Five minutes with… Belvoir’s Wayne Mearns

Proprietor of Belvoir Southend-on-Sea Wayne Mearns is soon to open Belvoir Basildon following the recent acquisition of local independent letting agent, Let It Be.

As well as being re-branded as a Belvoir office Wayne also plans to move the current branch to a more central location in the near future too.

After three years of successful trading at Belvoir Southend-on-Sea - and with the challenge of a new office about to begin - we caught up with Wayne to find out more about his plans...


Question: Why did you decide to open another Belvoir office?

"I decided to open another office to not only expand but also complement the existing branch in Southend," says Wayne, "This will, in turn, boost our presence in the South East."


Question: Why in Basildon?

"Basildon has a high rate of rental properties and is the perfect location to enable us to service the Thames Corridor," says Wayne. "This includes the approved London Gateway - a major deep-sea container port integrated with what will be one of Europe's largest business and logistics parks. This will create 14,000 jobs and around 6,500 new homes."


Question: What is the lettings market like in Basildon?

Wayne says, "Basildon has a high turnover of rental properties but no 'Letting Specialist´ that does just lettings."


Question: How are you going to juggle both offices?

"I have key staff in each office and KPI daily sheets that will allow me to measure where we are and any areas that need to be prioritised," says Wayne.


Question: Are you going to have a launch celebration?

"A launch party will take place," says Wayne, "But, effectively, this will be after we've relocated to a more central location."


Question: What are your visions for the future?

"My vision for the future is to place a satellite office in Grays to boost the business further," says Wayne. "I also want to work with Southend Utd on their new ground and help with properties being built both there and on the old ground. My aim is to convince builders that placing letting agents in developments will help them to sell their properties quicker. We are impartial 'specialists' and investors like to deal with us because all we do is lettings."


Question: What's your favourite part of the job?

"My favourite part of the job is the people you meet," says Wayne. "The huge amount of very different landlords and tenants."


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The acquisition of independent letting agents is a key part of Belvoir's strategy for 2010, as Belvoir's Sales Director Dorian Gonsalves explains. "We're proactively looking for independent letting agents who are looking to exit their businesses," says Dorian. "We're also interested in talking to any independent letting agents who may wish to join Belvoir and re-brand their existing business in order to benefit from our national brand, group schemes and the support and assistance that a nationally-recognised franchise company can offer."

• Belvoir Lettings now have more than 140 offices nationwide. To find your nearest Belvoir office, visit their website at www.belvoirlettings.com


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