Revolutionising Valuation Techniques

Since the Land Registry released its records on property sales data to the public, just prior to Christmas 2004, valuations of residential property have been revolutionised. At the forefront of this revolution is Property POD, a website company which provides information on all residential property sales in England and Wales over the last 4 years.

Property POD is unique to its competitors as the website is aimed exclusively to members of the property industry. Created by two Chartered Surveyors, with over 37 years of experience, they state that although there are websites of a similar nature, they are geared mainly to be accessed by the general public. Says Director, Catherine Brassington “Our website was created by professionals for professionals and appeals mainly to Estate Agents, Surveyors, Valuers, Property Developers and Financial Institutions. We aim to provide an efficient, precise and user-friendly valuation service at the click of a button.”

Catherine goes on to say “ I cannot believe that the Residential Property Profession has been able to survive so long in such a relatively sophisticated market without such accurate sales data.”

Catherine, who graduated through the ranks of Reading University and then spent 2 years post-graduate training at Slough Estates adds “Probably, because of the larger transaction figures involved, the commercial market has been provided with various information databases for several years, even though, the majority of information is still of a hearsay nature. There has been a singular lack of recorded data in the UK for residential property, although information on recorded residential sales has been available for decades in North America and Australia.”

Since its launch on January 7th, this year, Property POD has seen huge national success, with the number of subscribers more than doubling predictions.

Catherine believes their success, in part, has been due to their UK tour as part of the RICS Home Buyers Reform Roadshow.

“We wanted to launch ourselves to the industry face-to-face, and felt that the RICS Roadshow was a wonderful opportunity to meet property professionals and offer each of them a 7 day free trial, so that they could test out the website first hand. We also found that most of our customers liked the idea of the customer service helpline, giving them support and information. The helpline has also provided invaluable feedback for Property Pod in their continuing quest to add value to their website.

After using the 7-day free trial, one Chartered Surveyor stated: ‘This is a wonderful development for Surveyors. I can now rely on accurate data at the touch of a button with the added bonus of creating my own file of comparables, which can also be printed out to support my valuations. It will save me so much time in the future and I will certainly be subscribing. I am recommending it to all my colleagues!’

Consequently, Property POD now provide their service to many of the top multiple offices around the country.

Property POD receive monthly updates from the Land Registry of all residential property sales in England and Wales for the past 4 years. Property POD’s team also includes 3T Creative (website developers) who provide constant technical back-up support.

For further information visit, www.propertypod.co.uk or to receive a free trial, ring the team on 01425 474047.

Comparables for 25, Alumhurst Road, Bournemouth.