Jeff Downton from Smart Property and Neil Newstead from Oakfield are both delighted to announce the merger of their two companies, staff and services and Smart Property Solutions will now operate under the Oakfield Estate Agents brand.
The merger sees two well established, local and trusted companies combining in a bid to enhance customer experience and services in the local market in residential sales, lettings, property management and long leasehold management.
Smart has been trading since 2007 and its portfolio of sales, lettings and long leasehold properties, as well as all current staff and customers, have been merged into Oakfield.
“What a great merger this has already proven to be, and we are already looking to the future and building what will be a special team and presence in the Hastings area” said Jeff Downton, Director of Smart Property Solutions. Neil Newstead CEO of Oakfield Estate Agents said, “It is so exciting to welcome the Landlords, Sellers and Leaseholders and staff to the Oakfield family. We look forward to working with them all in the future. My ambition is to look for other opportunities to grow our business further, whilst maintaining exceptional customer service levels and property expertise. We will continue to support our local community by providing a quality service, be up to date with compliance and industry changes.”
From the beginning of 2020 all the operations of Smart Property will be centred together with Oakfield from the offices at Haig House. All the staff from Smart Property will concentrate on the existing portfolio of Lettings & Management so the Landlords, Tenants and Suppliers will continue to deal with Danielle, Georgia, Sam, Rob & Jeff.
Oakfield’s Neil Newstead explains that ‘Oakfield and Smart Property have built a reputation for excellent customer service and the business models are very similar so it’s easy to see how this merger will benefit both new and existing clients in the future. Both businesses have a strong presence in Hastings & St Leonards and we want to continue to develop our customer base here and grow the business. We will now be able to offer a wider range of products and services and enjoy the extra expertise that we will need in the future’.
Jeff Downton has been in the Sales and Lettings business for thirty years and the well-respected agent says ‘There are significant advantages to joining forces with our competitors in what has been a challenging few years of trading. The industry is going through many changes that will affect every agent in the high street in the months and years to come. Our business must embrace these changes and tackle the pressure from online agents head-on. I believe that the way to do this is to be innovative, using the latest property technology, whilst still remaining face to face with our customers and clients. There are so many apps, online tools and do-it-yourself agents appearing in the market place these days which I believe has had a detrimental effect on the way in which Estate & Lettings agents are perceived. We still offer expert advice as well as professional services and I am convinced that the industry needs to keep up the highest standards of service so customers’ best advice is to deal with only qualified professionals that have made a commitment to learn and develop their skills. Both Neil and I welcome any prospective new clients from all fields of Lettings, Sales, Block Management and New Developments to visit our office in Haig House and speak to us.’