Penrose Estate Agents is 5 years old! Join us and share in the happy :)
There’s an air of celebration in the Penrose hub at the moment – your agent of choice in Luton turns 5 years old this month! Our town, its people, and its property market have been through the mill since we first opened our doors, but we’re still going strong. Time to pause, and take a look back with pride at how far we’ve all come. Yes, you too...
Never Just A Number
In 2016 when we opened Penrose, Luton had a standard mix of national and independent estate agents offering property services. People knew what they were getting – the business models being used hadn’t really changed in decades. We know, because all three directors at Penrose used to work for these agents in various guises. It was educational, but also frustrating. Trust in estate agents was at an all-time low. And perhaps, in some cases, with good reason.
People deserved better, so we decided to give it to them. Penrose was born.
It was a daunting task to break into such an established market, but from the moment we launched, the number of people choosing to buy, sell and rent with us has far exceeded anything we could have hoped for. And we’re grateful to each and every one of you.
More than two thousand of you have trusted us to sell your homes so far, and the number of sales we’ve already agreed with buyers on your behalf sits at close to two thousand too. That’s not a coincidence.
We’re proud to have delivered on our promises to you – buyers and sellers alike – and to our landlords and tenants; we’ve secured well in excess of one thousand new lets for our rental clients in our first five years too. That’s a great track record, and one that with your continued support we’d love to beat by the time Penrose hits double figures.
Numbers do matter (we all have to make a living) but to us you are so much more than that. As we enter our sixth year of business, our clients remain our key focus. So. Numbers … pah. We’re all about people.Without you, we are nothing. And we never forget that.
Your Support Led Us To Success
We opened in September 2016 with trepidation, but also confidence. Our experience in the Luton market had given us valuable insight. What you, our clients, wanted more than anything else was an estate agent that you could trust. One that would cut through the schmancy sales patter, and tell you how it really is. And then, crucially, deliver stellar customer service. Every time.
Some of you already knew us, but many of you didn’t. Yet you were prepared to put your faith in us, and for that, we thank you. With your support, we quickly grew into a local force to be reckoned with, and you repaid us in the best possible way: by nominating us for the UK Estate Agent of the Year Awards (the ESTAS). For two years in a row, in 2018 and 2019 (before Covid put a stop to proceedings), you voted Penrose to success.
The tagline of the ESTAS is ‘Because Service Matters’, and for the Penrose team those three little words are what it’s all about. Winners are selected purely on the service they provide, and as our director Adam says:
‘Clients didn’t vote for us because it was a nice thing to do. They voted for us because we’ve made a positive and memorable impact on their lives. At Penrose we put clients at the heart of everything we do, and it’s so rewarding to have that recognised.’
There is obviously glitz and glamour at these awards ceremonies – and meeting Phil Spencer was a buzz, we’re not going to lie – but being able to say ‘Hey, we’re doing something right!’ is priceless. That knowledge helped to drive us more than you know when things got tough in 2020.
Covid Chaos
Covid brought a lot of things into sharp relief. One of the main things was this: people matter. The world shouldn’t have needed reminding of that, but it did, and it was, often in the most heartbreaking of ways.
When the first lockdown hit, like everyone else had to close our doors. But lockdown or not, people still needed to move. The government stopped faffing for once and quickly realised this – we were allowed to trade again, albeit under severe restrictions. And so you came virtually instead. We met you in person when we could, and in cyberspace when we couldn’t.
During the depths of the Covid crisis, many clients told us that it was our personal approach to customer service, along with our proactivity and professionalism, that drew them to Penrose. When the chips are down – and let’s face it, they were so far down they’d pretty much disappeared – people look for ways to feel safe, and cared for. We always strive to offer that to our clients, but somehow, during Covid, it became even more important.
The house buying, selling and moving processes are stressful enough at the best of times. And anyone moving during Covid, and especially during lockdown, faced so many additional challenges. We wanted to help in any way we could, and one of the best ways we found to be there for our clients was to … well, just be there. Our client feedback from this period in particular suggests that this was appreciated.
Our director Richard said something at the time that captured the issue perfectly:
‘Our clients are real people, with real lives. A lot of estate agents seem to forget that in pursuit of the bottom line. For us, this business, this job, is personal.’
We’ve Grown, And So Has Luton
The last 5 years have, coincidentally, marked the first five years of the delivery phase of the Luton Investment Framework (LIF). This epic undertaking still has many years to roll, but Luton has already started to see the benefits, and so have its homeowners, although not everyone was convinced upfront that it was such a great idea.
The LIF promised numerous property developments in key sites around the town and many of our clients feared that this would have a detrimental effect on the resale market: Who will want a seasoned home when you have these sparkly new houses and apartments to play with?
But we helped to put their minds at rest.
Any major infrastructure development on the scale of the LIF is about much more than just throwing up a few new homes. It drives the whole economy.
Business are drawn to the swanky and conveniently sited office facilities. Those businesses need external services to support them, and people to fill them. These demands attract small businesses to the area, along with employees and their families. And the needs of the employees of big and small business alike are not always met by shiny apartment living.
Families, for instance, more usually want good, solid homes with schools and amenities on-hand. So they turned to the wider town, boosting the resale property and rental markets. With the launch of Penrose, we leapt directly onto that wave.
Although relatively new to the estate agency market, our collective experience and straight, no-nonsense approach earned the confidence of many investors, and we have been delighted to have had so many of the new LIF-derived properties cross our books.
While that made us smile, the knock-on effect to the overall property market made us grin from ear-to-ear. Our predictions about the resale market came true, and we’ve been delighted to help many Luton residents buy, sell and rent their properties on the back of that investment wave, and will continue to do so as the LIF marches on.
Whose Market Is It Anyway?
In normal times, housing market fluctuations are the norm. There is something comforting about the gentle ebb and flow of phrases like ‘It’s a buyers’ market’ that drip from the lips of nightly newsreaders on TV. We all know what that means, and we all know it’s temporary and will soon swing the other way. But lately, this gentle, predictable sway has been a bit adrift.
Okay, that’s an understatement. In truth:
The entire UK property market has been battered over the last five years.
Even pre-Covid, the pointy-heads in Westminster were tinkering with things. The rules on everything from Stamp Duty and First-Time Buying and Housing Provision, to Lettings Legislation and Capital Gains Tax were being tweaked and massaged into oblivion on an almost weekly basis. Demand and supply swung about like a pendulum on steroids.
Not a great time to enter into the estate agency business, really. But here’s the thing, summed up perfectly by our director Ben:
‘You can mess with the process all your want – ultimately, success or failure come down to the collective impact made by the decisions of individuals. Single people. Couples. Families. Names, not numbers … People. Take care of the people, and the business will take care of itself.’
Yep, it’s actually quite simple. We listened to our clients – those who crossed our threshold, and those hovering outside, still unsure if they could trust us. Yes, the market was – and still is – in a state of flux (not the Back to the Future kind – and if anyone punches 2020 into the DeLorean, we’re leaving the planet). But change is okay as long as you move with it.
We still listen today, and look inwards not outwards – we take our responsibilities seriously. What the market is doing is less important than what we’re doing for you, and our team works every day to deliver a service that meets your needs, not ours.
So whose market is it right now? Yours. And we’re here to help you navigate it.
We’d Like To Say Thank You …
You, our clients, have been a huge part of our journey so far, and we want to say a massive THANK YOU for your continuing support. It means the world to us, and we know that your homes mean the world to you.
Who knows where the next five years will lead? We’re not going anywhere, so stay with us as we all head into the unknown. Together, we can keep Luton’s housing market vibrant, and keep making those property dreams come true. If you’re looking to buy, sell, or rent, get in touch today and let us show you how we can help.