Durrants are pleased to welcome George Berry who has joined as Residential Area Manager for our Diss and Harleston offices.

George has been an estate agent for his entire working career, with over 25 years’ experience in both the South East and East Anglia.

He said: “I’ve always loved it. Property still excites me now, and looking after people through the biggest and probably most emotional transaction they will be involved in has just been fantastic.”

Although much has changed in estate agency since George started his career with the advent of the internet, he believes there has more recently been a movement back towards personal contact. “Post COVID, we’ve seen a bit of a shift with people wanting contact with people. That’s why that personal connection we have with our clients is so important.

“It’s been great to see already from the teams in our Diss and Harleston offices that people are afforded time. We all know how fast time goes but every member of both offices has demonstrated that, if you want to, you can slow it down to give people the time they need.”

Being given time to decide on a next move is just one important part of the jigsaw. George is also keen to stress how an experienced estate agent such as Durrants will always have the edge over an ‘online only’ competitor.

He says: “I think there’s the assumption that you can put a property on the internet and it sells itself. That can happen in a busy market, but those of us who have been in an agency for a long time all know that the main bit of the process is once the sale is agreed.

“Being able to hold it all together and nurturing a sale – the progression role is far more detailed and far more involved now than it has ever been, and that’s where the online agents fall down. It’s difficult to get hold of people who know what is going on.

“I have certainly advised clients when sales are agreed to be very wary if an online agent is involved in the chain, because to manage that chain through can be very precarious.”

George promises a warm welcome to anyone who phones or drops into Durrants with an enquiry about a property they wish to buy or sell.

“I’ve noticed already in the short time since I joined that everyone who contacts us gets our full attention and we are 100% focused on them. That’s something that has been missing for me in other situations I’ve been in previously, especially in the South East where everything can seem rushed. We want to make people feel valued and that’s what’s really important.”

To arrange a valuation of your home or a viewing of a property, please get in touch with our Diss or Harleston offices. Full contact details of all our branches across South Norfolk and North Suffolk can be found here.