Several offices in the Belvoir network recently celebrated milestone anniversaries, including Steve Tunney from Belvoir Milton Keynes who has completed 20 years with the award-winning property franchise. In addition, Belvoir Swansea and Belvoir Luton have clocked up a further 20 years between them and are looking forward to an exciting future in what is currently a very strong lettings and sales market.
Steve Tunney of Belvoir Milton Keynes is one of Belvoir’s longest standing franchisees, and with 24 years of experience in the lettings business there is not much that surprises him, although he admits that the coronavirus pandemic has undoubtedly been the biggest challenge.
“This pandemic has been the most challenging experience of my career, but the help we received from the Belvoir franchise support team during lockdown was really very good,” says Steve. “As soon as any new government guidance was issued we received further information from Central Office within 24 hours and that was invaluable. As a business owner, it definitely made my life easier knowing that Central Office was working so hard on our behalf and sending all the information through to us so quickly. The development of new products to introduce new income streams was also extremely helpful.
“During my time with Belvoir so much has happened – some of it good, some of it funny and some of it sad, but no two days are the same, that’s for sure! I turned 60 this year, but I’ve signed up for another five years. These may be uncertain times, but being part of the Belvoir franchise certainly makes life easier.”
Ben and Daisy Davies from Belvoir Swansea, and Adrian Mason from Belvoir Luton also completed ten years with Belvoir in July and have not hesitated to sign up for a further five years.
“The last decade has definitely exceeded our expectations,” says Ben. “I have always been very ambitious and knew that we would ultimately be able to dominate the market in this area. This September Daisy and I are going to open a third Belvoir office in a beautiful, brand new marina at Sketty, and we are really looking forward to it.
“At the moment demand is like nothing we have ever experienced before. In the last four weeks received about 2500 calls and 2200 lettings enquiries by email. We have come out of lockdown at a naturally busy time, but also people have made up their mind they want to move for all kinds of reasons, such as wanting to be in a more rural area. There is a lot going on; one property that we listed had 250 enquiries on it! Swansea is a hot spot for investors.”
Dorian Gonsalves, Belvoir CEO says: “I would like to offer many congratulations to our many longstanding franchisees who have achieved so much over the years and who have proved themselves to be superb ambassadors for the brand, providing their clients with exemplary customer service.
“Belvoir released a trading update on 30th July, in which the Board was delighted to report that trading during the first half of 2020 had delivered continued growth despite the UK-wide lockdown, which is a fantastic achievement.
“Feedback from franchisees across the network has been very positive regarding the levels of support they received from Central Office during lockdown, and I have to thank the franchise support team for their commitment and hard work, particularly through those early weeks of lockdown when everyone worked extremely long hours to ensure the success of our franchisees. We were presented with an extremely fast changing situation during lockdown and although it was a challenge to ensure that our franchisees were kept informed, everyone rose to the challenge. I am very proud of the entire team, as well as the way that all of our franchisees responded.
“I am also very proud that we didn’t lose a single Belvoir office as a result of the lockdown. I think this proves that a Belvoir franchise represents a great opportunity for anyone who may now be looking for a new challenge and would like the reassurance of knowing they will receive outstanding support throughout every step of their journey.
“Belvoir is currently hot on the acquisition trail, and we have a dedicated acquisition team that is actively seeking independent agents who may now be considering selling their business. We already have a large number of franchisees across the country who are looking to expand through acquisition during the remainder of 2020 and beyond.
“Whilst there is still some uncertainty as to how the housing market will be affected during the remainder of the year, I am confident that Belvoir will meet its pre-Covid expectations for the year ending 31st December 2020.”
For more information on the Belvoir opportunity or to have a confidential chat with a member of the acquisition team please visit Our Become a Franchisee page.
Related articles you might like: Launch marks record sixth branch for Belvoir franchisee and Onwards and upwards for Belvoir Leeds North West!
