The word of the year: youthquake

by on 15th January 2018

We must admit to a bit of a surprise in our Hogan’s office when the Oxford English Dictionary declared “youthquake” as word of the year in December 2017. It’s an odd choice, don’t you think? It was spawned, apparently, as Theresa May’s snap General Election saw a swing to the left from the youth vote, in favour of Jeremy Corbyn.

The words on everyone’s lips it seemed to us, across social media, were Brexit and Bitcoin.

We can’t see either going away this year either.

But what about in property terms?

What happened in estate agency?

The battle between online – hybrid – traditional intensified, culminating in two events: Purple Bricks appeared on “Watchdog” and made the news for manipulating reviews on All Agents.

House prices continued to grow nationally and locally and Hogan’s sold 187 properties last year, with more sales and lets expected this year.

We like to think we’re a mix of pure traditional and online: we have two physical office bases, a team of experienced staff, active blogging and social media platforms, as well as a great reputation locally and across the county.

Here’s some words our customers have said about us:

Adam Parkin was very professional and personable. A buyer was found within 3 weeks and the property is now sold. Adam put in a lot of effort to keep the buyer happy when things got help up with solicitors. He also did an excellent job of marketing the property and has good knowledge of the local areas and pricing. I felt that overall he took a lot of the stress out of selling a property and was worth the money. Thank you very much Adam and to all at Hogans.

Came in to enquire about a property. Nicole was exceptional at finding me the property that right for me. Great customer service, felt welcomed as soon as I walked in. Can’t ask for more!

Steve and his team are one of the best estate agent I have had the pleasure to deal with. I would not hesitate to recommend them.

You can read more reviews on Google Plus and our Facebook page.

So what will happen this year?

Over to Stephen Thorpe, our Director:

House prices will continue to grow steadily – we’re not going to see the increases of 2016 where 7% growth was the national average, but probably around 4% this year, like 2017. What is clear is that there is a shortage of property for sale in Leeds and huge demand for it. The letting sector has always been buoyant and that will remain so in 2018, we all think at Hogan’s. There is a still clear consumer demand for the values a traditional high street estate agency brings, as only 8% of properties last year were sold by the online agencies. We continue to invest in our marketing, particularly social media, as we find we get sales and lets from our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds. More importantly, because we’re based in the centre of Harehills, we know the local property market intimately. If you’re looking to sell or let in 2018, we can help you, just as we have done for over 30 years.

Remember too, we cover the whole of West Yorkshire with our three models: traditional (Hogan’s), hybrid (Hogan’s Online Plus, with fixed fees) and purchasing (Hogan’s Fast Sale, where we guarantee to sell your property quickly or buy it ourselves).

Whatever the word of the year for 2018, have a great one!