2024, it’s been a pleasure!

It is undeniable – we are firmly into those last, lingering days of the year. The Christmas Cards have been dispatched, the Christmas list has been penned and sent up the chimney with the fairies, and now that there is no more fighting against the festive season kicking off in earnest, it is inevitable that we come to reflect on the year behind, and to look forward to the year ahead.

At The House Group, we are feeling pretty pleased with ourselves to be honest, it has to be said. We have had a lovely year!

It has not been an easy year – the property market has been a challenging place. But we didn’t do this for an easy ride. We did it to make a difference – to offer Wiltshire and Gloucestershire property sellers and buyers a truly different choice, and a more concierge approach to property.

Our whole ethos is about making the effort, and frankly we love a challenge – and that includes the challenges that 2024 has brought, everything from rampant inflation to general elections!

Well, it’s no fun when it’s easy...

The Not so New Kids on the Block

It’s odd to think we are 18 months old as a business. In some ways we still feel so new – but on the other hand, the way we have grown this year – in spite of the market – has been extraordinary. We didn’t plan to explode (and not that we did), but we did sit down at the end of 2023, just the three of us – myself, and our first two Member Agents, James and Ben –, and we said: “let’s see what happens next year...”

We had been listing and selling properties of course. The basics are what get us out of bed and were why we did this thing – and really, they are still. However, we are also creating a Self-Employed brokerage, one where we already knew, six months in as we were then at this point last year, that we would be keen to welcome other fantastic, likeminded agents who might be looking to take their skills and experience into a self employed role.

It’s a pleasure to take stock now and realise that, without pushing, and really through serendipity, we have organically grown from three to eight member agents in 2024.

It is important to note that we don’t want growth for the sake of it – we actively do not want ‘stereotypical estate agents’, and we mean to keep a grip on growth because, for us, the pastoral approach that we can then offer to our member agents can remain front and centre.

The House Group is a People Business, not a Property Business, and as much as that means our clients, it definitely also means our member agents.

A Strong Year for Property Sales

At the end of the day, in saying all the above, whether it be a people business or a property business, it is a business, and business can’t be maintained if sales are not coming through. 2023 was a short year for us – we opened in June that year – and it takes time for listings to come on and sales to start exchanging and completing (albeit, the first was that September!) – so it is impossible to compare numbers this year to last, but nevertheless extraordinary to tot the numbers up and realise we have completed in excess of 100 property sales throughout 2024, and we head into 2025 with 60 properties Sold Subject to Contract, working through the pipeline.

James has just exchanged on his 50^th sale – that’s just James, alone! And this is business that he has grown from his social media and from his network.

One other thing we are really delighted to be seeing is return custom; people who are proactively following our member agents across, due to previous successes with them – proving that the person is more important than the brand. We nurture that. Unlike other Agencies, we absolutely want the personalities of our agents to shine through, because for us, buying and selling property is all about relationships.

Relationships mean that sellers listen to our advice. They trust that we have their best interests at heart. For example, when I took on a thatched property in Wroughton recently, a property whose owners I had moved ten years ago; they trusted me – having come off the market with another estate agent, after several months not selling; they trusted me when I said to them that we should put the price up. You could quite understand how sellers might push back against that sort of advice if trust were not there. But I am glad they did, because we now have their home sold subject to contract, racing its way through the conveyancing process.

How do we do it? Honestly, we simply think about it – every time.

What Next for The House Group in 2025

It goes without saying that we will carry on providing more of the same exceptional service to those of you buying and selling property in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire – that’s a given. But whereas we went into 2024 saying “let’s wait and see”, we do have more of a growth attitude for 2025 when it comes to recruiting brilliant agents into the self employed model – agents who can make use of their networks and their community, bringing all that into the community that we are building together at The House Group –especially as we have now rolled out Capital Builder model, where our member agents can grow recurring revenue streams direct into their own limited companies, meaning that when someone is ready to leave – hopefully at some distant retirement date in the future – they have something of value that they can sell either to one of their fellow member agents or even to the Group itself.

We see it as a win-win.

We are also really excited about launching our Lettings and Property Management business this coming year. It has been something we have had on the cards and in our sights for some time, and now that we have built what we have, we are ready to take that next step. Stay tuned to our News page for more announcements on this in the New Year.

As we grow, we are mindful now that House needs a Home – and so look out for that in 2025 also. Our first premises. Somewhere that our member agents – self employed as they are – can come together in a single space, bounce ideas around and support each other even better than we have been able to do in 2024.

It is something we are really looking forward to.

2024, you’ve been great… but now, roll on 2025.