I love property.

Growing up, I have memories of watching property programmes such as Grand Designs. But in all honesty, I fell into estate agency.

Graduating with 2:1 honours in Sport Science and Media, the dream was to become a budding sports writer. Bad news was this couldn’t pay the bills.

An advert popped up offering a car, mobile phone, and £22,000. That sounded like a sweet deal to me. I applied for the job on Monday and started Friday.

It was 2010 and I began my career at Foxtons. Yes Foxtons. I can sense your disappointment, but please stick with me.

I enjoyed seven years at ‘the big F’ and made great friends and even met my wife! We started a family, but the long hours and pressure led to the decision to look for a different style of agency to suit our family needs.

In 2017 I re-united with my old boss and CEO James Evans to join Douglas & Gordon.

D&G opened my eyes as to how other companies operate. The family run culture at D&G was very different to Foxtons. D&G felt like a family, whereas Foxtons was an extension of Uni.

I was the top preforming manager for 2 years and promoted to an associate director. I had now been in agency for 9 years but love for the job was dwindling.

A new challenge was needed. Hayley and I had just had our third child and I wanted to see my young family grow.

I had ignored everyone on LinkedIn for nine years.

A recruiter explained that Purplebricks needed a LPE (local property expert) where I lived.

Within two weeks I went to the ‘dark’ side. I went from high street to online. For context, it’s like a black cab driver becoming an Uber driver. It doesn’t happen. Or if it did, it would be frowned upon. My friends in the industry couldn’t believe I was going to join Purple ….. (Use your imagination with what rhymes with bricks).

I took the plunge and loved being self-employed. No more looking after junior members of staff. Just me, myself and I, doing what I do best. Selling properties.

My eyes had been opened to a low, fixed fee agency.

Throughout my career, clients wanted you to negotiate on your fee. Why do estate agents charge thousands of pounds, for taking some photos and whacking it on the internet?

It’s a valid point … In a buoyant market.

When the market slows down and deals become trickier, the low fee, high volume, rack them and stack them business model isn’t sustainable, and clients cannot be serviced. The cracks in the D I Y service begin to appear with the lack of post-sales support and over stretched staff.

This has brought me to where I am today, opening my own brand and style of estate agency, focusing on the customer journey and experience instead of the corporate back pockets. My lower volume business model allows me to focus and guide my sellers and buyers from start to finish.

Let our family look after yours, to help you find your new home.