New easyProperty franchise lands in Luton, home of easyJet

The latest easyProperty franchise has landed in Luton, the spiritual home of the easy brand as it’s the place where budget airline easyJet – the best known of the companies operating under the easy banner – is based.

Entrepreneur Mohammed Khayer is hoping his latest venture into the world of modern estate agency, ‘where a unique blend of the human touch and technology combine to make the consumer journey so much better’, will also take off. The venture is personally backed by easyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

The 42-year-old reckons he couldn’t have picked a better place to unveil his easyProperty franchise than Luton, where the distinctive easy orange branding is hard to avoid.

“Everyone in the town knows the easy brand,” Khayer explained. "It was a no-brainer for me after I had decided to get into selling homes.”

Born and bred in the town, Khayer is the owner of clickthatproperty.com, an online property lettings agency which also has an office in Park Street West. 

He started the business 11 years ago and said it was his passion for property which prompted him to leave his job as a financial adviser, an industry he worked in for a decade from the age of 21. 

“During lockdown I had got to thinking about getting into sales and started looking at ways to enter the market without any disruption to my lettings business,” he said.

“I saw easyProperty and realised it was a perfect match. It was an established brand with the people of Luton. The orange of easyJet is so familiar in the town, where there is also an easyHotel.

“I was so excited about the opportunity - I couldn't believe that the franchise was still available in the easy heartland.

“And if it works well, I will definitely look to expand into neighbouring areas.”

He added: “Luton is a very price-conscious town and I am confident that easyProperty will resonate with people looking to buy and sell properties here.”

Khayer believes that if easyJet can be the pioneers in the budget airline market, he sees no reason why similar heights can’t be reached in the property industry.

“We have a very simple process and I strongly believe that is an attractive proposition for people in the current climate."

Khayer has recruited property expert Richard Murdoch to work alongside him in running the estate agency. 

“Richard has a lot of knowledge in the industry and has experience working for a traditional estate agency in Harpenden,” he explained.

“The property market in Luton has remained solid during the pandemic and the town offers good value - you get more for your money compared with rival towns. And Luton has superb links for road and rail plus the obvious attraction of the airport."

Sir Stelios himself said: “When considering their next house move, buyers and sellers in Mohammed’s area need to be right on top of their neighbourhood property market.

“I believe that easyProperty offers that combination of local expertise and low-cost professionalism that takes the hassle and expense out of moving house.”

David Brierley, chief executive officer of easyProperty, added: “Mohammed is clearly a high-energy addition to the easyProperty ‘family’ and we are delighted to welcome him on board.

“Our presence in the UK is growing all the time and we couldn’t be happier to be adding Luton to the list, especially as this is where easyJet began all those years ago.” 

In addition to Luton, Brierley says the easyProperty banner has now been raised in Berkshire, Cheshire, Lincolnshire, Manchester, Bolton, Kent, Shropshire, Glasgow, Slough, Teesside, Northumberland, Portsmouth and South Yorkshire. 

“We aim to have 65 local partners in place within the first 12 months. They will have at least two territories each with individual territories comprising around 25,000 owner-occupiers,” Brierley said.

“The idea is to concentrate on local areas and grow organically turning region by region the colour orange in the residential sales arena.”

He concluded: “The pandemic and its aftermath has seen a huge shift in consumer behaviour and our modern approach and online presence is the new way forward.”

easyProperty offers three ‘exclusive consumer packages’. There is an upfront charge of £795; a split fee of £395 then £895 on completion, and a no sale, no fee of 1% including VAT.

Khayer is the latest new franchisee to be announced this year, following in the footsteps of the son of an Oscar winner, a Norwich-based product manager with no previous property experience who also received Sir Stelios's personal backing, and a young agent who ditched the purple of Purplebricks for the orange of its rival hybrid agency.