August is nearing its close and, with the Bank Holiday and the Notting Hill Carnival over and the schools about to return, it's back to work as usual. We are delighted to be once again sponsoring Chelsea Autolegends at the Royal Hospital on Sunday 2nd September, open from 10am – 4pm. Now in its third year, it is a fun day out for car enthusiasts who have a chance to see some of the world’s most famous cars, new supercars, motor racing heroes and the amazing Bloodhound SSC, set to be tested next year with the aim of breaking the 1000 mph land speed barrier. There will also be several motorcar parades during the day, refreshments, luxury shopping and zorb racing, an assault course, electric kart racing and a bouncy castle for the children... If you would like to come you can buy tickets online here: http://www.chelseaautolegends.com/tickets.php
Buoyant
The company has enjoyed a buoyant summer, despite our London offices being a little quieter during the Olympics. Our Chelsea office probably saw the most change: residents without Olympics tickets decided to escape for their holidays, and you could even see people walking down the middle of Kings Road because of the lack of traffic. Outside the capital things were different and our Lymington office has had its busiest August for many years. Perhaps the Olympic spirit in Ben Ainslie’s home town has helped fuel the market - or have purchasers realised it is a good time to secure a second home as savings rates continue to be eroded by inflation? Since the Olympics finished we have seen a universal uplift in website traffic to all properties, with one house in Smith Street, SW3 showing a 72% increase in page views on Rightmove, and we expect to see the usual spike of website enquiries during the second week of September.
New Offices
September is going to be an exciting month. I am delighted to announce that John D Wood & Co. is expanding and is opening our 22nd office next month in Clapham to complement our Battersea, Wandsworth and Wimbledon offices south of the river. The office will be on Balham Hill, very close to Clapham Common and Clapham South Underground station, and it will cover property sales and rentals in SW4 and SW12. This will be closely followed by another opening in Ladbroke Grove, again close to the underground so that we can better service W10 and W11 and will be closely linked to our established Kensington and Holland Park offices.
Buy To Let
On 10th October John D Wood & Co. is hosting an Investors Evening at Sandown Racecourse for clients interested in learning more about entering the buy to let market. With interest rates low and savings and other investments performing poorly we have seen consistent enquiries for properties suitable for 'buy to let', and so we are sharing our expertise. The evening starts at 6.30pm and will be a chance for people to find out how best to finance an investment property, the areas and types of property which produce the best yields and how to manage a ‘buy to let’. If you would like to come please join us and reserve a place by emailing your name and address to: buytolet@johndwood.co.uk.
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