“Don’t be”, says Lisa Baines, managing director of the award winning, Debbie Fortune Estate Agents.

These are bold words, you may think, but here she explains why:

Having started working in estate agency in the early 90’s where many of us remember interest rates reaching north of 15%, repossessions coming to market, and estate agents were having to advise people that their mortgages were worth far more than the value of their property.
It was an awful time to start a career in estate agency but a very valuable and long-lasting lesson in what being a ‘good estate agent’ entails.

Agents will very often use the term, ‘local property experts’ but frankly, nothing separates the good agents from the bad like a tough market.

The perfect example of this is when our founder, Debbie Fortune decided in 2009, in the depth of the housing crash, to cold start a new company with no houses to sell, and an empty window display! This gained her national coverage as ‘the bravest woman in the UK’.
Debbie was knowledgeable, focused and had a plan. A trusted plan that had worked well for over 30 years prior to starting her own business.

We have continued this strong ethos of attention to customer service, effective and regular communication with our clients, and instilling professionalism, integrity, knowledge, and strong community spirit at the forefront of every new day in our business. We remain consistent in working hard to challenge the traditional perception of estate agents.

A huge part of our growth since 2009 has been through repeat clients, recommendations, and from the support of our local communities, and we certainly don’t take this for granted. Time after time, clients come back to us for their next move. What a testament!

Help from your estate agents isn’t always just knowing how much your home is worth; a good estate agent will be able to introduce not only their own advice but also the advice of other people that are working within their business such as mortgage arrangers, surveyors, and the very best solicitors.

So, over the past few weeks, when I’m sat in client’s homes and they ask me, “what’s going on, who’s buying and what do you think is going to happen?” my answer is – We really can’t always predict the economy but one constant thing in the housing market is that ‘people will always have a need to move’- whether it’s downsizing, relocating, or perhaps accommodating a growing family, the economy doesn’t always dictate these moves.

It is therefore so important that you get your advice from an estate agent that really does know what they’re talking about ……… from experience!

Please do call us or pop in for a good cup of coffee and free advice. We’d simply love to help.

Lisa

Congresbury – tel: 01934 862370
Chew Magna – tel: 01275 333888
Lettings – tel: 01275 406870