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Six months ago - at the height of the credit crunch and during the slow down of the property sales market - Luke and Jonathan Mason decided to open Belvoir Hitchin. Here, Luke looks back at his journey from the opening morning to present day…
“On 1st December, 2008, I opened the doors of Belvoir Hitchin, along with my cousin Jonathan - and I haven’t looked back,” says Luke. “It was quite scary as I’d never done anything similar before but I was eager to get on with it.”
Before becoming a property management agent Luke was working in car sales alongside his dad but says he wanted to branch out and open his own business. After coming across Belvoir Lettings on the internet he decided to become a lettings agent.
“I had a lot to learn as I didn’t know anything about rentals or the lettings market,” says Luke who went on Belvoir’s three-week intensive training course at their Central Office in Grantham before launching the business. There he was taught everything from how to open a shop and how to manage property to the ins and outs of lettings law. “Without a shadow of a doubt the training was essential and helped Jonathan and I move forward with confidence,” says Luke.
So, why did Luke and Jonathan decide to open up a lettings agency during a time when the property market was slowing down and the credit crunch was speeding up? Luke says that it seemed the ideal time as more people than ever before were renting rather than buying or letting rather than selling.
“There were so many properties to let or being let that I could see a potential market for our business,” says Luke. “Also, I’m a people’s person and I knew I’d thoroughly enjoying meeting landlords and tenants and developing relationships with them – now we’ve been doing it for six months I know that property management is definitely for me. And, I’m pleased to say, the business has gone from strength-to-strength too…”
Luke and Jonathan have taken on, plus let, many properties, including larger properties that are sometimes harder to let than smaller ones – in fact, they let a four-bed house within just a week of managing it and another of their larger properties was being marketed by seven agents but they let it first.
“The business has grown at a fast pace,” says Luke. “We’ve already taken on a full-time property manager, with the hope of taking on another member of staff within the next six months. And, we were ranked within the top one hundred of the Belvoir group within two months of trading too.
“In fact, the first six months have been absolutely amazing. It’s been hard work but it’s really opened my eyes to the potential of the lettings market. I’m really proud of myself for getting out there and doing it, for making the decision and just going for it. I don’t wish I’d done anything differently – my only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner!”
To find your nearest Belvoir office, visit their website at http://www.belvoirlettings.com/
Luke’s top five highlights of his first six months...
• Letting out a property that was already being marketed by seven agents.
• Being ranked within the top one hundred of the Belvoir group within two months of trading.
• Meeting many landlords and tenants and developing good business relationships with them.
• Letting out so many properties so quickly, including larger properties.
• Watching the business grow from initial concept to successful shop.
“On 1st December, 2008, I opened the doors of Belvoir Hitchin, along with my cousin Jonathan - and I haven’t looked back,” says Luke. “It was quite scary as I’d never done anything similar before but I was eager to get on with it.”
Before becoming a property management agent Luke was working in car sales alongside his dad but says he wanted to branch out and open his own business. After coming across Belvoir Lettings on the internet he decided to become a lettings agent.
“I had a lot to learn as I didn’t know anything about rentals or the lettings market,” says Luke who went on Belvoir’s three-week intensive training course at their Central Office in Grantham before launching the business. There he was taught everything from how to open a shop and how to manage property to the ins and outs of lettings law. “Without a shadow of a doubt the training was essential and helped Jonathan and I move forward with confidence,” says Luke.
So, why did Luke and Jonathan decide to open up a lettings agency during a time when the property market was slowing down and the credit crunch was speeding up? Luke says that it seemed the ideal time as more people than ever before were renting rather than buying or letting rather than selling.
“There were so many properties to let or being let that I could see a potential market for our business,” says Luke. “Also, I’m a people’s person and I knew I’d thoroughly enjoying meeting landlords and tenants and developing relationships with them – now we’ve been doing it for six months I know that property management is definitely for me. And, I’m pleased to say, the business has gone from strength-to-strength too…”
Luke and Jonathan have taken on, plus let, many properties, including larger properties that are sometimes harder to let than smaller ones – in fact, they let a four-bed house within just a week of managing it and another of their larger properties was being marketed by seven agents but they let it first.
“The business has grown at a fast pace,” says Luke. “We’ve already taken on a full-time property manager, with the hope of taking on another member of staff within the next six months. And, we were ranked within the top one hundred of the Belvoir group within two months of trading too.
“In fact, the first six months have been absolutely amazing. It’s been hard work but it’s really opened my eyes to the potential of the lettings market. I’m really proud of myself for getting out there and doing it, for making the decision and just going for it. I don’t wish I’d done anything differently – my only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner!”
To find your nearest Belvoir office, visit their website at http://www.belvoirlettings.com/
Luke’s top five highlights of his first six months...
• Letting out a property that was already being marketed by seven agents.
• Being ranked within the top one hundred of the Belvoir group within two months of trading.
• Meeting many landlords and tenants and developing good business relationships with them.
• Letting out so many properties so quickly, including larger properties.
• Watching the business grow from initial concept to successful shop.
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