TEN-YEAR GIBRALTAR CELEBRATION FOR CHESTERTONS ESTATE AGENTS

A long-standing estate agent may have 213 years under its belt, but that has not diluted the excitement of reaching a decade of working in Gibraltar’s property market.

Chestertons was first established in 1805 in London, and over those years has developed a stellar reputation for its independence and expertise. Then, in 2008, the firm launched its first commercial outlet to open in Ocean Village, marking the debut foray into Gibraltar.

This move marked the start of a successful era for the brand, which holds the title of Best Estate Agent in Gibraltar – as dubbed at the European Property Awards 2017-18 – and is the largest estate agent in Gibraltar. Its successes have shown through off-market development sales too, as the team had a week’s exclusivity on the West One development and sold all 66 apartments in a week.

“Our journey to number one has been nothing short of remarkable,” says Mike Nicholls, Managing Director of Chestertons. “We’ve sold £230m of property, generated over £4m in stamp duty and processed over £12m in rents.

“We publish the highest quality property magazine, which also happens to be the largest property magazine and issue Gibraltar Property News, Gibraltar’s only dedicated property newsletter to 3,600 subscribers monthly.

“We were the first and to the best of my knowledge, remain the only estate agent in Gibraltar to host videos of listed properties on our website. We are also the only estate agent in Gibraltar to list all open market properties on Righmove, Zoopla and Prime Location.”

The firm has also made some innovative moves within the market, becoming the first to host a live chat facility on their site, which in turn enabled fast, direct conversations. In addition, the Chestertons team are the only estate agents in Gibraltar to use a bespoke inventory application, ensuring that landlords and tenants are protected at the end of each tenancy.

“We were instrumental in the introduction of the Estate Agency Code of Conduct in 2015 and pride ourselves on having a high level of professionalism ingrained within our culture,” adds Mike. “We pride ourselves on our independence. We do not have any lawyers or property developers as a related party. We provide truly independent advice to developers.”

As the business has grown and developed, the team has expanded from the original three members to a team of 12.

“We’ve got to where we are because of hard work and dedication, from a desire to be the best yet still yearning to be better,” says Mike. “So the thanks must go to our great team of people, Tim, Lisa, Louis, Michelle, Ian, Jacky, Cherrelle, Claire, Nicola, Michele, Rebecca and Juliet. Plus Lucy who heads up our shortlets division as a separate business.”

He adds: “The final thanks must go to our clients, our landlords, investors, tenants and purchasers, to the professionals around Gibraltar who recommend us to their clients, to our contractors, suppliers and supporters and to Gibraltar itself, my adopted home of many years and hopefully for the rest of my life. And finally to my wife and children who have supported me in my endeavours to create a business of which we can all be proud.”

To find out more about the brand and the property offerings they have, visit www.chestertons.gi