Dawsons Estate Agents are celebrating after picking up a prestigious national gold award at a ceremony in London.

The renowned south Wales property firm has been named Wales Lettings Agency of the Year at The Lettings Agency of the Year Awards 2015 in association with The Sunday Times and The Times and sponsored by Zoopla Property Group.

Dawsons received the award from six-time world champion marathon ace, Paula Radcliffe MBE at a glittering ceremony at The Lancaster London Hotel opposite Hyde Park where 550 agents from across the UK had gathered.

The award has shown steady progression over the last few years – in 2013 Dawsons won bronze and last year silver.

Ricky Purdy, Director of Residential Lettings, said: “Winning this prestigious award really is an achievement, and is acknowledgement to our staff of their efforts and high service standards.

“Winning silver in 2014 gave our department and staff the goal of gold in 2015, what great recognition of the work involved so to achieve this target.”

But he said Dawsons would not be resting on their laurels.

“We`ll continue to improve, add to our systems, and raise the bar of customer service,” insisted Ricky.

“Of course, the reasons for this are for the benefit of our current and future clients, with Dawsons continuously striving to emulate the industries leaders meaning staying at the top of lettings within Wales is now our new objective.”

Award winners were decided following a rigorous and thorough judging process by a panel of 20 industry experts who assessed initial entry submissions before conducting an extensive review of the entrants, which included over 150 hours of telephone interviews and independent mystery shopping exercises.

The whole of the judging process was overseen by The Property Ombudsman, Christopher Hamer, and David Cox, Managing Director designate of ARLA acted as Arbiter.

The panel of judges commented: “Dawsons has the largest branch network in its location and it has achieved its market share through a mix of targeted marketing and excellent word of mouth referrals.

“The team achieves an exemplary viewing-to-let ratio and accuracy of rents quoted. Brand awareness winning new instructions alongside extensive retention activity for their valued existing clientele is key.

“Landlords can access a number of services such as bespoke insurance services. Dawsons has also worked hard to build affiliations with many professional bodies and it leverages these associations for the benefit of tenants and landlords.

“Dawsons has jumped from the bronze in 2013, to silver in 2014, and to the gold this year – its success is well deserved.”

Now in its sixth year as a dedicated competition, these awards have become widely recognised as the most prestigious and difficult to win, especially as there were more entrants than ever before this year.

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For most professional landlords, the biggest cost they will face when investing in a property is the interest charged on the money they borrow to buy it.

With this in mind, Oliver Adair of Mortgage Advice Bureau discusses how regularly reviewing your finance could save you tens of thousands of pounds.

Prior to the credit crunch, the Bank of England base rate varied from as low as 3.5 per cent in 2003 to as high as 6 per cent back in 2000, meaning that some standard variable mortgage rates reached levels of 7.6 per cent.

When interest rates crashed to just 0.5 per cent six years ago, the mortgage cost for many landlords who were on their lender’s Standard Variable Rate (SVR) fell to 4.8 per cent. This means that a £100,000 mortgage cost just £400 per month.

Now, with the ongoing mortgage rate war and the fact that many lenders remain keen to offer deals that are better than their SVR, many landlords will find themselves paying even less than before.

For example, some of the current deals have rates as low as 1.15 per cent, meaning that borrowing £100,000 could now cost you under £100 a month – £525 less than what it would have before interest rates fell.

Potentially, by carefully reviewing your finances, you could save £6,300 per year.

So, a crucial part of being a successful Buy-to-Let landlord isn’t just about buying a property at a great price and letting it legally. You need to keep a careful eye on your biggest cost – your mortgage finance.

And, because you could save thousands of pounds by regularly reviewing your finances, speaking to a mortgage broker who can search the whole of the market to find the finance deals which suit your needs on a regular basis is extremely important.

And, in addition to just finding the mortgage for you, that broker will also take the hassle of processing the mortgage application away from you. Considering the amount of time it can take some lenders to organise a mortgage offer, this can help save you extremely valuable time.

Developing a relationship with a good mortgage broker who understands Buy-to-Let will also help you to understand all of the different financing options available to you, whether you have just one extra property or a large portfolio.

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Staff at Dawsons Estate Agents office in Llanelli are busy raising money for the Race For Life cancer charity.

A cake sale raised £125 at the office while two staff members Emma Davies and Felicity Curtis, both 27, are taking part in the 10km Race For Life event at Festival Field in Llanelli on June 14^th.

“We are training very hard when we are not eating cake!” joked Felicity, an Administrator with Dawsons, who will be taking part in her fourth Race For Life.

“There has been a couple of family members who have suffered from cancer, so it is a cause very close to my heart.”

Emma said: “It’s just such a great cause especially as most people know someone who has suffered from the disease.”

Lorraine Evans, Office Manager at the Llanelli office, said the cake sale had been a great success.

“We are just grateful to everyone, both those who provided and bought cakes during the sale,” she said.

“And now we are cheering on Felicity and Emma as they prepare for the Race For Life run. I know they have been doing a lot of training and I’m sure they will do very well for such a brilliant   cause.” Continue reading →

In their general election manifesto, David Cameron and the Conservatives pledged to give tenants living in housing association properties the chance to buy their homes.

But, with the plan being revealed in the Queen’s Speech, David Treharne of Mortgage Advice Bureau asks the question of whether or not the scheme is going to help the market in the long run.

What is the Right to Buy scheme?

Brought to legislation under Margaret Thatcher in the 1970s, the scheme now allows tenants who have been living in their properties for a minimum of three years the opportunity to buy their homes at a substantially discounted rate.

The tenant will get a discount of 35 per cent and, after living in the property for five years, that discount will increase by 1 per cent every year, up to a maximum of 70% – or £103,900 in London, and £77,900 around the rest of the country.

Right to Buy has had its criticism…

Whilst it will certainly help many of those currently living in housing association to get their feet on the property ladder, the scheme has received mixed reviews from economists and experts in the industry.

The key issue is that the Right to Buy expansion plan doesn’t address the main problem – the lack of houses being built.

Selling current housing association homes is not creating new properties. And when they are sold to tenants, they are forever removed from the housing associations’ lists, making it even harder for those desperately in need to find a home.

It’s expensive, too. The National Housing Federation (NHF) have said that the policy could cost anywhere up to £5.8bn a year due to the compensation that will need to be paid to the housing associations for making them offer stock at below-market rates.

So, is the government doing anything to rectify the housing shortage?

According to the Conservatives, yes.

Under the Right to Buy policy, councils will be forced to sell around five per cent of their most valuable housing stock once it becomes vacant. Once sold, the council will then build cheaper and more affordable properties with the proceeds, effectively doubling the number of homes for every property sold.

Whilst, in theory, this could work, it has been argued that the policy could lead to councils being forced to sell stock in high-value areas and building “replacement” properties in areas that are cheaper.

Numerous councils are arguing the policy, with some even considering moving their eligible properties into separate companies to exempt them from the forced sale.

And, with the Local Government Association (LGA) expected to call for councils to be permitted to set their own discount rates within the next few weeks, the policy is still under scrutiny and may change numerous times before all involved parties are in agreement.

It is for this reason that it is imperative to seek advice from a professional adviser who will have the latest information to help you through your next steps.

Established estate agents Dawsons has announced the appointment of four key members of staff.

Dawsons have recruited Emma Bolton (Marina Office), Samantha Milford (Llanelli Office), and Amber Miles and Sally Stevens (both Mumbles Office).

The quartet of appointments highlights a continued growth in Dawsons’ business in both the sales and lettings arms of the business.

“The four appointments shows Dawsons’ continued expansion and the quality of the recruits only goes to back up the high customer service standards we set ourselves,” said Ricky Purdy, Dawsons Director of Residential Lettings.

“New staff like this will help us especially in what is expected to be another busy 12 months for Dawsons.”

Emma, 37 from Sketty, joins the company as office manager at the Marina branch after more than 15 years’ experience in the industry.

“I have been made to feel very welcome at Dawsons and the staff at the Marina Office are really friendly and supportive,” said Emma.

New administrator/lettings negotiator Samantha Milford, 27 from Hampshire, said: “I have been involved in estate agency for four years and I am finding Dawsons an amazing company to work for.”

Sally, 27 from West Cross, who has had a dramatic change in occupation having formerly run a boarding kennels, said: “I have loved the change in career and working in Mumbles is an exciting new challenge. It’s like working with a big family down in Mumbles – the atmosphere in the office is great.”

Amber, 24, joins Dawsons after graduating from Swansea University with a Masters’ degree in psychology.

“I wanted a new challenge and I’m really enjoying Dawsons and the team in Mumbles. It has proved to me that Dawsons are one of the most reputable estate agents in the Swansea area.”

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