Case study: FPL homes
15 March 2021 |
How has listing off-market homes increased interest and revenue for Laurent Lakatos, Managing Director of FPL homes?
Being able to sell off-market and maintain absolute discretion is often a critical condition to us being instructed, especially when the client is well-known - it may be that they have a valuable art collection or wish to keep the selling price private from friends and business associates. The off-market route can also be a great strategic option for those one-off homes which have no mainstream comparable and, as such, are difficult to value. So when LonRes launched its off-market service, I listed several properties, the one on 35 Queen's Gate for example. We immediately received a lot of interest and several offers at the asking price, mostly from purchasers using a buying agent. Within just a few weeks we had sold the property successfully. In a welcome confirmation of the predictions made over the last couple of weeks, the Chancellor confirmed that the temporary increase of the SDLT starting rate band threshold (from £125k to £500k) for residential property that he announced at the Summer Statement last year will be extended to 30 June 2021. This measure has provided an SDLT saving of up to £15k for individual buyers of single homes. The so-called 'holiday' will then be phased out gradually from 1 July 2021 to 30 September 2021 (when the starting rate threshold will fall from £500k to £250k) after which it will return to its normal £125k. I was surprised by the number of buying agents I didn't know who called me about the property. When I met one of them at the property, he told me how useful the new LonRes service was proving to them as buying agents. It was providing them with an up-to-date inventory of all the difficult-to-source properties - usually only otherwise created by spending a vast amount of time calling and emailing every agent or searching for the details (which were often already out-of-date). The service works fantastically well both for us and our clients so I would certainly recommend it to others on the network. It is also worth highlighting that, as interested subscribers must contact the (anonymised) instructed agent directly, this in effective makes the property 'Clients Only' and the selling agent can retain 100% of the fees.""Most of my fees last year can be attributed to the off-market service on LonRes.
Find out more about the LonRes off-market service
Contact LonRes
About the author
Laurent Lakatos
Managing Director, FPL Homes
Laurent’s career in property started off in France in 1993, where he became a ‘clerc de notaire’, (the equivalent of a conveyancing solicitor in England), based in one of the best locations in Paris. In 2000 he relocated to London, specialising in sales, lettings and the management of exclusive properties, soon becoming a well-respected property consultant in Central and West London.
Having lived in Ladbroke Grove, Notting Hill for nearly 20 years, and having set up FPL in 2001, he has acted for very high net-worth individuals, offering a tailored service and the best advise in selling, acquisition and the wherewithal to spot the potential in a property, transforming them into beautiful, sought after homes and/or lucrative investments.
Sign up to the Lonres newsletter