Cardiff Estate Agency Wins Prestigious Award

at

the 2009 Estate Agency of the Year Awards

Thomas & Rose 1 Estate Agents received the prestigious industry accolade this week as Silver Award Winner for Wales at the 2009 Estate Agency of the Year Awards in association with The Sunday Times.

The event, now in its sixth year, was this year supported for the first time by The Sunday Times and is widely recognised as the most important in the industry calendar.  The sold out event attracted agents representing over 4,000 branches nationwide and in a sign of improving times for the market, this year received a record number of award entries. 

Following their initial submissions, each of these winners has been subjected to rigorous scrutiny by a panel of independent industry experts and the whole judging process is overseen by the Property Ombudsman Christopher Hamer.

Thomas & Rose were delighted to receive the award.  Principle, Sean McMahon commenting:  “This is a tremendous indictment of everything we do at Thomas & Rose. I am proud of every single member of the team and look forward to continuing our success in 2010. Our commitment to continual development and learning to help us achieve an excellence in our service is integral to the Thomas & Rose model and it is personally very gratifying to see this recognised by our industry peers.

The judges’ report highlighted the particular qualities of Thomas & Rose stating, “Everything they undertake is considered in terms of how it will improve their company and how it will benefit the customer. With the team kept involved in the important decisions, there is a clear sense of the pride and mutual desire they have to work together to take the business from strength to strength. The directors admit to still feeling excited about the industry after many years and this is filtered down to the teams and is clearly demonstrated by the fantastic staff retention. Open 6 days a week but with appointments on Sundays and bank holidays, the focus is always on the customer needs and they work hard in the local community to raise their company profile and help local causes. An innovative and modern business, congratulations to Thomas & Rose for their well deserved success. ”

In addition to Thomas & Rose, other winners at the Awards were The Property People in North Wales who received Gold in the ‘Best Estate Agency in Wales’, Your Move who received Gold in the ‘Best Large Estate Agency UK’ category and Ashington Page who were named as “Best Small Estate Agency UK”.   Finders Keepers received the Gold award as “Best UK Lettings Agency” with Newman Estate Agents receiving the award for “Best Customer Service”.

In addition to title sponsor, The Sunday Times, the 2009 awards sponsors included: My Home Move, Mortgage Talk, ARPM, Globrix, Rightmove, Moneypenny, Dove & Hawk, The Academy, Phoenix, Reapit and leading developer, Banner Homes.

Once again the Awards were also supported by the Property Ombudsman and leading professional bodies the NAEA and ARLA.

The special achievement award for 2009 was presented to the Property Ombudsman Chairman, Bill McClintock in recognition of his exceptional and continuing contribution to the industry.

Peter Knight, Chairman of the event organisers Estate Agency Events was delighted with the 2009 awards, “I hope that our record number of entries this year and the very little time it took for the event to sell out is an indicator that we may have reached the bottom of the slump.  There is no doubt that 2010 will still be a challenging year for our industry and the absolute commitment to excellence that all our winners have demonstrated will be vital for the industry to return to growth and thrive in the future. I cannot commend the examples set by all the other winners highly enough. The award winners and the participants in the accompanying Leadership Summit and Future Estate Agency and Lettings Live Seminars are shining examples whom I would urge all others to aspire to.

“I would also like to add my grateful thanks particularly to the team at The Sunday Times whose support has helped make the 2009 Awards even the biggest and best event yet.”

The chosen charity for the 2009 Awards was Help for Heroes and the event was addressed by the charity’s Mark Elliott who explained how money raised will go to help the charity’s Launchpad to Life and Combat Stress initiatives which help ex-service people who cannot return to active service and need help re-adjusting to civilian life due to physical or mental breakdowns or injury. Donations on the day raised £5,000 which will be donated to Help for Heroes via the Estate Agency Foundation, an umbrella charity through which agents’ donations go to existing charities that help combat the causes of homelessness.