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Estate Agency Franchise

Hunters Appoints First Franchise

Hunters Property Group, one of the fastest growing estate agency franchise in the North has signed its first franchisee.

Fletcher Bull, an established business that currently operates two residential estate agency offices in North Yorkshire, will now trade as Hunters Fletcher Bull in its Knaresborough and Boroughbridge locations.

The new franchisee has also bought the franchise for the market towns of Thirsk, Bedale and Northallerton, which they will open over the next 3 years.

Jamie McMullan, Director of Franchising at Hunters Property Group, said: “Fletcher Bull is a very well respected agency in its local community and enjoys a strong market presence. Despite its success, the owners of the business recognised that they could significantly enhance the firm’s profitability by using Hunters’ unique systems and methodology.

“As its offices are right in the heartland of the Hunters Network, our two companies will also certainly compliment one another.”

As well as retaining the independent name by trading as Hunters Fletcher Bull, the business will also be able to take advantage of Hunters Property Group divisions including Lettings, Mortgage Services, Commercial, Surveying, Overseas Homes and the prestige brand “City-Country” at no extra cost.

Jamie continues: “The company will also be ready to roll with the new Home Information Packs, which are set to shake up the housing market next year.

“Fundamentally, by joining with Hunters, the agency will have access to our processes, systems and extensive internal training courses as well as buying into our culture of doing business which ensures that 60 per cent of our business is repeat work or recommendations.

“With more franchisees in the pipeline, we are expecting to sign up 25 new franchise locations in the next six months. It’s a fantastic start to our Franchise Programme.”

The ambitious programme has been devised to turn the Hunters brand into a national organisation with a branch on every high street.

Andrew Bull, partner at Fletcher Bull, said: “The partners Carl Fletcher, Andy Hetherington and I are delighted to be the first company to sign up with Hunters Franchising.

“Having opened ERA Fletcher Bull as a fresh start in 2003, the company has progressed to being the leading agent in Knaresborough and expanded its operations into Boroughbridge. We felt that combining our offering with Hunters Property Group, the leading agent in the north would ensure our future success.

“The main reason for our decision to join Hunters was the ability to use its proven systems and processes. Hunters’ residential offices enjoy a profit margin of over 25 per cent and we also want to achieve that.

“As a small independent, you’re in competition with everyone, so how do you stand out from every other independent in the town? By being part of the Hunters network we will be able to find more buyers and offer more and better services to our clients.

“Hunters Property Group has plans to massively expand its franchising network, leading to flotation within the next 2 to 5 years. We are very excited to be part of that at the very beginning and believe our superb sites in both Knaresborough and Boroughbridge will flourish and set new standards that promise to re-energise the market in both towns.”

Hunters Property Group officially launched its franchise proposition at the UK Franchising Show in Manchester 27th and 28th January 2006. The company aims to roll out 1000 UK branches within the next ten years as well as overseas offices before 2010.

Formed in 1992 by five Directors, Hunters is now projecting a turnover of £11m for 2006/7. The company employs almost 200 people across its 10 northern offices, offering a range of services including sales, lettings, new homes, mortgages, commercial and overseas homes.

The firm has racked up a number of top agent awards to boot including being ranked in the Sunday Times Best 100 Companies to work for and has twice won national best agent accolades from the Home Sale Network, a collection of the leading independent agents in the UK.

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