One of Shropshire’s leading estate and letting agencies has bucked the national property trend by posting impressive results for the last twelve months.
Berriman Eaton, which celebrated 20 years of business in Bridgnorth, has secured more than £165m of gross sales across its business after expanding into more specialised and unique homes in and around the West Midlands.
The Whitburn Street office has also received another birthday present after it won the prestigious Gold Award in the British Estate Agent Awards for its area in 2023.
This success was based on its outstanding customer service, with the office ‘mystery shopped’ and scored on its helpfulness, local knowledge, and key questioning.
“Our end of year results for Bridgnorth show that the number of people viewing property and making offers remained on par with 2022,” explained Caroline Eaton, Director at Berriman Eaton.
“Like so many areas, sales dropped during the interest rate rises through the summer months, but regained strength again in November and December, with the former being the busiest month for sales agreed this year.”
She went on to add: “It was a challenging year, but our expertise and knowledge of the local area really paid dividends. We also made the national newspapers and reached Rightmove’s Top Ten most viewed property online after Dracup’s Cottage’s quirky underground caves grabbed the imagination.
“The property video was viewed online 9700 times, and the perfect buyer was found to protect the future of the property.”
The popularity of Bridgnorth and surrounding areas shows no sign of stopping, with Berriman Eaton reporting over 50% of last year’s buyers moved into the area for the first time – illustrating more flexible working patterns and the desire for semi-rural living in or around thriving market towns.
20 years ago, the company’s records show the average 3-bedroom semi-detached house was selling for just under £130,000, now they are regularly over £250,000.
Under the guidance of Director Andy Roberts, the property rental sector has also continued to grow, with its management portfolio increasing by more than 30% in the last three years.
This has seen it become one of the West Midlands leading authorities on lettings, working with families, housing associations, professional sports people, and high-profile business leaders – recently securing a record rental of £6000pcm for a Bridgnorth property.
Nick Berriman, Director of Berriman Eaton, picked up the story: “Local property market knowledge is critical and that’s what makes us stand out from internet-based rivals.
“We have a wealth of more character driven and unusual homes and these require much more experienced negotiation through the minefield of surveys, title issues and an array of historic legalities.
“Our team have regular training, we have dedicated sales progression managers in our offices and have invested heavily in photography…they do say a picture paints a thousand words.”
Berriman Eaton, which also has offices in Tettenhall, Wombourne and Worcestershire, is firmly committed to supporting the local community it operates in.
Now a proud Patron of the Wolverhampton Wanderers Foundation, it regularly donates to charities, supports local food banks and, during Covid-19, sprung to the help of frustrated parents ‘home schooling’ by launching a free printing service.
