When you’re a South London graduate with a passion for travel, discovery, and a drive for personal growth, estate agency may not seem like an obvious choice of profession, but when you’re also fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese and you love, love, love everything to do with property, the way my career has panned out starts to make a little more sense. This is my journey, from part-time takeaway delivery driver to business development and sales manager with a team of my own, in eight short years (because every year doing something you enjoy seems to speed by).

I was born in Greenwich, and currently live in Deptford, just a few miles from where I was raised and from where I work in Elephant and Castle. So, while this may seem like I’ve not gone far, I’ve travelled the globe in search of my three passions in life – a hunger to taste an endless variety of street food from across the world, adrenaline-filled winter sports on powdered snow, and a thirst for understanding the nuanced mechanism individuals use to determine what constitutes a ‘good deal’ in their eyes.

When I left university after the 2008 financial crisis, I worked in a restaurant as a waiter and then as a delivery boy before my brother introduced me to the world of estate agency.

The last eight years have been a whirlwind of brain-buzzing knowledge absorption, amazing deals and fantastic client relationships, but I was hooked from day one.

I started out at the bottom –  an entry level junior negotiator. Just because my brother owned the business didn’t mean that I was given any special treatment, in fact it probably meant the opposite was true – I had to work harder to prove myself, and in turn helped him grow his empire. I loved the fast pace of the job and I quickly found that I had a talent for agile thinking, finding solutions to all manner of challenges that might be holding deals back. And this has helped me to close a significant number of deals across South London over the years.

One example of this was the deal I facilitated the completion of in November 2020. I’d valued a remarkable property at £1.1m and I knew it was something special – a 2,500 sq. ft, post-war 6-bed, freehold HMO house being sold with development potential in the basement.

The vendor had owned the property for over a decade and achieved a healthy return over that period, but now he wanted an exit.

I knew there would be a lot of interest, and in no time we had a bidding war between three buyers. While this may seem like a good position to be in, when emotions run high a situation like this can easily get out of hand, with time wasted, promises broken and deals lost.

Thinking a number of steps ahead, in order to give our client the security he requested, I suggested a contract race. As soon as all three of the bidders had reached our client’s acceptable figure it would be down to who could exchange first. While it is entirely possible that these buyers could have been persuaded to pay more, our client’s priority was a stress-free sale and this is exactly what we delivered.

From valuation to completion it took just two months; the vendor achieved £1.05m and the buyer evidenced their commitment through action rather than words. By understanding the mindset of both buyer and seller while always looking to achieve our vendor’s goals, I was able to ensure both sides walked away happy.  

I believe that being a good middleman means having an agile mind, understanding what both sides of the trade want and being the person to help them get there. As an active investor myself, I’m able to deliver that, and will continue to facilitate many more transactions in the future.  

So, if you’re looking to buy, sell or invest in South London, give me a call or pop in to say hello.