A group of estate agents in high spirits is a rare sight in the current climate, given economic uncertainty and increased costs of borrowing.

 

However, estate agents in the city do have at least one reason to be cheerful, in that, for the first time in its history, the National Association of Estate Agents has elected a president from Derby.

Chris Brown, partner at Boxall, Brown and Jones, in Iron Gate, was sworn in as president at a gala ceremony in London and, for local agents who could not make it to the ceremony, a celebratory dinner has been held at the Midland Hotel by the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire branch of the NAEA.

He will be the figurehead and spokesman for 10,500 estate agents as president and will be rallying residential agency troops, lobbying the Government and speaking on behalf of NAEA members to the national media.

Chris said: "I'm Derby born and bred and it makes me extremely proud to be the first president of the NAEA to hail from Derbyshire."

His presidency comes at a difficult time for estate agents up and down the country as economic uncertainty and the national media have made people nervous about moving house.

Over the last 10 years, property has become a national obsession. Increases in property prices have soared and those investing in property at the right time have made millions on the back of high demand and cheap mortgages.

Higher household bills have also contributed to many people waiting to see what happens before moving and a number of Derby agents blame the media for painting a pessimistic picture of the housing market.

What it all adds up to is that it is time for estate agents to rise to the challenge.

Mr Brown has his own version of tough love for his colleagues in the residential property game: "Agents have to sharpen up their act because there's still a living to be made out of selling property.

"People still want to buy and we've got to become better facilitators and work harder for clients, because otherwise they will go elsewhere."

The new president believes that the first key to surviving is for agents to take a good long look at their business - the way clients are dealt with and the finding of buyers.

"Agents have got to keep chasing to find buyers and have to look after their clients and ensure that sales particulars accurately reflect the house being sold.

"There will be a few casualties and it is time for businesses to pull in their horns and put expansion on hold for the next 12 months."

Having been in the industry since he was 16, he has pretty much seen it all. After leaving school in 1968, he joined Central Estates as a trainee estate agent.

He was made a partner in the business in the mid 70s. In 1986, the partners sold the business but Chris remained under the new ownership structure until 1988, when he set up Boxall, Brown and Jones with Steve Boxall and Rob Jones.

Three years ago he became vice-president of NAEA, then senior vice-president, then president-elect and now he has reached to top spot.

"I have been working in estate agency since the age of 16 and my entire working career has been devoted to the industry and this, together with starting up and owning my own company, is the pinnacle of my career."

As president, he is in for a hectic 12 months, representing the profession at the highest level, lobbying MPs and policy-makers to make sure the views of the nation's estate agents are taken on in Westminster.

Mr Brown will also travel to Orlando, in Florida, to represent estate agents from the UK at an international real estate convention.

"It is our job to churn property and this year, there is half as much to churn as there was last year but it's not the first time that there have been difficult market conditions for estate agents. The main issues facing the profession include the lack of confidence in the property market at the moment and addressing people's concerns about the valuation of property and whether it is still a good investment after the credit crunch."

He speaks from experience because this August he will be celebrating having been in the business for 40 years, during which time he's experienced a number of ups and downs.

The first big downturn he experienced came in 1971, when Rolls-Royce was in serious trouble and tens of thousands of people in the city faced a very uncertain financial future.

More recently were the property doldrums that the country found itself in during the late 80s and early 90s.

"In 1988, everyone bought houses to take advantage of tax relief but it ran out of steam and the market collapsed and remained very flat for five or six years."

Boxall, Brown and Jones survived largely by diversifying and keeping their ears to the ground.

When Toyota arrived in Derby, the company needed homes for its executives, so Boxall, Brown and Jones picked up work there. Another important deal for the company came about when the Guinness Trust housing association required 200 houses.

"Steve Boxall got on his bike, negotiating to buy up lots of new houses, which in turn made us very popular with housing developers who were having a difficult time of it as well."

The secret to the firm's survival was also in diversifying. The partners brought in a surveyor to start a ratings department, which later became the company's commercial property arm. Chris himself spent a year in France selling French houses at a time when you could get a nice property for under £10,000.

"A lot of the work we did during the lean times gave us contacts that were really helpful when things got better because we had a reputation as grafters."

Those agents who have been through the mill and experienced hard times in the early 70s and the first half of the 90s will have the benefit of experience.

Those agents who have cropped up during the boom will have to think on their feet but at least in Chris Brown, the city and the sector as a whole have a grafter on their side well placed to represent their interests at the highest level.

 

Derby Evening Telegraph

3 June 2008