Rhiwbina Living Issue 48

face to local landlords, Emily our
lettings negotiator and Abi our
lettings administrator."
Kate has supplemented the
existing team with key people from
Whitchurch Road.
"We have Michael who’s in lettings.
He started working with Northwood
six months after the office opened
17 years ago. Dad’s always been
keen to train and invest in people;
we want to give our members of
staff opportunities. Michael started
as an apprentice and has worked
his way up. Ryan is also in Lettings;
he's been a negotiator with us for
over three years now and then
there's James, who has been with
us for 11 years. He was working in
Lettings but is now in Sales and
absolutely loving it! And of course,
there's my husband Ben. He takes
care of the lettings. It really is a
family affair!"
While the merger was perhaps
unexpected, it has breathed new
life into the village.
"Everyone's been really positive
about the merger and we believe
that we've now got the best of both
worlds here. It’s lovely to meet
new people every day and every
day is different. We’ve got some
great ideas for the future and we’re
already planning for the Winter and
Summer festivals already."
In addition to the community
input, customers can also sample
the great Northwood experience
when it comes to letting or buying
a home.
"Dad has worked really, really hard
to get the business to where it is.
He’s semi-retired now. He’s still the
franchisee but is now more of a
personal consultant, who helps and
advises.
"As such, we can offer our
customers a fantastic service.
We offer our popular guaranteed
income scheme which isn’t
insurance based and it’s quite
unique – we effectively become
the landlord and agree to pay the
landlord, regardless of whether the
tenant pays or whether the property
has been let. The risk is all on us.
That has very much been a selling
point for us for the last 17 years.
"We offer guaranteed rent for
a minimum of one year and a
maximum of three years. We’ll deal
with it all for you. We're there to take
the hassle out. And if a traditional
letting is what you're after, we can
of course, offer that too."
And Northwood aren't just a onetrick
pony either.
"As the market has developed
over the last few years, we realised
that there was nothing stopping us
becoming an estate agent," says
Kate. "It’s a very big decision on who
you trust to sell your house for you.
It relies a lot on liking the people
who are going to sell your property
and we have to show that and prove
that. We want to do it the right way
and we want to help.
"We want to provide the best
customer service possible and we
also need to be here when people
need us. We want to make the
journey of letting or selling a home
as easy as we can for everyone. We
offer so much more than an online
agency can."
So far, so good then for Kate and
her team. But there's still a lot to do.
"The plan is that Lettings will be
rebranded to Northwood and the
Morgans name will stay for Sales.
We’re keen to integrate in the
community and to grow further.
We need to keep our Northwood
customers happy too so we've got
to keep that balance right."
There will be ongoing training too,
that's backed up by the national
Northwood brand.
"Legislation has changed so much
over the years and our franchise
office has kept us informed about
all of this since the start. If we have
a tricky question, someone in the
network will have an answer to it.
We are part of the Rent Smart
Wales scheme and also part of the
SafeAgents scheme, which provides
peace of mind for landlords and
tenants.
"We’re good at what we do. We’re
not just coming in cold at this," adds
Kate.
And what about the next
generation of Kate's family?
"We've got a little one and
we're possibly looking to move.
Rhiwbina’s definitely top of the list
of places we’d like to move to!"
In the meantime, Kate and her
team have a few matters to attend
to.
"As a team, we've still not got
around to having a night out yet.
There were a lot of people away in
August so we'll definitely be getting
that in the diary asap!
"We are aware that Morgans was
a family business. We now have
the benefit of the backing of a
national brand but we are still our
own limited company and still as
accessible as Morgans was. It’s still
the same from a client’s point of
view too."
It looks like Northwood have found
their new forever home.
1A & 1B Heol Y Deri, Rhiwbina,
Cardiff, CF14 6HA
02920 301141
www.northwooduk.com
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