A relatively unknown name in estate agency that has quietly opened six offices around the UK is set to expand with another four territories to be added to its network as it moves towards being a national brand.

NEXA, which already has operations in Bristol, Cardiff, Chichester, Portsmouth and South Wales, says it is also looking at new branches in Brighton, Southampton, Bath and Manchester.

Jamie Gray (main pic), a former Dubai agent, developer and former professional Rugby player who launched the business with his brother Daniel in 2017, says the plan is to create a series of regional hubs staffed by ‘high performance’ agents.

Daniel is also a former career Rugby player and several of the pair’s franchisees have Rugby backgrounds, including – unsurprisingly – its Welsh operation.

“Working in estate agency in the UK is a peculiar thing. It is essentially a sales role, but unlike most sales roles, incentives seem to play little part,” he says.

“The industry has created a system whereby the rewards of selling do not seem to filter down to the people doing the selling. Rather it just drips down.”

Sales commission

The company says its sales structure is unusual, offering 40% of sales commission to its negotiators.

“We want to professionalise estate agent standards by ensuring our employees are fully incentivised to sell property with high performance and high service as the hallmark,” he says.

“It’s a semi-franchised model. All the regional hubs lean on the central services with the same brand, but they also have a lot of autonomy with how they operate.”

Gray says his agency is both a sales and lettings focussed business designed to take advantage of the collaborations between both activities.