Award Winning North-West Estate Agency On The Acquisition Trail

Ascend Properties Snaps Up NW Estates - With More To Come 

With the market booming thanks to the current stamp duty holiday, many estate agents are optimistic about their future prospects and the overall property market, even with the March 31st deadline fast approaching.  

In fact, some of them are even putting their money where their mouth is, despite the current backdrop of economic uncertainty.

None more so than ambitious independent estate agency Ascend Properties.

Ascend Properties is a young business with branch offices in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Monton and the West Midlands.

Describing themselves as savvy and ‘unordinary’, the team is led by Ged McPartlin and David Giovanni with nearly half a century of industry experience between them. They don’t just talk the talk either, having won a total of four ESTAs and a whole host of other awards since 2015.

Building on these foundations, McPartlin and Giovanni have set out an ambitious expansion strategy and have declared that they are ‘open to acquisition opportunities’. The proof is in the pudding and they’ve started with what must be one of the first estate agency transactions of 2021, the purchase of NW Estates in Warrington.

NW Estates is a very well-established estate and letting agent with an impressive 320 homes under management. This has clearly been one of the main attractions for the acquisition by Ascend, who also has a considerable and rapidly growing inventory of 10,000 build to rent properties under management.

Access to the Warrington market compliments Ascend’s existing north-west territories and allows them to anchor even firmer roots in their quest to dominate the region with the goal being 10 further business purchases within three years.

Q&A with Ged McPartlin, Managing Director of Ascend Properties:

Q: Why expand now?

Ged: ‘Because we are in a strong financial position with a solid business in major parts of the north-west and we now want to fill in the gaps. If you have a winning, profitable formula even in uncertain times, you can have confidence in expansion even if some estate agencies may want to call it a day given the bumpy ride the industry has had of late’.

Q: What’s your ultimate goal?

Ged: ‘We have six offices now, all run by fantastic teams of industry experts, and we intend to treble that by 2024’.

Q: What happens to NW Estates now that you’ve completed on the purchase?

Ged: ‘It won’t look much different from the outside, It’s a great local brand with fantastic people working within it and that all remains as is. We’ll add our secret-sauce to it and benefit from the economies of scale that the larger Ascend business provides. Our marketing and approach to technology support will really supercharge the branch now’.

Q: What’s your criteria for future acquisitions?

Ged: ‘I’d love to hear from estate agency firms with between one and three offices that are in great locations across the region and with a strong property management book and stand-out values. Strong teams and decent market share are important but we’re not necessarily looking for the ‘loudest’ branch in a town but those that have deep roots in the community and staff that we can invest in. Authenticity and integrity are super-important to us’.