We are please to say that Walmsley have opened a new office in Theale to compliment their current office in Caversham Reading Kent.  Here are a few words from Simon Walmsley, our oldest customer who we began working with in about 1998.

‘Opening a new office requires considerable preparation and foresight. There is always something that is behind and with us it was the company internet site. Fortunately Frank, who had just finished our newest version sprang into life and implemented the changes and new search facilities within 24 hours of instruction. Thanks to him all was uploaded on line the same day as the shop front signs. Great timing Frank and thanks’

So if you need to buy, sell or let property in Theale, now you can.

www.walmsley.co.uk

I am sorry I have not had time to write a blog for some days.  As you will see we have been busy here trying to get the new Walmsley Web Site up and running and as Google friendly as possible.  The site is number one on page one for search Phrases like “Estate agents in Caversham”, after only one week on line.  We are trying to promote the wider geographical area with phrases like Estate Agents Reading”, now that we have our foot in the door, so to speak.

I have also been doing my thrice weekly training with Richard, and starting to set up some sort of sponsorship so that we can raise as much as possible for Cancer Research UK when I do the Snowden 15 Peaks challenge in June.

I have also been doing some writing of my own which has had to take president over the blog as when it comes to you, it is best to get it down on paper as quick as possible.

I will be adding some more blogs over the next few days.  I want to do some pieces about how I feel about the whole MP claiming expenses thing that is going on right now, but to be honest I am still in shock as to how far and how many of them have become corrupt.  And also by their self fulfilling belief that they have done nothing wrong?  I wish I had their money to throw around on such ridiculous extravagance in these times of strife.  Then again, if you think about it, we all have that kind of money, it is just that they are spending it for us rather than letting us spend it our selves on our families and businesses.

Walmsley

We have launched the new web site for www.walmsley.co.uk estate agency in Caversham, Reading.  This site has taken a lot of work to create the exact bespoke look that they and their print design team envisaged.

There are many bespoke elements to the sites including all the drop shadow images and the search page elements.

We wish WALMSLEY all the best in the future and I know the site will do a lot to boost business as it looks very fresh and includes all the latest things required for good search engine optimisation.

Property to buy, sell or let in Reading, Caversham, Berkshire, RG4, Walmsley Estate Agents – Selling, letting properties, bedsits, studios, flats, apartments and houses for sale or rent. executive, premier and distinctive homes. Walmsley is independent, and that means focusing on what we do best, helping vendors and landlords sell, buy rent or sell your home in Reading, Caversham, Berkshire, RG4, at the right price. Walmsley are an energetic sales and letting team with a refreshingly different and straightforward way of doing estate agency business. We offer a complete service covering all aspects of the sale or purchase of your properties in Reading, Caversham, Berkshire, RG4. We aim to make things as easy as possible for you at every stage. We match homes for sales or rentals to your requirements and avoid unnecessary or time wasting visits. We have a state of the art computer system that thinks with us backed up by a database of hundreds of clients in Reading, Caversham, Berkshire, RG4, at any one time, actively in the market for houses. Caversham and Reading Berkshire RG4 property to buy, sell or let Walmsley Estate Agents. Sales, renting, lettings and information on properties, valuation, appraisal, surveys, mortgages and mortgages and finance. Caversham and Reading Berkshire RG4 property to buy, sell or let Walmsley Estate Agents. Sales, lettings and information on properties, valuation, surveys, mortgages and finance.Caversham and Reading Berkshire RG4 property to buy, sell or let Walmsley Estate Agents. Sales, lettings and information on properties, valuation, surveys, mortgages and finance.Caversham and Reading Berkshire RG4 property to buy, sell or let Walmsley Estate Agents. Sales, lettings and information on properties, valuation, surveys, mortgages and finance.

Announcements due to be made tomorrow will see help given to construction companies and developers to help them gain the funds required to finish building new homes that are currently in stasis.  Alistair Darling is also said to be due to announce a continuation of the Stamp Duty break for homes costing less than £175,000.  This will be extended by several months to keep it going until the end of this year.  This will form parts of a one billion pound lifeline package to help the property market in Wednesdays budget figures.

Low cost housing and council dwellings will also get a building boost as part of the deal.  However, there is no way of knowing yet if these are new items for the budget or just re-working the old money announced in previous speeches.

Slashing the interest rate and pumping money into the economy may not be working as well as Mr Brown had planned, but there is some good news for a change.

According to NATIONWIDE Building Society, house prices have shown a rise in price during March 2009, which has not happened since October 2007.  This makes the average house price about £150K.  NATIONWIDE have recorded a rise of 0.9% compared to February 2009, which changes the annual drop rate from 17.6% in February to 15.7% in March.

RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) have also recently said they are witnessing a rise in the interest being shown by prospective house buyers.  The Bank of England has also said that there have been 38,000 mortgage approvals in February 2009 which is the highest figure they have reported since about this time last year.

Google Earth Street View has been launched in the UK on 19th March 2009

So far 25 UK cities have been covered by the system which allows viewers to see a street represented as a 360 degree image. This sounds great, but does it help Estate Agents sell property or will it in some cases prevent an agent from even getting the applicant to take a properties details.

There are already some amusing images being found on there. A lorry driver in Wales sticking his fingers up, someone being sick out side a pub in London, and drunken revellers walking down a street in Edinburgh with traffic cones on their heads. These are very specific instances I know, but consider that you will now have to consider the image that Google Earth represents of your street or road. The image may be outdated or have been set up at a time which puts a street, quite literally in a bad light.

For instance with new homes and developments, the area may have looked like a building site or be full of waste ground when the shots were taken, and may not reflect the best view of your new shiny homes.

On a brighter note, for those of you with property that has been lucky enough to get a good street view, you will certainly benefit from the advantage of being able to show potential viewers more detail.

I have just got back from a walk (down streets and along canals), my friend was saying that she had heard about people complaining that they were not happy with the street view system. The issues being, that people don’t want others to be able to see their houses, and families and cars! My friend also pointed out that all you have to do is stand in front of someone’s house to do all this, without the hassle of having to log into your computer and open up Google Earth. And to be honest, you just can’t argue with that!

So far these areas have been indexed:

England: Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cambridge, Coventry, Derby, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Scunthorpe, Sheffield, Southampton, York

Northern Ireland: Belfast

Scotland: Aberdeen,

Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow

Wales: Cardiff, Swansea.

A quick update to say it was in the news today that Google are removing some images from the Street View system following complaints.  Some are related to property views that the owners did not want published, however, others relate to personal objections.  One from a man caught on the camera entering a sex shop and another from a group of people being arrested at the time the Google Camera passed.    The man being sick outside a pub has also been removed, it must have been a sobering moment for him.