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Kevin Ash heads up Xact HomesAdded 6 March, 2009Kevin Ash, the former Managing Director of Hunters Estate Agents has joined the Xact Group to head up its Estate Agency practice based in Solihull.
With over 27 years experience in Estate Agency, Kevin has unrivalled knowledge of the Solihull area and is convinced that despite the current property climate, the time is right for a new name in the local market. “The majority of agents have seen sales slump by over 60% and are just not geared to deal with the current slow down. In addition, the world of Estate Agency has changed significantly in a very short space of time. The combination of a slow market and the change in the way the industry works has caught a lot of the established Estate Agents by surprise. They just don’t have the capacity to change quickly enough.” Kevin Said.
Current housing statistics would support the marketing strategy of Xact Homes and Ash’s comments. Over 80% of potential buyers now view property over the internet first and then also locate their local agents via the internet. This trend is only set to increase further according to market data. Kevin continued “At Xact we have been able to take into account the way people now view or access property information and have geared the whole business around this, including our selection of internal systems. The fact is that people don’t walk into Estate Agents anymore. They are quite happy to browse information at home prior to talking to anyone.” |  |
Kevin continued “What’s nice is that we were not constrained by out of date IT systems and out of date practices when setting up the business. Our first decision was to implement state of the art systems that instantly allow us to match our client base against properties on the market and instantly update the national property search engines such as Rightmove. In addition, we are able to email clients property details instantaneously rather than them having to download information or wait for information to be posted.”
Some old principles never die though and whilst state of the art systems can make you more efficient and deliver information quicker, Kevin Ash is determined that communication with clients will be appropriate and service levels will be a priority. “A constant criticism you hear about Estate Agents is their inability to maintain contact with their clients and keep them up to date on progress. Before agreeing to join Xact, I spoke to some of the company’s existing clients and found that they were extremely impressed with the level of customer service and communication. To me this has to be at the heart of any successful business and I will ensure this is at the heart of Xact Homes.”
Commenting on the launch of Xact Homes and Kevin Ash joining the business, Xact’s Managing Director Jeremy Brown said “There is no doubt that Kevin has the best reputation of any Estate Agent in Solihull and I am delighted he has decided to join us. We are convinced that his experience and vision for Estate Agency will make for a very exciting future for Xact Homes and the Group.”
There is no doubt that with many estate agents closing existing offices, shedding staff and trying to remain commercially viable, Xact Homes could well have hit the right place at the right time.
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