Christmas Opening Times 2021 - Spencer. Sheffield

 

Christmas Opening Hours

Christmas Eve 8:45am – 12 noon

Closed 25^th – 28^th December

Open 29^th and 30^th December 8:45am – 3pm

New Year’s Eve 8:45am – 12 noon

Closed 1^st – 3^rd January 2022

Open as usual 4^th January 2022

We are hoping this year to have a little bit of a break over Christmas after what has been a super busy and stressful year, so please find attached our opening times over the Christmas period. If you are a tenant and have an emergency over the Christmas period, please call the out of hours emergency number*. 

We hope that everyone has a restful break and manages to get to see loved ones over Christmas and New Year and we wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We hope that 2022 brings more time with family, and that everyone stays happy and healthy. 

*Please be aware of what an emergency is, you wouldn't believe some of the calls we have taken in previous years, like the tenant who wanted a tenancy extension and decided to call the emergency line on Christmas Day..... In the event of a fire, break in, or other such emergency, please call 999. For hot water and heating problems you may need to use your initiative to a certain extent and should have a back up electric heater. For flooding, you may need to isolate the water so make sure you know where your stop cock is. If you have a power cut, please check the National Grid website first to see if it is an outage in your postcode area. As much as we will always try to help with any problems, not everything can be fixed on the day over the Christmas period. You will be calling a member of the Spencer Team so please think about whether you can handle your emergency over a short time until we reopen and can get contractors to you.

Thank you.

Seller's Market - when will it slow down? #Property market - #Sheffield

Book your Free Sales Appraisal Now! 

You’d be forgiven for thinking that the Autumn and Winter are not normally ideal times to be selling your home but did you know that the market in general and, especially here in Sheffield right now, is experiencing one of the busiest markets ever seen before? The demand for properties across the board is at an all-time high and with so few properties available on the open market it’s resulting in record sales prices being achieved. The reasons for the historic levels of demand are unclear but it’s plausible that interest and mortgage rates being lower than ever before and the likelihood of these increasing at some point in the next 12 months is a key factor in buyers wanting to secure a new home as soon as possible.

If you’re considering selling or moving home in the next 12-18 months perhaps it would be a good idea to make that move sooner rather than later. We’re finding that many of our vendors underestimate just how much their properties are actually worth so having a valuation may mean you can actually afford to make your next move sooner than you thought.

 

One thing is certain in that it’s a sellers’ market so if you want to move home, having a property in a popular area that would sell quickly simply isn’t going to allow you to compete. The majority of our sales are to people who have already sold subject to contract and are just waiting for that perfect property to come along. There’s no need to worry about being forced out of your home or having to rent something in the interim as most, if not all buyers are fully aware of this crazy market and are prepared to give our vendors weeks and months to find something suitable to buy themselves. Some of our clients have been able to move by taking advantage of our ‘ready to move’ service where-by we arrange for a photographer and floor plan people to get all of your marketing material ready in anticipation of you going to market when the time is right for you. At a small cost this can be easily arranged and by saving you the time it normally takes to get ready, can be the difference between you securing your dream home or not.

 

If you would like to arrange a valuation we can normally accommodate this six days a week and an average appointment will take just 45 minutes – 1 hour. We can then give you all the information you may need to help you when you’re ready.

 

If you’re interested please either reply to this email or call 0114268 3682 to make a convenient appointment

ARMA and the EWS1 Saga #Sheffield #PropertyBlog

 

Although the horror and tragedy that was the Grenfell tower disaster is now over four years ago, the ghostly remains of its tragic legacy will unfortunately continue to haunt many people throughout the country for the foreseeable future.

The crack down on dangerous and combustible cladding has left many flat owners up and down the country feeling very nervous and worried about the prospect of unaffordable and spiraling repair bills for works that they simply do not have the money for, leaving many with potentially worthless properties.

Although the Government is indeed starting to tackle some of the issues that have been presented by events in 2017, the guidelines remain murky and many people are finding that they are now falling in- between the gaps in the legislation. In a nutshell, buildings higher than 18m / six storeys need a satisfied ESW1 for selling / re-mortgaging purposes.

The biggest cause of concern for us as Estate Agents seems to be the buildings that fall below the threshold. Although not a legal requirement for all residential buildings to have a satisfied EWS1, for buildings below this height, it is now becoming more and more frequent for mortgage companies to request one before agreeing to lend. It seems that there is a lingering sense of nervousness within the industry that nobody wants to have a repeat of the disastrous events that happened in North Kensington on their watch. 

This is an ever-increasing problem and it’s something we have now had first-hand experience at a site we manage at Kelham Island. Fortunately for us (and the owners), we have now received a satisfied EWS1 on all the blocks, with not a single remedial piece of work needed. The sense of relief was palpable from all corners of the development, including in our office too!

This situation will continue to rumble on and on for the foreseeable future and I am sure there will be many twists and turns in this long, drawn out saga that are yet to come. However, it is encouraging to see the Government starting to sit up and realise that there is a problem with fire safety within high-rise buildings in the UK.

The problem remains however, in that too many leaseholders are now feeling abandoned by the lack of clarity as to what they legally need to do and what they are obliged to do. This overlapping is something that needs straightening out by all the relevant financial and government bodies soon, otherwise there will be plenty more leaseholders becoming increasingly desperate in the next few years. 

We, at Spencer, have recently become ARMA members, the recognised regulated body for block management and have grown in experience on block management over the last seven years since we opened the department. We manage various blocks city-wide now within our geographical patch and are interested in more blocks should you wish to consider us for your management. 

Contact Tom or Lynn by emailing block@spencersestateagents.co.uk 

NEW HOMES - #Sheffield #Spencer

 

Are the days of fixed prices on New Homes over?

Last week we launched a new development at Walkley, Lark’s View, and interest quickly flooded in. These are incredibly well-built properties with well thought-out layouts, great interiors, lovely gardens and exceptional views so we weren’t surprised that the phone suddenly rang off the hook. After booking a staggering 86 viewings in total, the offers started to come in thick and fast and on Monday morning we logged multiple offers on every plot in less than three hours!

There’s no doubt that the properties themselves and the marketing by DED of these properties are both exceptional, yet the market really is booming and a perfect storm of demand has meant that these houses are really hitting the mark. We have found that the low stock levels, the number of people looking to downsize or upsize, divorces being up, people relocating to Sheffield, the stamp duty holiday and people who sold and went into rented hoping the market would drop, have meant that an unprecedented number of people are in the market to buy.

Once upon a time, a fixed price would be seen as always the norm on new build houses, but in this current market, developers fixing prices for sales really are missing a trick at hitting the true market values, which may be much higher than their original expectations. The market drives the price, so don’t shoot the agent or the developer for pushing prices upwards, the demand is doing that!

We know that the price of building materials is at an all-time high, squeezing the margins more than ever before so the developer isn’t just winning, so is the economy generally hopefully contributing to a recovery out of these strange and difficult times.

If you have a new development that you are looking to sell, now may be the time to rethink your sales strategies to maximise your result. Feel free to speak to us about how we can help, we certainly know that our clients at Walkley are happy they did!

www.spencersestateagents.co.uk

sales@spencersestateagents.co.uk

Grief - What's it all about? #stlukes #lymphoma

 

What’s it all about?

“Funny” how grief can bring up a whole host of emotions that you didn’t know you had, they range from anxiety to strength with just about every other feeling in between and you are never quite sure which one is coming when.

You also find out who the people are in the world that really understand. When you first lose someone close, in my case my mum, you become a bit of a circus act, people come from far and wide to see how good you are at grieving and have a whole range of opinions as to how you’re coping and to see if you are dealing with it as they think you should be. It’s incredible how many people feel they have a right to an opinion on this, as how could they possibly know? You don’t know yourself! Once the initial flurry of onlookers have moved on, it’s who remain that you really lean on. There are people that show up once and there are those that you know will show up forever, the ones that will sit with you in the dark, and the ones that just want to judge you on how you’re getting on to report back to others in some sort of macabre way. You certainly find out who your friends are!

Some people have contacted me to say how forthcoming I am in speaking about my grief, how I am coping, and how I will have to cope going forwards, some people have reached out to me when they too have lost someone to find some comfort in their own emotions, and some have chosen to watch from the side lines, expecting me to implode or to self-destruct. They may wish to continue to watch this space, as who knows!?

I have read some interesting blogs, articles, books on grief and on loss and have joined some communities online to feel assured by my own feelings and insecurities, and it is incredibly interesting to research how different cultures, communities, and religions deal with the feelings of loss. The British way seems to be one of a stiff upper lip, that we shouldn’t really continue to talk about grief, that we should in some way move on and get over our loss, whereas other cultures have a much more open and interesting way of continuing to keep those you love in your life and to keep talking about the dead, without having to “get over it” as a process.

Watching the Queen at Prince Philip’s funeral filled me with strength and confidence in the way that the Queen seemingly wanted to appear. She wasn’t alone, in my opinion, she didn’t appear weak, she showed that she could be alone, and that no one was going to replace him by her side, an incredible show of strength and resilience but also an open and honest aloneness that so many people would be able to relate to.

I don’t want to get over the loss of my mum, I am choosing to keep talking about her all the time, and I will continue to do so, I am sorry if that makes you feel uncomfortable, but it doesn’t me. A huge thank you to all those that are choosing to sit with me in the dark, who continue to speak about my mum and who she was openly and frankly, I love people talking about her and keeping her memory alive, she was the most incredible woman.

As you may know, we, at Spencer and including many of my friends around the world, undertook a challenge in February to run 125km within the month which we all did with gusto. The time each day gave me some alone time to have her in my thoughts and gave me the impetus to get up each day and get out and carry on, a message to myself that I needed to drill in that I had no choice but to get on with life without her. We raised around £15,000 for St Luke’s where mum died and are so proud that we were able to do something for them, as they were so incredibly kind to us when she was dying at Christmas. We have decided that we will close down the Just Giving page this month, so that we can move forwards and can continue our journey through this awful time.

Thank you so much to everyone that has donated to this incredible cause, we are unbelievably thankful for all your strength, your kindness, your continued support, and for keeping mum’s memory alive.

To my friends, you were so loved by my mum, and I am quite sure she died knowing that you would all continue to look out for me and to love me no matter where I am at through this time and always. Thank you for being there.

If you still wish to donate to St Luke’s, the link is JUST GIVING , we will continue to support this charity over the coming years in her memory.

#Reception #Job in #Sheffield - Estate Agency

 

Reception Job Available!

This is a front of house, public facing role, working in a busy estate agency branch on Ecclesall Road. We are an established agency and have been working from these premises for 28 years this year. We are looking for a confident receptionist used to working with phone systems, IT, and who is good with the general public. Personality and sense of humour essential! Also advantageous if you aren't easily offended. 

In this role you will be responsible for front of house communication and as an administrator relating to the sales and letting of properties.

This is a varied role, key duties include:

• Handling inbound calls, booking appointments and passing on as appropriate
• Greeting clients face to face and referring them to the correct person to handle their query
• Administration relating to the sale and letting of properties
• Updating the client database and qualifying applicants
• Communicating effectively with clients

The successful candidate:

• Experience in an admin/reception role. Any property industry experience is desirable
• Strong communication skills; numerical, written & verbal
• Good IT skills including Outlook, MS Word, Excel
• Good organisational and time management skills, ability to multi-task
• A commitment to providing excellent customer service

Apply in writing to sales@spencersestateagents.co.uk 

A huge thank you from me, Mum and St Luke's #Sheffield

 

It goes without saying that everyone has a different relationship with their mum, some are more difficult than others, and some are unbelievably aspirational. Most go through a bit of both, varying through youth to teenage years and into adulthood, and then particularly when you become a parent yourself into a whole different level of understanding. 

My relationship with my mum was no different; I was mummy's girl and then daddy's girl, a rebellious teenager, then a defiant, strong-willed, tenacious, argumentative, emotionally unattached, independent young woman, and then went through a metamorphosis into seeing her as the most aspirational person I have ever known. It wasn't because she was hugely prominent in my day to day life, quite the opposite, she was just there, ever-supporting, proud, strong, and always championed my decisions and my choices. 

It is quite overwhelming, now that she has gone, the loss that I feel from not having that person who literally loved me no matter what, who I knew I could completely rely on and who would always have my back. How many times was I told to appreciate her and to give her an extra hug and that I would miss her terribly when one day she wouldn't be there? You can never understand that until it's true to you, that all of sudden you wish you had listened a little bit harder, asked a lot more, and accepted the hugs more readily. Then it is too late. The most relevant understanding of this loss has been described to me as the sense of wanting to be loved like a child, and your mum is the one that gives this love in spades, no matter what. 

The culture surrounding grief is very much that it should be "fixed" or that you will "get over" the loss over time, and I would love this to adapt to a more realistic concept of learning to live with the hole left behind, and of encouraging people to keep talking about their loved ones after they have died. There's no medication to help, no rhyme or reason to your feelings, and should be no judgement if you never feel completely ok again. 

We have undertaken a challenge throughout February to run 125km and have so far raised over £11,000 for St Luke's where mum died on December 27th 2020, you are welcome to still donate, if you haven't already, and we have received the most generous donations from the most wonderful people. Thank you so much. 

One last favour at this time please, if you still have your mum, please take yourself out of any comfort zones to give her a huge hug next time you see her, ask her the questions that you never asked but always wondered, listen when she tells you any stories about her life. I know that, with Mother's Day just around the corner, there will be plenty of us that wish we could. 

Thanks so much to everyone that has donated, my mum would be genuinely overwhelmed and flattered and feel so much comfort from knowing how loved she was, how loved I and my family are, and to know the level of support that there is around us all. Mum loved all my friends and colleagues and network of supportive clients who she worked with too for so many years, and she always saw the good in everyone so thank you for all seeing the good in her too, there will never be anyone like her and her shoes could never be filled.   

Click to Donate