May 2008

Pinner-cle of achievement!

Alexander Watson named Estate Agent of the Year

ALEXANDER WATSON of Pinner, Middlesex, have been named Estate Agent of the Year.

The single-office operation took the main prize at the Estate Agent and Letting Agent of the Year Awards, held at the Marriot Hotel in Mayfair. They were gold award winners in the South East (North) region.

Runners-up, taking the silver overall award, were Robinson Estate Agents of Maidenhead, who took gold in the Southern region.

Meanwhile, Webbers of the West Country won the award for the Best Estate Agency Chain, with Your Move runners-up and Sequence named Best Letting Agency Chain.

Winners of the overall Letting Agency of the Year prize were Ashley Charles, of Berkshire, gold winners in the Southern region.

The win for Alexander Watson ended a two-year sequence of the main award going to Northern Ireland, with Burns & Co from County Derry winning the prize in 2007 and Joyce Estate Agents of County Armagh taking the honours in 2006.

Ironically, after that double dose of Ulster success, this time there wasn’t a single entry from the province in the Estate Agency section of the awards.

But the Northern Irish flag was flown proudly in the lettings section by Pinkerton Murray of Bangor, County Down, who were named runners-up in the overall lettings awards after taking gold in the Northern region.

The results of the competition are determined by research carried out among customers who are asked a series of questions about the service they have received from their agent.

Over 55,000 questionnaires were sent out to agents’ clients and Jeremy Leaf, chairman of the residential faculty at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, who backed the awards, said: “Being shortlisted or actually winning one of these prestigious awards, which are widely recognised throughout the industry, demonstrates publicly an agent’s commitment to delivering the highest standard of service.”

Main sponsor of the awards was the Property Search Group, while they were also backed by the FindaProperty portal site, and presenter of the awards ceremony was Phil Spencer of TV’s Location, Location, Location, who said: “It’s fantastic to see agents getting the credit they deserve after all the negative press they receive.

“Throughout the property industry, there is a constant need to improve customer service and these awards go a long way to help agents focus on keeping clients happy. After all, the most powerful marketing tool for agents is word of mouth — so customer satisfaction is key.”

Regional winners at the awards ceremony were:

Estate Agency

East of England — gold: Flick & Son (Leiston); silver: Watsons Residential (Sheringham).

East Midlands — gold: Hannella (Hilton); silver: Gilbert & Thomas (Uppingham).

Greater London — gold: Brendons; silver: Hanover Residential.

North East — gold: Michael Hodgson; silver: Foster Maddison Property Consultants.

North West — gold: Peter Mooney Estate Agents; silver: Gascoigne Halman (Wilmslow).

Scotland — gold: Personal Estate Agents; silver: Your Move (Dalgety Bay).

Southern — gold: Robinson Estate Agents; silver: Integra Property Services.

South East (North) — gold: Alexander Watson; silver: Ashtons (Redbourn).

South East (South) — gold: Gascoigne Billinghurst (Hinchley Wood); silver: Gascoigne Billinghurst (Claygate).

South West — gold: Corben & Son; silver: House-Hut.

Wales — gold: Dafydd Hardy; silver: Darlows.

West Midlands — gold: Cobb Property; silver: Henderson Hynes.

Yorkshire and the Humber — gold: Hudson Moody; silver: Coalters.

Lettings

North — gold: Pinkerton Murray; silver: William H Brown (Beverley).

Central — gold: Flick & Son (Saxmundham); silver: Williams & Goodwin The Property People.

South — gold: Ashley Charles; silver: Norgans.