The new owner of Whitegates’ Mirfield branch is aiming to fuel growth in his new business after swapping petrol stations and car hire for property.
Sajid Patel purchased the West Yorkshire office from previous owner Paul Bottomley, with Whitegates’ also having managed some of his own buy-to-let properties.
Sajid, who owned a BP franchised petrol station on the Wirral and was previously a Europcar car hire franchisee on the same site, said: “Whitegates is a fantastic brand and very well known in Yorkshire.
“One of the other reasons I purchased the Mirfield branch is because it’s an area I know well and is very close to where I live.
“Mirfield is a relatively small area but one with great potential, so we have ambitious growth plans, bringing in additional resources to grow the lettings portfolio and sales business too.”
After 20 years as a landlord himself, Sajid is also making his latest venture a family affair, with son Junaid in place to run the Mirfield branch alongside him, joining the existing team.
He added: “It’s a great opportunity for him and for us as a family to really make an impact on the property market in our area.”
Penny Sanders, Head of Franchising at The Property Franchise Group, added: “We are delighted to welcome on board Sajid and his son.
“We are keen to support him in continuing to grow and develop his business through our dedicated acquisitions programme, which assists all the offices across the network in terms of acquiring other businesses.”
As it is clearly a major leap to go from owning a franchised petrol station and car hire franchise to owning a franchised estate agency business, albeit with an existing team, EYE questioned the estate agency experience or qualifications held by Sajid Patel and his son.
The PR for TPFG confirmed Mr Patel’s experience as a landlord for more than 20 years and that some of his properties were managed by Whitegates in West Yorkshire. They were unable to tell us if Junaid has agency experience or qualification but said that, “… as they will both be working under a franchise business model, they’ll have all the support and processes on offer from TPFG to ensure their business is a success.”
Comments (27)
Donovan
Ewemove Gainsborough (Scunthorpe South)
Let’s scroll back to the Millers who anounced on EYE in Feb that their business is up for sale .Fair play to them -one of the founding franchisees heading towards retirement
https://v3.propertyindustryeye.com/founding-franchisees-of-ewemove-put-their-business-up-for-sale/
“The couple have decided to look for an associate to come in, work with them for a few months and then buy the business.
“It’s an excellent business backed by a PLC and a great support team at EweMove,” Miller added. “My advice to anyone joining is simple. Follow the plan because it works if you do.”
Well they are still there and the latest set of accounts have arrived at Companies House ,Since FY 2020 they have increased from £0 to £10,000 ,creditors over 1 year
Acc. to Zoopla there are 8 properties featuring , stretching back to last year with 3 unsold .
Now it would be fair to say that nobody is going to part with £500k to purchase the business as indicated in the frothy recruitment campaign
Paul Bottomley is also the franchisee for Ewemove Cleckheaton too right by the sheep pen .
Quite the portfolio.
Current inventory of 17 with just 3 available so steady as she goes acc.to ZPL.
Latest accounts in the black with £20k owing to creditors over 1 year (accrued since FY 2020 ) and £33k annual creditors
Maybe Mr Patel has his eyes on this one too?
£500k ?
The Yorkshire war cry How Much?
What ha a single franchisees performance and accountsgot to do with you?
Absolutely nothing as far as I can see.
Simply can’t get my head round it.
Very strange behaviour
Well Donovan, first and foremost the accounts are on public record for all to see at Companies House
Secondly, it’s the same individual who has recently sold the Whitegates franchise at Muirfield so clearly relates to the cover story and trying to understand what prompted the sale of one franchise and not another
So of interest
Maybe you have the answer
Have any of the 70+franchisees who have left managed to sell their franchise .You seem reluctant to answer that question?
Time will tell if this was a right decision. No experience is something different to being a landlord to owning an agency. So much red tape, pitfalls and procedure to follow that are gained from years of experience. As demonstrated many times on PIE, many think they know what should be done but lack knowledge. The buck stops with the owner, so he is reliant on his team to keep him out of the brown stuff.
“No experience is something different to being a landlord to owning an agency.”
^^THIS^^
Whitegates Mirfield have TWO lettings properties on Rightmove, as opposed to seventy-one on their sales register.
Of course, he will no doubt be hoping that some of his Landlord contacts may be swayed to give him a shot – but many prefer to stick with an Agent they know and who has performed well for them in past, regardless of who’s the new kid on the block.
I wish Mr Patel and his son all the best in their new venture. But they are in for a 6G climb as a learning curve which I sincerely hope doesn’t end in a starved-of-fuel stall and plummet back to earth.
Thumbs up to HoW for pointing out that it’s almost irrelevant that Mr Patel doesn’t have any previous experience as he has taken over an established business. I wish him all the best and as an experienced landlord I am sure he will do well.
I thought it was strange that the journalist asked questions about his experience and yet questions are not being asked about outlandish marketing statements and vast swathes of failures in another part of the same business.
Get a room!
As a developer I would not dream of selling any of my homes via an agent where the owners had no experience.
On the other hand it is a low skilled job and easy to pick up quickly.
” … it is a low skilled job and easy to pick up quickly.”
True
However, there can be a huge difference between picking it up quickly and doing it well and, with the exception of a few talented individuals, it takes some time to learn, practice and hone the skills to do it well.
I agree totally
“On the other hand it is a low skilled job and easy to pick up quickly.”
Much like ‘property developing’ – where the entry level is watching half an episode of HUTH.
Ouch!
If development of a medium sized scheme is so easy do it yourself you muppett.
I do not work 8-6 and weekends 🙂
Personally I have never ever watched any property TV programmes. I am sure you do however.
Property makes me a good living – it is not my life.
I know an agent who was asked to do a piece on one and was told what to value the house at and practically given a script.
EA is a low skilled job. That is a simple fact.
Agents interview
EA owner
Why do you want to be an EA
Applicant
I have no qualifivations
EA owner
Do you own a suit
Applicant
Yes
EA owner
Wonderful you are just the sort of person we are looking for you start tomorrow
Imagine comparing being an estate agent to a “low skilled job” like stacking shelves…
Not sure if you’re aware Jan but most estate agents/letting agents need to be qualified these days.
You seem nice.
jan – byers. Not sure what is the most unfunnily amusing bit of your post – your total ignorance or your abysmal spelling and grammar. Do you use a JCB back-actor as a stylus when typing your constant anti-Agent diatribe, by any chance?
You say Estate Agency is a low-skilled job – it’s patently clear that you were – and still are – massively underqualified… hence you aren’t one now.
Well you just scored an A star for ignorance. Never ceases to amaze me how stupid people can be to make comment that anyone who has been in the industry knows from experience, is fake news. “Property makes me a good living”, so your one of ‘those’ landlords!
Gutted I missed this – Poking Jan looks great fun!
Well at least he has bought an oven ready business, a seasoned team with experience with some skin in the game . Hit the ground running.
Vastly different than swim instructors sandwich makers car and phone salesmen appear after a limited period of training as “experienced local agents” to an unsuspecting public starting from scratch pitching for their maiden instruction.
Refreshing for franchisees to see a possible exit to “sell” on their franchise albeit no figures mentioned
Whitegates sister company Ewemove make great play of that “golden exit” for franchisees in their recruitment but very little evidence of that taking place ,quite the contrary.
In Doncaster after Ewemove Doncaster South packed up .where the franchisee unfortunately had to sell her house to pay her debts incurred running the franchise, the other franchisee for Doncaster, Ewemove Doncaster North Jo Mundy who was a poster girl in recruitment,promptly shut up shop and acquired the Martins franchise leaving Doncaster a sheep free zone .
As one door opens,two shut .
“Building your £1m business ”
The likelihood of being able to sell a franchise ,even the most profitable ones for that figure where franchises are relatively short term agreements and franchisors can change their operations is unrealistic.
The goal posts are often moved by the franchisors shoud it suit . Purplebricks territory owners can vouch for that one
Well at least he has bought an oven ready business, a seasoned team with experience with some skin in the game . Hit the ground running.
Buying an existing operating business and buying into a franchise are two very different things. New franchisees know full well that they are entering into a brand new area equipped with the tools to give it everything they’ve got.
The public are not unsuspecting. If they win that instruction then they’re well equipped to do a great job for that client. And a bit like that brain surgeon performing their very first operation on a human if they need help then there a people either side to offer it.
Vastly different than swim instructors sandwich makers car and phone salesmen appear after a limited period of training as “experienced local agents” to an unsuspecting public starting from scratch pitching for their maiden instruction.
This comment is a joke and hugely disrespectful.
Why can’t you come from a different background or decide to make a career change to agency?. Some of the above are making great strides in the network with good listing numbers and providing the fantastic service to their communities that is synonymous with EweMove.
Yet another article with a weak link back to EweMove that you opportunistically jump in here to personally undermine and demean good people
You’re showing yourself up now, it looks a bit desperate and a bit embarrassing. is it not time to call it a day?
Here comes the Nasty Squad.
These sheep do love to defend losses and failures.
I’ll defend the business I love working with when I feel the comments are unjust.
Nasty…. wow. Get a grip… please.
You can’t ignore the losses and misery, no matter how hard you whine and bleat.
Why don’t you do something about it rather than deny it is happening?
We need a full PIE investigation into the facts.
You can’t have it both ways .
Certainly you can arrive as an estate agent with no previous experience and become successful as proven by a number of Ewemove franchisees
However you can’t masquerade those without experience as experienced to gain instructions in the first place.
I really don’t understand why you can’t see that as totally wrong and misleading ?
In addition the real prospect of selling your business for £500k or £1m after a few years when no franchisee has done anything of the sort .
The sheep pen downplaying the staggering amount of failures preferring to say in the current campaign franchises are fast running out .
Just 1 in Wales ,2 in Scotland.one running on empty
“The public are not unsuspecting”
Just scroll through newly appointed franchisee Facebook pages and also Head office
They are unsuspecting when a newly appointed franchisee pitches themselves for new instructions as an “experienced local agent” sold in record time when they are anything but when they have never sold a property before or been in the business
Just ask Ewemove Godalming who has wisely removed that from their Facebook page
That is misleading
on Linkedin accounts
“Property Expert based in Stafford” How can you call youself an expert when you have only been in the game a few months
To be quite frank I would be quite embarrased bythe current recruitment pitching taking place painting an unrealistic picture of the market place with some wild boasts
Agree totally