Archive for the 'Buyers' Category

Permission Granted to Advertise Commercial Property

Published
by
Chris
on December 4, 2008
in Agents and Buyers
. 0 Comments

The ever increasing number of property listing search engines coming to the market providing an additional avenue through which to advertise commercial property online has led to the integrity of these sites being called into question, after reports that in some cases property listings have been added to sites without the permission of the property owner or agent.

Of course each portal differs in the way they operate including the techniques they use to obtain property information to be listed on their site and although we cannot speak for them, we can explain our position on this.

At NovaLoca we pride ourselves on how we are ‘Making It Easy’ for commercial property owners, agents and occupiers to market and find commercial property. Having designed NovaLoca with all these groups in mind we strive to ensure that when a commercial property search is carried out occupiers can be confident the property listings are relevant and up to date whilst agents know their properties are being accurately represented.

The best way to do this is to ensure the agents involvement throughout the time a property is listed on NovaLoca and so why it is essentially impossible to list a property on the site without the agents expressed permission to do so. We never knowingly add properties without this consent. Whether occupiers are looking for commercial property in London, Manchester or even Margate using NovaLoca they can be assured that permission has been granted for that property to be listed. In the majority of cases permission will have been given by a senior person within the property agency. This all also means that commercial property owners and agents have complete knowledge of exactly where and how their properties are being marketed ensuring they maintain full control.

You can find out more about NovaLoca’s stance on this by reading our Terms of Use and Privacy policies or if you have any further questions about advertising commercial property please contact a member of the team.

What is Commercial Property in Manchester Looking like?

Published
by
lauren
on November 10, 2008
in Agents and Buyers
. 0 Comments

Commonly regarded as the centre of trade and commerce for the North West of England, Manchester has been placed among the top 20 “best cities to locate a business today” by European Cities Monitor. Additional research by Cushman and Wakefield found that Manchester has retained its position from 2007 as the UK’s second most business friendly city (after London) in the 2008 UK’s Cities Monitor.

Manchester was found to perform particularly well in being an ideal location for company headquarters as well as back office functions, whilst the research also went on to conclude that Manchester can expect the second largest (again after London) influx of companies locating there over the next five years meaning that the need for new commercial property is set to increase.

With predictions like this it is no wonder that companies such as the Co-op bank are investing in Manchester’s commercial property market.

Birds Eye ViewSo commercial property in Manchester is looking good and set to rise. But what does it actually look like? Well with  Birds’ Eye imagery of the Greater Manchester region available on NovaLoca’s property maps you can now find out as you view Manchester commercial property from the north, south, east and west at a 45° angle; clearly view what the location is like as well as the building itself.

Commercial Property MapAerial and road view imagery which is also available on NovaLoca’s maps allows the user to discover the wider area. With all the properties shown on one map with a summary of their details, properties can be easily compared. Other map features include local area information which will allow you to discover the location of the nearest primary and secondary schools and day care nurseries, and an in map search tool so you can alter your search criteria without leaving the map. The result: you can discover exactly what commercial property in Manchester looks like.

Contact us to find out more about finding your new property in Manchester with NovaLoca.com.

Choosing Commercial Property? Have You Considered Everything?

Published
by
lauren
on November 10, 2008
in Buyers
. 0 Comments

Whether you are starting a new business or relocating an established one, choosing the right commercial property is important but just as important is where the property is located.

Have you considered all the factors to making the right choice? The European Cities Monitor by Cushman and Wakefield highlights the following as being key factors when choosing where to locate your business. The two most important were concluded as being:

· The availability of a qualified workforce – are the right people with the right skills living in the area your company will be based?

· Quality telecommunications – does the area have sufficient internet bandwidth and speed and good mobile phone coverage?

Other factors worthy of consideration include:

· Access to markets, customers and clients – is your market located nearby or can they reach you easily?

· Access to national and international transport links – if you have goods to transport, do you have access to reliable transport links whether road, rail, air or ferry?

Factors given lesser importance overall by the survey, but which may be worth considering include:

· Value for money of the commercial property

· The climate local government creates for business, e.g. tax, financial incentives etc.

· Availability of office space

· Cost of staff

· Quality of life and freedom from pollution

Although the importance you place on each of these factors will depend on the type of business you have as well as its size, they are all worth considering as getting it wrong will be expensive both financially and in terms of time.

Browse By Region

NovaLoca’s ‘Browse by Region’ function gives a brief overview of the counties in the UK covering some of the points listed above and providing a starting place for your research. To get an understanding of the commercial property on offer in a given region or to find a property in your preferred location use NovaLoca’s easy search and discover a comprehensive list of industrial units, offices, retail spaces or land available in that region. By viewing the property on an interactive map, which include local area information and road, aerial and bird’s eye view imagery you can get a full visual experience of the property – a great tool if you are not currently located near to where you are looking for property.

To find out more about finding your next commercial property with NovaLoca.com then visit the site or contact us.

Choosing a Commercial Property Agent? What Do You Need To Consider?

Published
by
Christin
on October 27, 2008
in Agents and Buyers
. 0 Comments

In today’s complex property market and economic climate, choosing the right commercial property agent is a crucial decision. With so many agents out there looking for your business property owners are often at a loss about how to select the one that will meet their particular needs. So what needs to be considered?

Business Link is a nationwide organisation offering resources to businesses and they suggest the following points are key:

  • Trading history – how successfully have they marketed property in the past?
  • Knowledge – how well do they know the property market in your area?
  • Financial security – will they still be there next week, next month?
  • Reputation – do they come recommended?
  • Portfolio – have they found occupiers for similar properties to yours in the past?
  • Willingness – are they keen to market your property?

Read their full document here for more information.

Although this is a comprehensive list, one additional point could be added:

  • Marketing strategy - how are agents planning to market your property?

Being a commercial property search engine, NovaLoca.com is in contact with many commercial property agents every day and can see the varied levels of effort agents put in to marketing properties for their clients. Therefore it is essential for the property owner to understand exactly what the agent plans to do to find an occupier for their property as quickly and as cost effectively as possible. Do not be afraid to ask them the plan and hold them accountable to it.

Some marketing methods agents may use include:

  • Direct mailing/leaflet drops
  • Emails
  • Fax
  • Printed press/ online press
  • Agents’ web site
  • Online property search engines

So you know what the options for marketing methods are, but how effective are they? Some useful questions to ask include:

  • How many people will see the property details?
  • How easy is it for an occupier to contact the agent about your property?
  • What information is given to the occupier about the property?
  • Can they see the property on a map, virtual tour or photograph?
  • Which method generates the most leads and is most cost effective?

Our experience has shown that traditional methods of direct mailing property details, sending emails and printed press are becoming less effective when marketing commercial property as occupiers increasingly begin their property search online. Therefore make sure the agent you choose to market your property is using the latest available technology to find an occupier.

For more information about what NovaLoca can do to help market commercial property contact us.

View London’s Commercial Property In Street Level View with NovaLoca’s Maps

Published
by
brian
on October 17, 2008
in Agents, Buyers and Company News
. 2 Comments

NovaLoca once again stay well ahead of the game in using web technology to market commercial property online. We have now launched Street Level View in our maps of central London; not only is this a first for us but it is also a first for the UK as we have beaten Google to it! Our thanks goes to the developers at Earthware for their latest property mapping solution and Seety the imagery providers.

To try out street level views for yourself, try the links below to some famous London landmarks:

It has always been our belief here at NovaLoca that being able to see a property makes choosing deciding to view it much easier for the occupier and as a result providing this information makes marketing commercial property easy for agents. Photographs can do this although often can not show the entire property. This is why we have invested in the latest in mapping technology on NovaLoca.com; the Aerial and Bird Eye imagery used as standard in the maps is the best available from Microsoft Virtual Earth and means occupiers can not only see what the property looks like, but they can also see what is around it - parking spaces and transport links for example. This added information makes the decision even easier.

But we knew we could go further in the quality and details of information that could be provided to occupiers and that is exactly what we have now done. The addition of Street Level View for central London in the maps allows occupiers to not just see a location from above but also fully experience it as they ‘walk’ the streets around a property they are interested in and find the local shop, nearest tube station or park where employers can take a break and eat their lunch. And all these added advantages for occupiers means commercial property agents jobs are made easier too.

If you want to find out more about finding your next commercial property on NovaLoca or if you have a commercial office, industrial unit or retail space to market or simply want to discover more about Street Level View then please contact us.

NovaLoca Maps Set To Become the UK’s First to Have Street Level View!

Published
by
lauren
on October 13, 2008
in Agents, Buyers and Company News
. 0 Comments

Calling all those interested in innovative ideals! NovaLoca, the UK’s best commercial property search engine will, in the next few days, become the site of the UK’s first implementation of Street Level View images and all before Google© release Street View images in their UK maps.

To bring Street Level View to the commercial market, NovaLoca teamed up with the small innovative Italian company Seety, specialists in taking, processing and mapping images of city streets. Having already mapped many Italian cities in this way, Seety added central London to the list earlier this year and it is this latest imagery that is to be added to NovaLoca’s existing mapping feature.

Commercial property occupiers will now have the option to search for their ideal property using the existing map features of in-map searching and aerial, hybrid and Bird’s Eye imagery but now with Street Level View they will also be able to ‘stand’ in front of the property, see the one next door and take a ‘walk’ to the nearest tube station or shop. To put it simply, NovaLoca will be making it even easier for occupiers to find property and best of all, this new technology means less time will be wasted, for both occupier and agent, on site visits which do not result in a sale or let.

For those of you concerned about privacy, as standard practise Seety are careful about the resolution the images are taken in, to ensure a high quality picture to the user but one which does not make people easily identifiable. In addition to this they review each of the thousands of images they collect and blur out all faces and car registration plates that may have still been visible.

At NovaLoca we are really excited about how this latest development will make marketing commercial property even easier for agents as well as being the first company to be doing this. Keep an eye on this blog for the announcement of the release of Street Level View in our maps and in the mean time if you want to find out more about this exciting development or about marketing your commercial property with NovaLoca please do contact a member of the team on 0844 3575 260 or email info@novaloca.com.

Commercial Property Finder NovaLoca Beat Bolt & Google at Offices 08!!

Published
by
admin
on September 23, 2008
in Agents, Buyers and Company News
. 0 Comments

Well, we have now returned from Offices 08 and hopefully managed to see some of you there. If not then keep an eye out on the blog for announcements of when we will next be on the road and hopefully we will have the opportunity to see you then!

If we did not see you, you missed out on the NovaLoca team making an great impact as they told delegates all about how Novaloca is ‘making it easy’ to market commercial property online. We even went to extreme lengths to demonstrate that updating property listings can be managed in less time than it took Bolt to run the 200m Olympic final, not only causing much amusement but also proving the point! It really couldn’t be easier to take full advantage of what NovaLoca can offer to both agents and occupiers.

Standing out in our polo shirts emblazoned with ‘NovaLoca: Making It Easy’, the enthusiasm and dedication of the NovaLoca team was evident for all to see and somewhat infectious too. A thoroughly enjoyable couple of days were had by all, as well as being effective in continuing to raise the profile of NovaLoca. In fact we were surprised (and delighted) at the number of people who said to us, “I know you, you’re NovaLoca”, proving that we are now being recognised more and more within the commercial property industry; a great achievement in such a short amount of time.     

NovaLoca also announced at Offices 08 that it’s already impressive mapping facility with aerial and Bird’s Eye (where it’s available) imagery is to be further enhanced with the addition of Street Level views of central London. This new imagery will be released in the coming weeks, will be the first UK commercial implementation of this latest in mapping technology and is set to be released ahead of Google’s UK “Street View” imagery furthering NovaLoca’s commitment to using the latest in web technology to making marketing commercial property easy for agents and finding commercial property easy for occupiers.

With announcements such as this, NovaLoca fully believe in our claim of being the best commercial property search engine in the UK and to date there have been no challenges to this!

Occupiers, Make Your Commercial Property Enquiry Count

Published
by
Christin
on September 11, 2008
in Buyers
. 0 Comments

One of the many tools available on Commercial Property Finder, NovaLoca to help occupiers find their ideal office space, industrial unit or retail premises easily is being able to contact the agent by phone or email directly from the site. This not only allows you to make an enquiry about a property without needing to open your email service it also allows us to monitor how and when you make your enquiries, which we can then feed back to the agent so they can ensure they are available when you need them to be.

Just as property agents should be aware of how they respond to email enquiries, occupiers should also be careful. Here are some exerts of property enquiry emails which have been sent:

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Creating an Effective Property Enquiry

Commercial property agents, like all of us, are busy people. Therefore, the more information you can give then in your initial enquiry the better. Here are a few tips:

· Be specific - What are you looking for? Tell the agent exactly what you are looking for including, preferred location of the property, size (a floor size in metres is much better than stating ‘for two people’!), a guide price of what you are willing to pay for the property, do you want to buy commercial property or let commercial property?

· Give instructions for the agent - What do you want the agent to do? Do you want to arrange a viewing of the property you have found on NovaLoca (give some idea of your availability to view the property) or do you want the agent to send you more information about the property (specify exactly what you want to know).

· Give your contact details - What is the best means of getting in touch with you? If possible, give them two options, e.g. by phone (give numbers and times you will be available on it) or by email (make sure you give the right address and you check your inbox regularly).

· Write something! – Very few agents will return your enquiries if you do not give them some indication of what you are enquiring about.

· Be concise – It is a well known fact that people read the first couple of lines of an email and then decide whether or not to keep reading. The same is true for property agents, so be direct and clear in your enquiry.

· Check your spelling – Run your spell check or re-read your message before your press send. If you cannot be bothered to do this, the agent may not be bothered to reply.

In addition to contacting the agent for details of other properties they are marketing, occupiers can also use NovaLoca’s Property Portfolio tool. This allows you to register your property requirements and receive an email giving full details of all commercial properties fitting your property criteria which are added to the site keeping you up to date with what is available.

For more information about how NovaLoca makes finding commercial property easy, contact the customer service team on 08443575260 or begin your search at NovaLoca.com.

What Shade of Green is Your Commercial Property?

Published
by
lauren
on August 14, 2008
in Agents and Buyers
. 0 Comments

It has been four months since Energy Performance Certificate’s (EPC’s) began to be phased into the commercial property market and only three months until they will become compulsory for all commercial property over 50m2 being sold, let or built. So what exactly do they mean for a commercial property owner?

What will the EPC tell me?

After an Energy Assessor has made an assessment of the property, the details are loaded into government-approved software which will produce the EPC for the property. This certificate will:

· Provide general information about the energy efficiency and carbon emissions of the building;

· Give a rating on a standardised scale of A to G (A being the best) of how energy efficient the property is. This allows the property to be accurately compared to similar buildings;

· Make recommendations about how the property’s energy efficiency, and therefore it’s rating, could be improved, as well as giving a realistic indication of what grading the property could achieve if the recommendations are put in place.

What Can I Do To Improve My Properties’ Energy Efficiency?

Whether your reasons for being interested in the results of the required survey are based on an environmental concern and wanting to “go green”, or the desire to save money on the buildings’ running cost during the increase in fuel prices the fact is there are some very simple measures you can take to improve the energy efficiency of your office space, retail premises or industrial unit.

· Reduce waste and recycle what waste you do have: reuse paper; cancel junk mail and think before you print.

· Use energy efficiently: turn the heating off rather than just opening a window; turn lights off when they are not needed; use energy efficient light bulbs; put electrical equipment (e.g. water cooler) on a timer so it turns off at the end of the day, and fit draught excluders on doors and windows.

· Use water efficiently: ensure water appliances are efficient and fix leaking taps etc.

For further ideas about improving your commercial property’s energy rating visit Business Link and use their questionnaire to help you assess your current energy efficiency level.

How Will the EPC’s affect the Marketing of My Commercial Property?

Many articles have been published claiming the positive and negative effects EPC’s could have on the marketability of commercial properties in relation to the perceived costs of high or low energy efficient properties.

The Manchester Evening News carried a story suggesting that although the “government wants to encourage tenants to move into industrial and commercial buildings which are more environmentally friendly… the introduction of EPC’s may well lead to the opposite happening over the long term, by making less environmentally friendly buildings less expensive and therefore more popular". (Read the full article here.) This implies that owners of commercial property with a good energy efficiency rating could find it more difficult to market their property and find occupiers due to the perceived higher cost compared to lower efficiency properties. However, we would suggest that this higher initial cost will soon be recouped as the running and maintenance costs will be reduced in the longer term, whereas the opposite would be true of a less energy efficient property where the initial outlay could be less but the long term costs are likely to be higher as energy is wasted. If an occupier thinks for the long term they are likely to be put off by this and choose the more energy efficient property instead.

In addition to this, owners of industrial units, offices and retail space which are eligible to have an EPC are entitled to claim tax breaks against the cost of installing systems which will help to make the property more energy efficient. This comes under a new government incentive to encourage more energy efficiency amongst commercial property as well as to help property agents and owners “stay ahead of the game” (read the full article here) and make the marketing of their property easier based on the energy rating they receive.

Marketing commercial property will now require additional focus on the energy performance rating it holds and the benefits this will bring to the occupier. To find out more information about the energy efficiency of the commercial properties listed on NovaLoca and to find out how to get your commercial property listed, contact the customer services team on 08443575260.

Free Marketing & Marketing Tips for UK Agents

Published
by
gini
on August 12, 2008
in Agents, Buyers and Company News
. 0 Comments

This week has seen a number of news headlines regarding the commercial property industry which read something like “World Commercial Property Deals Down 41%”. With headlines like that the question has to be asked: Are agents making full use of the free marketing available to them?

To gain maximum exposure when renting out office space or if you have commercial property for sale, then there couldn’t be a better time to join the NovaLoca.com. Not only is the commercial property search engine moving up in Google rankings but in just six months they made Google sit up and pay attention marking their site as a site of importance by increasing their page rank from 0-5, driving more and more visitors to the site each month 65,000 last month.

They are, for a limited time, taking all agents with them, completely free. All companies and commercial property agents throughout the UK can easily load all of their properties, whether it be office space, retail property, industrial units or even land, on the site for free, or if time is of the essence then contact the NovaLoca team and they can do all the work for you!  The 60,000 occupiers that visit NovaLoca each month are then just a click away from the perfect commercial property for their business and the agents are one step closer to finding occupiers for their properties.

It is a match made in heaven when agents meet Novaloca. You see, some agents are extremely good when it comes to being proactive in marketing their client’s properties. However, some are still under the notion that they don’t have to do much to get their commercial property let or sold. I would say this was the case in the past but would now agree that it could be true, as long as their portfolio of commercial properties is listed on Novaloca that is!

Agents are good at what they are trained to do and NovaLoca are experts in what they do and they are offering agents opportunity to use the knowledge they have gained from hours of research by the NovaLoca team. Find some of this expertise in NovaLoca’s blog or to find out more information about listing on NovaLoca contact them on 08443575260.