Nearly 50 years of looking after the Upminster market

When Reg and Eileen Beresford set up their own estate agency in Upminster in 1968, it's unlikely they could have ever imagined that nearly 50 years on it would have branches across Essex from Greater London to the Suffolk borders and employ nearly 200 people.

From a tiny office in Corbets Tey Road no more than 8 at its widest and only 14 ft. in depth, the foundations for the future were set by Reg and Eileen. Having trained in London in a surveying practice, Paul Beresford joined the original office in 1975 after his father was diagnosed with a long term medical condition. His vision for the company was to take the hugely successful approach that his parents had adopted and take that into other local towns.

Firstly, realising that many of their clients were moving further out, he set his sights on Brentwood. There was an obvious connection between the towns. Paul recalls "...and by opening there we already had clients that we could then act for on both their sale and purchase."

Even at that early stage, Beresfords realised the migration out into Essex from London was an important source of demand that would benefit their clients. Since then, every bit of expansion into other areas has had the same methodology, not expansion for expansion's sake, and that has proved to be not only sustainable but hugely successful. At all times though the philosophy of a family orientated business has been a constant.

Nowadays, on average across Beresfords offices, 50% of house hunters are from outside the local area and latest technology means that at any time one Beresfords office can access people from another to ensure that clients, whether they be selling or renting, get the widest marketing coverage possible. The company also has a London Office in St James' which attracts both purchasers and tenants from London and overseas who are looking to move to the County.

Today, Paul is Chairman and a third generation Beresford, Paul's son Alex, is an integral part of the company, managing their highly successful Chelmsford branch.

Then of course there is the extended Beresfords 'family', those that work with them. Many have worked for the company for over 20 years and some even longer. Director Terry Holmes joined the company in 1981 and has just completed 35 years with the company. The Directors, Managers and senior staff, including Rob Bushell who has been at the Upminster branch over 22 years, are an integral part of a very professional and established team.

With the business growing significantly in Upminster in the 70's and 80's, 1994 saw the company relocate to the prime position at the traffic lights of 16 Station Road. Some years later when the Group purchased 14 and 16 Station Road, it allowed the expansion that can be seen today, a large open plan office in the heart of the town.

"It's the exact opposite of what we had in Corbets Tey Road" concluded Paul, but despite the passage of time that has seen huge changes not just in Beresfords but in our business and even our lives, people still deal with people so service, professionalism and expertise are as important today as they have ever been. This is especially true when we are dealing with someone's most valuable asset, their property.

We are immensely proud of our association with Upminster and are honoured to act for the company that built the town, Upminster Estates. We look forward to seeing clients at our superb new office, especially our old clients some of whom we have acted for successive generations. In fact looking back, there are some properties that we have sold 9 or 10 times over the years so I think we can safely say we know a thing or two about the Upminster property market!