Monday morning and so begins my first week as a Junior Lettings Negotiator with Sewell and Gardner. Both myself and my fellow beginner, Matt Westwood, arrived at the office bright and early, eager to see what the future may hold for us in the lettings industry. Only nine o’clock and the office was already buzzing with activity. After meeting the team and doing a couple of small jobs around the office, Jane and Jon took us down to the Fox and Hounds pub…. Not for a drink, but to the room above, this is where our training for the week was to take place. Priya, one of our fantastic management team, also accompanied us as she was keen to learn more about the negotiating side of the job.
In the morning we ran through some information about the job including the general job roles, details on health and safety, holiday days, sickness and working hours. We then had a break for lunch where we were treated to pizza and we had a chat about what we thought the job would entail and whether we thought it was something that we could see ourselves making a career out of. After lunch we were introduced to estate craft, our database which holds information about both properties and applicants. Matt and I took turns in registering applicants onto this database; he had the daunting task of registering our Lettings Director, Jane Gardner, where I registered Priya. When we had got through this it was time read through our contracts and sign on the dotted line. End of day one.
Tuesday was a chance to gain an insight into the different job roles within the lettings office. Various members of the team came down to the training room to go through their day to day job. Ben ran through valuing properties and meeting landlords, Rochelle came down and talked to us about renewals and properties coming back onto the market after the end of a tenancy. Finally Reagan went through the differences between a let only and a managed property and explained why it was better that a landlord decides to have their property managed with us instead of trying to do it themselves. In the afternoon Jon took us out to see some of the properties that we have on the market at the moment, this gave us a perfect chance to practice how we would go about showing an applicant around a property and for Jon to give us some pointers on where we could improve.
On Wednesday we had a thoroughly deserved day off, but were given the task of preparing our write ups for the website.
Julia gave us a deeper explanation of what the role of negotiator was all about on Thursday morning. She went through the whole process, from registering applicants, through to viewing and then to referencing and tenancy agreements. I found this particularly helpful as this is what I will now be doing on a day to day basis. Jon then took us out again and pointed out some of the major developments that we regularly deal with. This gave Matt, who did not have a great knowledge of Rickmansworth and its surroundings, a chance to see the area. In the afternoon we had a look at the competition, how they affect us and ways that we can remain the top lettings agency in the area.
Friday began our first full days as letting agents. We were both excited to get on the phones and get our first deals on the board. I am happy to say that I thoroughly enjoyed my first week and felt welcomed from the start. I am proud to have begun what I hope will be a long career with Sewell&Gardner and in the lettings industry.
Laurence Burch
Trainee Lettings Negotiator