Thursday, Jun 19, 2008
Humberts office's closing in North Somerset
Clevedon Mercury: BOSS'S ANGER AS PROPERTY AGENTS CLOSE
Never posted before but been watching for well over a year. In my opinion, SW market is on its knees - demonstrated by the fact that the new owners of Humberts have chosen to close 14 branches nationwide, 11 of them being in North Somerset.
Posted by mapp1066 @ 09:50 PM (660 views) Add Comment
9 Comments
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1. montesquieu said...
Actually this is a pity, Humberts have been the sensible estate agents in my locality and in some ways the voice of common sense. The worst excesses round here were driven by 2-3 particularly rapacious, one man band estate agents who are now very unfairly going to have the run of the place for themselves. Not fair at all.
This firm locally was quite successful when it was CJ Hole, over a long period in the local marketplace, and was only bought maybe 18 months to two years ago by Humberts, who have clearly run of out cash after leveraging themseles to the hilt the make the purchase (idiots). My sympathies are totally with the staff here. What sickens me most is the that it's the bad guys who are left standing here in the local area and these guys might well make it through.
Having said that, the market in the area is completely down and out, as I've said before my landlord has had my place on for a full year now at £500k, reduced in sept to £475k, with less than a dozen viewers and no takers. He'll be lucky to get the (OTT then, IMO) £360k he paid for it in 2002, when all's said and done. Prices by last summer were so laughable it's amazing the estate agents could keep a straight face.
2. Mapp1066 said...
I agree with some of what you say monty but, I can assure you, the Humberts guys went along with the ride and reaped all the benefits..... like you say, the people I feel sorry for are the employees - 80 odd gone in the area over night.
Employment (or lack of it) is seriously compounding the problem here in my area.
3. waiting patiently said...
If the local operation was profitable once the big business overhead was stripped out, why don't the office staff take on the lease and continue the business. Rather than be the wage slave, they can be masters of their own destiny. If the "2-3 particularly rapacious, one man band estate agents who are now very unfairly going to have the run of the place for themselves" can make a go of it, so can people with years of experience and the respect of the local community.
4. waiting patiently said...
They could always rename the business CJ Hole. Back to the future!
5. montesquieu said...
Well .. maybe. But it's not exactly the ideal moment to go into business as an estate agent. Would you loan them the money to do it?
6. Dontpanic said...
"Would you lend them the money to do it?"....after 26 years of making a profit, thus surviving two large house price corrections....... this time I think we all know the answer to that!!
7. night said...
Sorry - this is a little out of context but it made me chuckle:
She said: "The North Somerset company was a hugely successful one..."
Evidently not.
8. montesquieu said...
@ night
I think you miss the point - this was a solid local firm, around for 90 years till it was bought by Humberts, a national chain. This was a purchase at the top of the property frenzy paid for by debt, which is clearly a huge drag on profits just at a time where the local market has collapsed.
The old CJ Hole WAS successful that's why Humbert's bought it (before they F***ed it up).
9. d'oh said...
montesquieu - yep - the winners curse. One of the things that makes me laugh/cry about all these private equity deals...borrow lots of money to buy a well run business at over the odds...award yourself a 5% slice of the price paid, because you are so clever...destroy well run business through neglect/ignorance/too much debt...rinse and repeat.