Focus on our Members:
County Homesearch International

By Jonathan Haward, Managing Director 

Prior to establishing The County Homesearch Company in 1988, I was enjoying a flourishing career in estate agency where service wasn’t something we were trained to pay lip service to, but something we actively delivered.  The company I was working with was a national treasure – it was called Fox and Sons and with over 100 offices to its credit, it had one of the largest networks in the southern half of England and a good time was had by all. 

That was until in common with a very large number of UK estate agents in the mid-late 1980s, a decision was made to “sell out” to, in our case, an insurance company but in the case of other firms, banks or building societies. 

Whilst the proprietary directors and partners of these establishments enjoyed significant financial gains from such sales, the public were the ones who suffered! 

At the signing of a pen, traditional standards of high quality service to the housing market became less of a priority than selling insurance products or financial services and the property buying public were feeling neglected and abused. 

It was against this background of discontent and demand from my long-standing clients, that there was clearly an opportunity developing to look after the interests of the property buyer, protect them from the estate agent who was increasingly active in the selling of financial service products and was also solely representing the seller of the property insofar that the more money they sold the property for, the more money the individual estate agents and negotiators were to receive. 

In establishing The County Homesearch Company the objective was to redress the balance and provide the very highest level of service to the home buyer who up until this point had been largely unrepresented. 

Although the homesearch concept at that time wasn’t new, it had very far from reached its potential (and I believe it still hasn’t).  We came to the market with a fresh approach and through many articles that appeared about us in the national and international press, managed to attract a lot of attention (and we still do!).  This is what helped put us on the map. 

Initially, the service that we provided through our Headquarters in the West Country of England was solely aimed at those people wishing to buy properties.  We obviously did something right and demand for the service that we are providing meant that people wanted us to find houses in parts of the country that we weren’t represented in.  With this in mind, we decided to expand the business and rather than look at setting up a partnership or a large company, I was persuaded to look at franchising our network in the UK.  This worked extremely well and we quickly spread our wings throughout the UK where we now have 24 offices. 

Since the opening of our franchised offices some 16 years ago, there have been many changes not only to the business, but to the way in which we run our business and the service that the clients come to expect. 

Our first computer – operating on a black and white screen with MS Dos is probably a valuable museum piece.  The internet wasn’t in existence, the website was yet to be (significantly) invented, and digital photography was a thing of the future and who at that time had heard of email?  Sometimes it would be lovely to wind back the clock! 

Keeping up with the changes in the business environment is fairly easy – anticipating the changes and staying ahead is the challenge and following a trip to the ERC in New Orleans in 1999, I was chatting to a number of removal organisations who all pointed in the direction of ISO9001 accreditation as an externally recognised means of credibility and excellence.  Achieving the ISO accreditation the following year was a significant hurdle.  We were amongst the first service providers to have the accolade and it was a brilliant move. 

The County Homesearch Company is in many ways unique insofar that its origins came from looking after the needs of those people wanting to find a house to buy and this is where the majority of our revenue comes from.  Indeed our house buying service is also available in Ireland, Spain, South Africa and Cyprus. 

Over the last ten years we have been building up a second leg to our business with the provision of destination services.  The experience we have had looking after the private clients has undoubtedly helped with the quality of service and delivery we are able to achieve on the corporate front and it is with great pride that when I bring people into our Boardroom, I make sure they walk past the trophy cabinet!   

In terms of relocation many private and corporate clients alike will ask what it is we can do to help fulfil their requirements and we simply say that we will do everything they want and things they don’t know they want, but to get the ball rolling, share your dreams and we will endeavour to put them (the property related ones!) into reality. 

When I am asked about my plans for the future, I smile and say “the world is my oyster”! 

For further information please contact Jonathan Haward – Founder and Managing Director of County Homesearch International plc +44 1872 223349. 

For details of opportunities within our organisation do take a look at our website www.wefindhouses.com