A start-up estate agency is set to open its second branch after a successful foray into the property business by a husband-and-wife team.

Scott and Shona Galloway opened their Fife office in 2020 under the Home Sweet Home franchise, using a fixed-price business model.

Now they are set to open their second branch, this time in Dunfermline – but they are keeping it very much in the family, as it will be run by Shona’s sister, Lorraine Doig.

The estate agency branch will be based in the offices of solicitors John W. Gilbertson.

Scott told his local newspaper, The Courier, that a personal touch and word-of-mouth recommendations had been key to its success.

“Shona and I are the heartbeat of the business,” he told the paper. “It’s family run, we are contactable out of hours, we do viewings at the weekend, the personal approach really matters and I think that’s why we’ve been successful.

Selling homes

“We usually sell between 15 and 20 homes a month and we’ve been growing every quarter.”

The fixed-price fee starts at £1,350 plus VAT, increasing depending on the size of the property.

Home Sweet Home was started in Inverness by Ross Edwards and Alex Mackenzie in 2017. Scott had worked with the pair at Your Move, and when he left to start his own agency, Ross and Alex suggested he became their first franchisee.

Their first office is in Markinch, near Glenrothes, and offers a free, no obligation pre-sale appraisal service. Potential vendors are also introduced to solicitors and surveyors with whom the Galloways have teamed up.

The agency also has a thriving lettings business, with demand particularly high for properties close to local universities.

Read more about fixed-fee agencies.