A 23,000 sq ft house sitting in 40 acres, with views to Windsor Castle, 9 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, a 1,000 bottle wine cellar, a 12 metre indoor pool and a price tag of £20m+* is not something that comes on the market every day.
At EYE we are often sent brochures and videos of property for sale – and we rarely use them. However, Sean Newman sent us this video, rhetorically asking, “Is this the best property video ever filmed in the UK?”.
Well, EYE readers can decide for themselves about that but the 18 minute video is certainly slick and entertaining – not least for the Bond-style intro and for the fun of keeping count of how many superlative adjectives (he might just outdo that uber superlative-purveyor, Jamie Oliver) Damion Merry of Fine & Country uses as he takes us on the guided tour of Harford Manor, at Holyport in Berkshire.
In fairness though, he’s a natural presenter and does a great job, and it’s a pretty superlative-inducing kind of house – but whether it really is, as he says, “the best property in the UK” might cause some discussion.
If the property is vaguely familar, it was first on the market with Savills in 2018 at £30m and was featured in Country Life. It will be interesting to see if the video, and a new agency, can tempt a buyer who will appreciate the ‘polo and public school’ messages to come forward.
*The video is captioned at £30m but the press release indicated ‘Offers in excess of £20m’. We asked Sean Newman why.
He replied:
“This is part of our marketing strategy. The property value is £30+ million
“We are creating an auction environment, so starting bids will be £20 million.
“There will be an intensive marketing campaign starting on 1st November with an Open House on Sunday 28th November. This will be an exclusive invitation only event.
“All offers must be submitted by Wednesday 1st December and a sale will be agreed on Friday 3rd December. Completion will be Friday 23rd or Friday 30th December.”
“I have no doubt we will find a buyer within 30 days of launch.”
We’ll revisit the story at the beginning of next month to find out how it went – as apparently the property is not being uploaded to Rightmove or any other property portal.
VERY impressive work ( as usual ) from Sean Newman and his Fine & Country team!
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Do F&C really have a branded Lamborghini? Or is it a rental? Like the “models”!!!
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It’ll take some cleaning.
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Super impressive and a great showcase of the property and the lifestyle that comes with it. Well done to all those involved.
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Nearly as long as the Bond film.
What this video demonstrates is how well properties and marketed with photos, videos, drones, floor pans, virtual tours etc before the video. Where is this going to develop? The next development of property marketing must be to give the potential buyers “the paperwork” to review as well so when they decide they want to buy the property they can do so in a sensible timescale.
2 weeks to exchange from offer accepted and 4-6 weeks after exchange to completion?
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Excellent job.
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I’ll wait for the 25 second Tik-Tok version.
Said nobody… EVER.
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The Xmas Drink Drive campaigns start earlier and earlier every year.
Nice house and everything but “a great view of the pond” slayed me.
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What’s not to like about this? Super impressive video and super impressive presentation from the agent concerned – you just know instinctively that this young man is a premier league player in the world of luxury property. More importantly what a great piece of estate agency business – a trophy property being sold by a seemingly highly motivated seller at what appears to be an aggressive guide price. As most of us will testify, clients at this level are often the most difficult to manage when it comes down to price expectations! Knowing that Sean’s team of agents normally have no mental blockages when it comes to charging fees, I’m assuming that the reward will be a suitably eye watering commission. My only observation is that if the target price (informal reserve) is circa £30m as is indicated then I thought there was a requirement to market the property at a guide price within 10% of this figure? I’m genuinely interested in any feedback on this point since I’m a big advocate for aggressive pricing to entice viewings and competitive bidding but our policy has always been to rigidly stay within the 10% tolerance guide lines.
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” I thought there was a requirement to market the property at a guide price within 10% of this figure?”
Although it is stated that they are “creating an auction environment”, it is not a formal auction, therefore there will be no requirement to fulfil auction “rules”.
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It would have been the best video ever if the agent would have wear a nice pair of indoor PRADA shoes and removed the manufacturer stitches from his new jacket ! 🙂
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