Despite the slow-down in the housing market, house dressing company Home Stagers reckons now is the time to expand its franchise into Manchester.

“There is so much development going on in central Manchester — all those industrial buildings being converted, and as we go out to the edges of Greater Manchester there is a huge amount of development there too,” said managing director Tina Jesson.

According to Jesson, house dressing and show home design are becoming an invaluable marketing tool for estate agents and developers.

“The market is starting to slow down now and developers are going to have to pull out all the stops to make sure their properties are the ones being sold and sold more quickly. It's a prime time to support what's happening in the Manchester market.”

The Derby company, which had a turnover of £300,000 in 2007, takes on its franchisees as property marketing consultants — they do not deliver the service themselves, a network of freelance stylists and design consultants do that.


Building relationships


“They will be building relationships with organisations like estate agents, property developers, new house builders — the business to business customer management,” said Jesson.

But Manchester estate agents think a good agent should already know what needs to be done to help sell a property. “This is something we have always done, we are always honest to vendors if there are issues with their property that may hinder sales progress,” said Sarah Capper, branch manager for Apartments of Manchester, on Whitworth Street in the city.

Apartments of Manchester sometimes recommend companies providing makeover services. “Especially to landlords or vendors that are not owner-occupiers — as they may never have seen their property,” she said.

Julie Twist Properties, based on Deansgate, has an in-house consultancy and furnishing service. “That's our forte. We do everything under one roof,” said associate director Jennifer Bennett. “Agents are on to those issues anyway, it's already part of their service. Plus the viewers would give that feedback too.”
http://www.crainsmanchesterbusiness.co.uk/apps ...