Being a “steady, little, slightly under the radar company” that puts people first has been key to the success and survival of a business that is marking its 30th anniversary.
Rennie and Company has been established in Watford for almost 70 years after being founded in 1955 by Jim Rennie, but on March 3, 1994 the estate agency was taken over by Brian Handley.
It has been a “rollercoaster” journey since for the Clarendon Road-based firm whose managing director is celebrating another 30th birthday this month.
“Within a few weeks of starting the business my son was born, so I’m looking at the fact that I’m obviously going to be celebrating his 30th birthday this year and both seem to have gone in the blink of an eye,” Brian reflected. “It is quite incredible.
“When we first started here, house prices were so dramatically different. Terraced houses which are now over £400,000 were £70,000. It has been a rollercoaster following how the market trends go – it’s up, then it’s down then it’s up again.
“Thankfully we’ve always been a steady, little, slightly under the radar company which has just got on with it.”
That “rollercoaster” has involved navigating some huge challenges that created economic shockwaves on a global level.
“Covid was the big challenge,” Brian said. “I don’t think anyone ever expected it or understood it and that was a very difficult time.
“I would say the banking crisis was the second biggest challenge and for estate agency the biggest challenge is when there’s inactivity. If a market is rising, we’re busy, if a market is collapsing, we’re busy, but when a market is just stagnant it’s when we start to struggle because nobody’s moving.
“This year is not necessarily as busy as some of the others but then it’s an election-threatening year and people will always hedge their bets as what’s best to do.”
Although a whole host of factors are involved in the decision to buy or rent a property, Brian firmly believes that estate agency is about putting people first and this can get easily overlooked amid the wealth of information now available online.
He said: “You’ve got to have a good rapport with people and you’ve got to be fairly straight and down the line. There’s no point trying to blind them with figures and say ‘we can do this, that and the other’.
“Sometimes I think now there is so much information thrown at the public there’s no point looking at the house. They’ve made their mind up because they’ve seen absolutely everything.
“When you use [advertise] just the location of a property, the price and a few bits about it people have to phone up and you get to speak to them about it.
“Of course a lot of the time when people go into a property it’s nothing to do with how many rooms and what they look like, it’s a feeling. Some people feel whether it’s just right for them or not - sometimes they walk in and fall in love and that’s it.
“Half the time I think people are looking at a property and they’re dismissing it. And they’re dismissing it because they’ve been fed all this information, they don’t realise the other qualities that might suit them better.
“A lot of time what people set out in their minds to go for in a property is not what they always end up buying.”
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