A South West estate agency that launched late last year is promising to do things differently and take on some of the big agency names in the prime market.

Eaves was co-founded by Marcus Bond (main image) who, before setting it up, worked for Derbyshire’s in Chard.

His new agency has yet to join the high street, although Bond predicts that may happen later, and says Eaves is taking a more creative and local approach to marketing properties.

The estate agency has five photographers on its books and takes a highly polished and stylish approach to property photography, as well as a less cliché-ridden approach to its property descriptions.

Bond is also taking a ‘quality not quantity’ approach to listing homes and, unlike some competitors in this sector of the market, service vendors better because his ‘virtual team’ are all local to Somerset, Dorset and Devon.

“Estate agencies like Inigo and Modern House do a similar level of marketing to us but because they are not local, they often have viewing days during which they offer block viewings – so I wanted to be able to say we’d always ‘be here, be on the phone and be local’,” says Bond.

“We are unique as an estate agency down here, certainly.”

Bond says that in his previous jobs working for agencies he didn’t have the free reign to do what he wanted and that, because he comes from a design background, wanted everything Eaves produces to be ‘quality’.

“Also, I think potential vendors like how I tend to tell it like it is and not overvalue to get an instruction,” he says. “My approach is more a marketing one than a pushy sales one.

“Everyone else in this market has the same pitch but I believe we’ve got something different.”

This approach is working, says Bond, and the company has seven homes for sale on its books and a similar number near to instruction, although the firm at the moment is not doing lettings.

“Our growth has been organic and word of mouth, although it helps that I’ve been down here now for 20 years working as an estate agent,” he adds. Eaves is also on all the major portals.

“Our strapline is that in a digital age our reach is global, but our feet are local.”