Independent agents’ group celebrates passing key milestone

The Federation of Independent Agents has passed the key milestone of 50 member branches covering in excess of 200 exclusive postcode districts. 

Its latest member is the well-known Midlands agency Nock Deighton which has six branches, all now part of the FIA. 

It follows a record quarter of new members joining the group to take the total number of brands represented to 37 and total branches to 51 with over 200 postcode districts represented and more on the way. 

Others that have recently joined include Lennon James, Churcher Estates and Hudson Homes. 

Michael Nettleton, chairman of Nock Deighton, says: “The FIA represents an acknowledgement of high-quality agencies and gives all six of our branches a valuable USP as well as several tangible and intangible benefits of being part of a larger network.’

FIA founder and chief executive Graham Lock says: ‘I’m very proud of our achievements in such a short and challenging space of time, we continue to attract outstanding independent agents from across the country and the fact that Nock Deighton have joined us really is testament to the group as a whole.’

The FIA was launched in May 2019 and has quickly grown its membership base with high-quality estate agency brands from all over the country and recently made the ESTAS shortlist for the best estate agency network in the UK. 

It operates an exclusive ‘one agent per area’ policy for each of its members which ensures a non-competing environment. There’s a strict entry criteria to join, which it says is designed to attract the best agents.

Members benefit from a carefully selected range of inclusive products with Lock continuing to explore commercial deals. 

“Our commercial buying power increases with each new member that joins, enabling us to negotiate favourable terms across a wide-range of industry products and services, we’re currently exploring several new exciting digital opportunities for our members. 

“In addition to our product selection we’re great at sharing within the group and very much looking forward to our physical event FIACON23 in December where we’ll be focussing on speed of transaction and social media traction including keynotes from our very own members around Facebook, YouTube and TikTok marketing which are all producing amazing results. 

“It’s this kind of sharing that makes us very unique.”

Lock says the federation is moved towards its next key milestone - 100 member branches. 

“We’re very selective about who joins us and have a strict entry criteria. Although it’s disappointing to turn member applications down it has been the foundation that we’ve built the business on. High-quality independents who not only deliver excellent service to their customers but ones that trust each other and that are willing to share ideas and leads in a non-competitive environment. I’m very excited to head towards the 100 mark which will open up a larger ecosystem with even more sharing and opportunities for our members.”