It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark

The past few weeks have been a world away from my normal. Whilst I’ve not stepped foot inside my office or seen any friends since Thursday 19th March, I have participated in Pilates, F45, been to the theatre, enjoyed numerous quizzes and even been to church; all from home. As a firm we have also entered the virtual world, un-expectedly,  we held not one but two auctions at the turn of the month, all remotely from our respective homes.

Holding our auctions during such uncertain times and when others were cancelling theirs was important. The source of liquidity can be key for our clients, it is an important stimulus for the wider market and is important for the firm. By successfully selling £60m+ worth of commercial and residential property in a fast changing landscape  this provided much needed confidence throughout the property market as well as critical pricing information.

“It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark” (H. Ruff)

A long time before the global pandemic began, the partners of Allsop reviewed our processes and commissioned a system, known as AMS, to streamline the process of transacting around 2,000 assets a year at auction.   No doubt, like us, Noah had a few doubters in his herd about the need for a big “Boat”, but this investment has now meant that we have the ability to create our auction catalogue, monitor and analyse interest in real time, generate contracts and ultimately run the auction from one system in any location.   Now that it’s ‘raining’ in a metaphorical sense, AMS too has morphed from “Boat” to “Arc” and is busy running these sales as this is written.

With the UK in lockdown and staff working safely from their homes across the UK, we as a team stay in constant communication and continue to work as one unit with one set of data. The only difference to our process between now and the start of March is the virtual element, everything else has stayed the same.

As a result and through the help of AMS, during these extraordinary times, we are able to guide our clients through the storm with our the ability to be nimble and adapt to a changing situation, focus not on our limitations but on what really matters; understanding and advising our clients to the same high standards as always.

#staysafestayhomesavelives