Issue 4


13/06/2007

HOUSE PRICES RISE AS BUYERS SHRUG OFF RATE HIKE

House prices rose at the fastest pace in over four years and enquiries abounded as confidence returned following the August interest rate hike, says RICS’ UK housing market survey published on 16 November 2006.

48.1% more Chartered Surveyors reported a rise than a fall in October, up from 45.7% in September, and still more than double the long-run average of 21%. Last month’s house price ripple has spread throughout the country, with price momentum most evident in the East andWest Midlands.

RICS estate agents reported that London and the South East are still leading the charge – boosted by a booming city economy with house prices in London accelerating at the fastest pace since June 1999.


A GREAT HOME RESULT



On the evening ofWednesday 25 October MAP Chartered Surveyors were pleased to entertain a number of business colleagues in the executive box at Charlton Athletic Football Club on the occasion of their Carling Cup clash with Bolton Wanderers. Given Charlton’s relatively poor start in the Premiership, the victory against Bolton by one goal to nil was a very welcome lift to the team and supporters. A very good evening was enjoyed by all, some of whom are shown in the photograph below, and from Charlton’s perspective the next round victory against Chesterfield on penalties after extra time on Tuesday 7 November allows continued progress in the competition.


MAP WELCOMES NEW RECRUITS



Paul Wright
Paul has been a Chartered Surveyor since 1989 after gaining a BSc in Valuations and Estate Management at Bristol Polytechnic. After college he worked for British Rail Property Board in all divisions of the company and gained a wide range of commercial experience in both sales and management. While there he was involved in the day-to-day co-ordination and progress of what was then the biggest land sale in British Rail Property Board history.

After five years at British Rail Property Board, Paul went on to become the Estate Manager for Payless DIY, dealing with all commercial property matters for its national property portfolio. When Payless relocated to Dudley, Paul moved into commercial valuation work at Hepper Robinson.

In 1990 he first became involved in residential valuations and survey work with Colleys, based in Maidstone. From this base, he dealt with a variety of residential properties in the Maidstone area.

In 1999 Paul moved to another large corporate company, based in Sidcup and Bromley, dealing with properties in South East London and North West Kent. While there he was able to broaden his knowledge further, including Building Surveys.

Paul joined MAP in September 2006, seeking new challenges and experiences that can only be gained in a non-corporate environment. By joining MAP he was reunited with Mike Heselden, Kathleen Johnson and Barry Winters with whom he had worked for many years.

Paul has gained a reputation for good quality work and high levels of productivity, carrying out in the excess of 1,300 residential surveys a year. Paul believes the opportunity of working at MAP is an exciting new challenge offering new experiences as it seeks to expand its regional role.


Barry Winters
MAP Chartered Surveyors welcome on board another Chartered Surveyor - BarryWinters.

Having qualified as a surveyor in 1991, Barry has had a varied and interesting professional career. Originally from Peckham in South East London, Barry’s professional career began as a multi discipline Building Surveyor. During early years with the Property Services Agency, Barry’s involvement concerned projects at Whitehall, Woolwich, Chatham and many other areas.

Moving on from here to the offices of Haringey Council, and subsequently into private practice, Barry’s experience in various forms of contractbased Building Surveyor work increased.

In October 1999, Barry turned his attention to the residential valuation sphere of work. His earlier exper tise in building construction methods proved to be invaluable during a period in which he worked for a specialist residential survey and valuation company close to the offices of MAP Chartered Surveyors, carrying out all manner of residential survey and valuation work during a six year period.

Barry’s broad experience in both the public and private sectors and his many years of invaluable valuation expertise are a very welcome addition to the staff complement of MAP Chartered Surveyors.


Dorothy O’Rourke
Dorothy O’Rourke joins MAP Char tered Surveyors from a very comprehensive sales background dating back to the early nineties as a Sales Advisor for a very large house builder, working on several different sites within London and Kent. Duties involved meeting clients on a daily basis, showing them round the show homes, meeting set sales targets and building relationships with local brokers and solicitors.

From there she progressed to working as a Sales Negotiator for a large estate agent chain, then on to a Senior Sales Negotiator with a smaller local independent agent, again meeting and exceeding set sales targets, and with responsibility for a small sales team.

In 1999 Dorothy joined one of the largest corporate surveying groups as a Secretary working in a local office as part of a team producing an office turnover in excess £2m a year. Responsibilities included managing diaries for six surveyors, ensuring that client service standards were met, while working closely with several internal departments to build strong working relationships both within the company and with the local estate agents.

In 2001 she was promoted to a Senior Administrator.This position involved her working closely with the Senior Office Manager, responsible for ten Surveyors and five Secretaries. Duties included co-ordinating the large volumes of work received into the office, ensuring that all client service standards were met.

In October 2005 Dorothy was appointed to National Training Mentor and now, in her new role at MAP Chartered Surveyors, is looking to utilise all her talents in ensuring the smooth running and continued expansion of one of the most vibrant and dynamic companies in the surveying world.