoy, where you could go somewhere for free, quick and easy access.  How times have changed!

Mark I Escort cornering at full speed on the
Martlesham Heath runway – 1983

Jonathan’s family have owned property on Martlesham Heath since 1984 and still live there.  Jonathan has also owned a property on the Heath and visits the Heath almost every day. He was proud to have been involved in the development of the Martlesham Heath residential area while working in the planning department at Suffolk Coastal District Council.

“I have been fascinated by Martlesham Heath and its history for as long as I can remember,” said Jonathan, owner of Jonathan Waters estate agents Martlesham and Ipswich.  “Having grown up in the area, I have memories of  many an adventure on the Heath before the houses were built.”

EstateAgents Martlesham –  Click on the link to find out how we can help find you the perfect home.

Early September – The Very Best Time To Put Your Suffolk Property On The Market

The question I get asked more than any other about selling houses is: “When is the best time to put your Suffolk property on the market?”  Some people say the first week in January, some say the week before Easter.  I say neither.

In my opinion the 10 day period between the 5^th and 15^th September is the perfect time to put your home up for sale.

In January there is cold weather, snow, limited daylight and often no sunshine – take this year for example.  And, in 26 years I am yet to see a busy Easter weekend.

When selling a home, what you need above all else is a good selection of fresh buyers who are both serious and working to a specific deadline.  The first two weeks of September is the only fortnight of the year that you get this.  And what is the deadline – Christmas!

Existing buyers are coming off the back of a welcome holiday, or at least a break, and are invigorated and refreshed.  Some people will have spent their holidays thinking and discussing about moving or perhaps buying for the first time.  Buyers who had promised themselves they will move “this year” suddenly realise that if it is going to happen they had better do something about it now.

So holidays are over, children are back to school and the deadline of being in a new home for Christmas looms.

September, unlike January and Easter, also often brings some welcome late summer sunshine, and just about every property looks better when the sun is out.

This year I believe it is going to be even better than usual.  We have had a glorious summer, news of the economy and the housing market in general is the most positive it has been for 5 or 6 years, and mortgage rates are becoming more competitive with mortgages easier to obtain.

All in all I’m thoroughly looking forward to a busy September.

For advice on putting your Suffolk property on the market this month contact me at Jonathan Waters Estate Agents,  Silver Collection on 01473 215576

Homes for Sale in Ipswich: Clear the air

http://www.jonathanwaters.co.uk/ipswich/index.cfm

We wrote in a previous article about the importance of clearing the clutter and giving your home a good scrub in readiness for placing it onto the market and receiving potential viewers.
There are also plenty of other ways you can spruce up your home to make it look and feel more desirable.
We have also written about the importance of not spending big money on your home before selling it.
Areas to concentrate on that cost little, if nothing, include odours, lighting, ventilation and warmth.
Having dealt with buyers of homes for sale in Ipswich for over 25 years I can tell you now that stale cigarette smoke has put more buyers off than any other single odour.  Have you thought about how your house smells?  Ask a friend to be brutally honest – and this is a very tricky area – and ask them to tell you what reaction they have.
If you have pets you probably don’t even notice that your house smells of them or that their hair is everywhere, but buyers certainly will.
The oldest cliché in the book is the smell of freshly baked bread, or real coffee brewing as this will give your house a homely aroma that will appeal to buyers.

I haven’t got a clue how to bake bread and many sellers won’t have the time to do that.  One thing you can do is purchase part baked bread from supermarkets and put this in the oven on a low heat about 5 minutes before the arrival of your buyers.
So if you haven’t got time for the bread and coffee approach what else can you do?

Fresh air

 I can’t over state the importance of fresh air to a property.
When we show buyers of houses in Ipswich around the properties we have for sale I always instruct our sales staff to arrive at the property at least five to ten minutes early and open windows and doors to let a good through draught of fresh air through the property.

This relates to both ground floor and first floor, obviously being careful to wedge doors open to avoid doors slamming and glass breaking.

Other options that I would thoroughly recommend are scented candles (although have these in moderation – we don’t want to make the property look like a church or a massage palour!), plus plug in air fresheners are always a good bet.  Again,, too many of them or a too over the top smell will make buyers more suspicious than nothing at all.

For first floor rooms and above, a skylight window open during the viewing will also help and for the longest period of time prior to the viewing that you can, taking security and safety into account.

There are also other things that sometimes sellers forget, particularly if someone lives on their own.  The kitchen bin can take several days to fill up.  However, by the end of the week the food or other food stuffs that were put in at the start of the week will probably now be positively humming, so empty the bins and put bin bags in the wheely bins.

Damp smells are also another thing to be aware of and where ventilation is paramount to eliminate.

We once had a very nice bungalow in a nice location that wasn’t selling in Ipswich.

Normally, people looking for bungalows for sale in Ipswich flocked to this particular cul-de-sac.  It had an east Ipswich location and estate agents were often putting notes through the doors of properties in that specific road.

Ours wasn’t selling, however, and we couldn’t understand it.  Viewers kept referring to damp problems yet this was a modern bungalow.

As it turns out, one of the bedrooms was used as a drying room for the vendors washing.  They were continually putting wet washing in this room and were never opening a window so the room had started to develop a considerable damp problem and smelt awful.

The opening of a window and an hour’s work with a scrubbing brush solved the problem within a few days and the bungalow sold close to the asking price shortly after.

So remember, a clean, fresh smelling house will maximise your chances of selling at the best possible price in the shortest period of time – and that’s what nearly every client wants from their estate agent.
Homes for Sale Ipswich – contact Jonathan Waters Estate Agents

625 Foxhall Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP3 8ND
01473 721133
jonathan@waters-ips.co.uk

35 Buttermarket, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP1 1BH
01473 281188
jonathanwaters@jonathanwaters.co.uk

Bristol Court, Betts Avenue, Martlesham Heath Business Park, Martlesham IP5 3RY
01473 620222
jonathan@waters-ips.co.uk

or visit www.jonathanwaters.co.uk