ANDREW Demain has worked all over the UK for leading national housebuilders but says that settling down in Yorkshire gave him the perfect balance of family-life and career.
Andrew heads up Property Perspective’s presence in Yorkshire and is the primary contact for sales directors and managers within the housebuilding companies that use our services.
Andrew also deals with home owners looking to buy a new home, carrying out valuations of their existing properties and keeping a ‘top level’ eye on the sales process, whilst also dealing with any customer issues on behalf of the developers.
A typical week can see Andrew valuing properties, attending sales meetings and training sessions for homebuilders’ staff, meeting with client management teams, preparing sales details, carrying out market research on houses and development sites, monitoring quality and preparing reports.
“When I say every day is different, it really is,” says Andrew. “I work closely with Sarah Rankine, who is the account manager for all the Yorkshire clients, so she updates clients and developers, drives the sales and, ultimately, gets them exchanged and completed; whereas a lot of my work is working through the process with the builders themselves.”
After starting in the industry 30 years ago, Andrew landed a role as a sales consultant with Barratt Homes through a friend and worked with Property Perspective’s managing director John Jarvis for a number of years before they went their separate ways.
Father of two teenage sons, Andrew, said: “I moved into the part exchange department and progressed to part exchange manager. I then moved to Bellway as a part exchange manager and worked my way up to sales manager and then sales director.”
Andrew also spent time at David McLean Homes, where he was sales director and then managing director, before becoming regional MD at Persimmon Yorkshire until 2008.
When the financial crisis happened, Andrew, 51, faced redundancy and decided to leave the industry for a number of years. He spent his time renovating houses to sell, before he reconnected with John and started his role at Property Perspective.
“In 2010, when John approached me and asked me if I wanted to head up Property Perspective’s presence in Yorkshire, it couldn’t have come at a better time.” adds Andrew, who grew up in Macclesfield, Cheshire, but settled down in Yorkshire when he met his wife Lisa.
“With all my previous experience, this role was ideal and meant it was something I could do easily from where I lived,” Andrew explains. “Going into my tenth year at Property Perspective, I can still honestly say that I enjoy what I do every day. I love meeting new people - it keeps me entertained and on my toes.”
When asked about the challenges of his role, Andrew says that managing a customer’s aspiration of their home’s value is something that crops up quite a bit.
“We know the market inside out, and we carry out specific research into each individual home we sell. We know the market conditions and comparable prices and that’s what has cemented our reputation in the industry, so clients need to trust our judgement.” Andrew explains.
So what trends is Andrew noticing within the industry?
“Buyers are wanting larger living spaces, especially in the kitchen/dining/family area. People are definitely moving away from the mind-set of needing as many rooms in a home as possible and instead opting for fewer but larger spaces downstairs.”
To speak to Andrew or any of the team at Property Perspective call 0845 6800 262 or visit www.thepropertyperspective.co.uk.