Ballantynes - Best Independent Estate Agency for Edinburgh 2020

Ballantynes Property Group have received the SME News Scottish Enterprise award for the Best Independent Estate Agency 2020. Here is a transcript of a recent interview held with Managing Director, Rory Ballantyne.

Established in 1995, Ballantynes Property Group is a family-run estate agency serving clients across Scotland. Having recently found success in SME News’ Scottish Enterprise Awards 2020, we got in touch with Rory Ballantynes to find out more about one of best independent estate agencies in Edinburgh today.

With over 50 years combined knowledge and experience of the residential market in Scotland, Ballantynes can provide professional guidance and advice to clients, all of which is backed up by a wealth of industry expertise. Going into further details, Rory starts the interview by providing us with an overview of the firm and the services the team effortlessly offers to their diverse clientele.

“Ballantynes places a particular emphasis on providing residential estate agency and property management solutions to private clients and the development community. Priding ourselves on our personable customer service, we can offer clients a fully managed service throughout all dealings. In addition, we can provide planning and development advice, new homes, sales, purchases and valuations of commercial, industrial, and rural property. From our two offices, one in Edinburgh’s West End and the other in Perth city centre, we are dynamic and friendly in our approach to all our client’s property requirements.”

As an independent estate agency Ballantynes face a number of competitors in its field, however as Rory goes on to explain, taking responsibility for all its clients’ needs and its approach to technology are the two key factors which have allowed the firm to distinguish itself from others in the industry.

“Naturally, our service is one that is very involved. Being responsible for our client’s largest asset is something we take very seriously. The fact that our clients can effectively hand over their property details and keys, and we deal with everything else in relation to the sale or rental of the property says everything. Furthermore, we strive to make sure that we keep up to date with modern technology due to the number of advancements over the past few years.”

Regarding the internal culture in place, much of the firm’s success can be attributed to the efforts of its close-knit team. Moreover, as Rory points out, anyone joining Ballantynes must be able to fit into the firm’s family ethos. “As a family-based firm, we have cultivated a team with similar qualities to ensure we can provide the best service possible. The reputation of the firm is very strong so ideally, new team members will hold similar values to those already here.”

Despite the recent outbreak of COVID-19 making the property sector incredibly difficult to predict, the team has still managed to prosper during these difficult and uncertain times. “The pandemic has obviously been the biggest issue for agents over the last year or so, but the news of the vaccine will hopefully help us return to some sort of normality sooner rather than later” Rory informs us. “However, we have seen wonderful spikes which will ultimately give the year a positive outcome overall but that is a testament to our hard-working team. A reliance on virtual options such as 360 tours and video tours were hugely beneficial during lockdown, and moving forward until normal life resumes we don’t expect this to change.”

Edinburgh is one of the most buoyant and resilient markets in the UK due to its strong reputation when it comes to education, with a selection of universities, colleges, secondary & primary schools all garnering extremely high ratings which are world renowned. Time and again, the historic city remains high on the list of the best places to live in the UK, and there is also a number of options available regardless of your position on the property scale.

“Whether you are making that first purchase or investment, renting out a second home, purchase a sporting estate or looking to sell a commercial portfolio, there will be a market for each situation” Rory explains. “There are many similarities in Perth when it comes to education and historic value, however there is also the addition of country houses, farmland, and larger development opportunities.”

Looking ahead to what the future holds, Rory signs off by highlighting the exciting plans which lie in the pipeline for the firm, as well as revealing what Ballantynes Property Group’s goals are for the years to come. “Each year our goal is to build on the success of the previous year, which we have been doing since inception. Moving forward, our aim is to increase our client database, properties either for sale or management, secure more opportunities for our developers and ultimately continue to manage existing and new clients to the high standards that we have set.”

https://www.sme-news.co.uk/sme-news-awards/