Former Oxford Fine and Country partner agent Damion Merry aims to shake up the luxury property market by employer ‘higher American standards’ to his estate agency.
He believes his new agency – Luxury Property Partners – will become the number one luxury real estate brand in the UK by mirroring the market Stateside.
“Estate agents are not considered true professionals as they are in the US,” says Merry.
“The standards in the UK are simply not good enough from a marketing perspective, a negotiation perspective and a training perspective. The clients deserve more.”
He adds: “I’m so sick of how the industry is perceived, how agents are perceived and how unhappy clients are, so it’s time for a change.”
Merry spent eight years working in the US including a spell as a garden furniture manufacturer but since returning has sold close to £100m of real estate in the last 17 months – much of which had sat on the market with other agents for months, he says, to become the highest performing agent in the company.
Amazing presentation
Merry puts his success down to, “amazing presentation, the best exposure, and creating a competitive environment amongst buyers”.
Luxury Property Partners promises to put the spotlight on agents, allowing them to become entrepreneurs, while focusing on training, building their brand and properly rewarding them for their efforts.
Each of the properties with Luxury Property Partners will range from £1.5-£50 million and the new firm’s marketing is set to feature “world-class” video productions and a huge social media presence and are marketed primarily via slick promotional videos.
One of the first four properties on its books is Longlands House, a family home on the Thames, including a 15th century two-bed cottage in the middle of Henley with secure parking for ten cars, which is being offered for sealed bids over £4 million.
Read more about agents who reckon the US approach is the way to go.
Got to agree. The “standards simply aren’t good enough”, but the perception of Realtors in the USA is no different from that in the UK. It is individuals that stand out with personal brand, not the corporate image.
It’s time for this industry to embrace best-practice from outside, instead of relying on outdated techniques that foster incremental improvements of a broken model.