Herefordshire property - the latest view

8:25am Thursday 17th July 2008

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A RECENT highlight, in a somewhat difficult working year, was the arrival on the doorstep of Nicholas Craddock Estate Agents Hereford office, of the lovely Melinda Messenger – sadly not in search of a new home for herself, but accompanied by a film crew and sound man, or at least a man with a big fluffy microphone.

In Hereford to film an episode of BBC TV’s popular To Buy or Not To Buy, here was Melinda, as lovely in the flesh – or rather in person – as I always (when a younger, single man!) – imagined she would be.

She fairly waxed lyrical about Hereford City and the beautiful surrounding villages and countryside. “Why Melinda” says I, “I bet you say such things to all the boys…er…estate agents.” But no, Melinda, and indeed her co-host Damien (not sure of his real name, but he once starred in Channel 4’s Brookside), were genuinely smitten with all that they had seen of this lovely county in their two days of filming.

In the presence of two celebrity shoppers from beyond our borders, the realisation dawned that I myself had committed a cardinal sin – serious for an estate agent at any rate – that of taking for granted all that had persuaded me and my family to relocate to Herefordshire 10 years ago. (It is Nicholas Craddock, Hereford’s 10th anniversary as I write).

Saddened by Melinda’s departure, I pinched myself – literally and metaphorically – and resolved to lift my head from what, with difficult trading conditions and all, had become something of a grindstone, and to look afresh at all we had to offer.

Economic downturn or no, the majestic, sylvan Wye will continue to wend its way through the most beautiful of England’s rolling countryside. And happy house hunters – albeit ones with a glint in their eye and the scent of a property bargain in their nostrils – will continue to call into our offices in search of the picturesque, and sometimes elusive, country cottage.

We continue to sell competitively priced, well presented houses but a new era has certainly dawned.

When will the property market get back to normal? Well, perhaps the current market is the ‘new normal’ and, as many fellow agents have said before me in these very pages, the market is finding a new level.

We will all have to try especially hard – as we always do – and be realistic with regard to pricing and then, as sure as summer used to follow spring, houses will sell.

One thing is certain, with so many long established agents in the county, the public can expect good service, and the wider community will hopefully resist the temptation to indulge in a touch of schadenfreude at the ‘little local difficulty’ that our profession is currently experiencing.

The property market in Herefordshire is the preserve of a tremendous bunch of dedicated professionals. Where else can you go and expect such a warm welcome and knowledgeable free advice?

And what of Melinda? Well, one of the three featured houses has sold and there is – I understand – good interest in the other two.