Ex-Countrywide director claims over £1m in fees at new agency

A former Countrywide director says that since becoming a Keller Williams agent he’s racked up over £1m in fees.

Dominic Marcel - a regional director at Countrywide for over a decade - set up Lion Estates-Keller Williams in 2019 after initially operating as a KW market centre director in central London.

Now his own KW operation in Milton Keynes has grown to a team of eight, claims to have agreed over £1m in fees, and has now opened a new office.

A statement from the agency claims the new office will be a hub both for Marcel’s Lion Estates team “as well as support for new agents who want to join Keller Williams.”

The agency will be hoping the news represents a turnaround for its fortunes. In 2022 it saw the closure of its Warwick and Bristol market centres and the loss of one of its highest profile operators, former eMoov boss Russell Quirk, who parted ways with the company. 

Keller Williams has established only 11 market centres in its 10 years of business in the UK.

Dominic Marcel says: “I could have easily employed negotiators when growing Lion Estates like a traditional agency. However, I believe that self-employed agency is the future of the industry and our success has come from providing a personal, world-class service for our clients.

“We have successfully expanded the business on this basis and the creation of this new centre will help facilitate and accelerate further growth both for my team and for our associate agents.

“Having been a self-employed agent for nearly four years now, I've got great insight on what works best for both the agent and customer meaning we can get new agents into production much faster - the newest agent to join the team agreed £55,000 in commission in January alone with no previous property industry experience."

Mark Readings, regional director of KWUK, says: “We are delighted to have supported Dominic on his journey to date and look forward to working with him and the team in growing the Milton Keynes centre and creating even more opportunity for high quality individuals to create successful businesses and deliver industry-leading service.”