WHICH PATH TO CHOOSE?

HOW A MARRIED COUPLE CREATED A PROPERTY EMPIRE, BUT IT WASN’T ALWAYS THEIR INTENTION TO DO SO

It’s a dilemma many 20-somethings will encounter in this pivotal stage of life: which path to take? Which road to go down when it’s too soon to know where your passions truly lie? Jaz Kaur and Narinder Nijjar weren’t too sure either.

The owners of Fraser Stretton, which was originally named The Lettings and Sales Business, set out on their career paths with very different destinations in mind compared to where they are today. On their separate routes in young adulthood, Jaz became a law graduate, and Narinder an IT network engineer.

But Jaz’s passion for property – perhaps unknowingly to her at the time – was always “in her blood”, having worked as a teen with her parents preparing their student accommodations over the summer holidays and helping tenants to move in. For Narinder, it wasn’t until he married Jaz that he truly fell under the property spell too.

Both have a varied ensemble of qualifications and experiences; Jaz who embarked on a career in law with Shoosmiths Solicitors, and Narinder who became a sales manager with British Gas Business. Both paths led them towards each other, both picking up the skills and values along the way that would eventually guide them to their own way of running a lettings and sales agency.

Working as self-employed property consultants for lettings and sales agencies previously, the foundations of Jaz and Narinder’s future company were set long before the idea manifested.

“There are so many agencies out there and we’ve watched what they do and how they conduct business as we helped them with their growth journeys,” Jaz started. “But there was still so much more room for improvement.”

Dealing with process management, the pair would pick up on missed leads and opportunities, where a company’s spend was going, and how practices could be improved.

Narinder said: “The reality is though, when you’re consulting for another company, you can give them as many ideas and processes as you want, but the bottom line is that they will only do what they want to do. They would pick bits and pieces out from what we were advising them and we just kept thinking this is such a shame. So, we went about bringing our own vision to life.”

Like many 20-somethings may find as they head out on their career voyages, they might not necessarily end up in the same place as they intended later in life. When The Lettings and Sales Business was set up in 2019, Jaz was 38 and Narinder 42.

On how his career path weaved and wound up with him becoming a business owner, Narinder explained: “When the property crash hit in 2009, the company we were working for went bankrupt so we had to find jobs overnight.

“I managed to get a job as a telephone account manager at British Gas but I was way out of my comfort zone. I hated being on the phones in a call centre but seven years later, I left as a retention manager with 50 agents and managers reporting to me. I then moved to Hastings Direct, and it was after this that myself and Jaz got into property consulting and went on to set up on our own from there.”

The Formation Of Fraser Stretton

The couple, finally answering to their calling, found their way to the next part of their journey as independent business owners. The Midlands agency they set up first took shape under the name of The Lettings Business in July 2019, which later became The Lettings and Sales Business on its first birthday in 2020.

Jaz said: “Our lettings clients were asking us to take on sales too. We wanted to build on the success of the Lettings Business and do right by our existing customers first and after much thought, we put the processes in place to be able to deliver for our future sales clients.”

A rebrand took place in April 2021 and Fraser Stretton was formed which allowed them to continue with both the Residential and Commercial Lettings and Sales services along with the Property Management Services. In addition to this they introduced a bespoke new build sales arm aimed at the small to mid sized developers.

Since this, another off shoot company has been formed called Elite Property Professionals which is a Property and Land Sourcing Company that also oversees renovation projects for clients.Narinder commented: “We feel we’re very visionary when it comes to the property market and we both bring different things to the table. It would be corny to say we’re the dream team but we’re very practical. Jaz gets the processes where they need to be, which I’d say 75% of our success is based on, and 25% is the idea behind it all, which is where I come in.”

Answering the question they’re always asked as a husband and wife working together, Jaz continued: “Of course we bicker, we would be lying if we said we never fight. We don’t always agree on everything but that’s healthy. You can sometimes get people with very big egos and they just want everyone to tell them what they want to hear. Our staff have great ideas too and I don’t think in business you can afford to be like that. You should always be willing to listen, nobody knows everything.”

The property consultants say the secret to their success is their shared goal: to provide for their children. Working this way means they have found ways to juggle childcare and methods of creating opportunities wherever possible. “Our children don’t hinder us, they drive us.”

This drive has led to accomplishing an astounding repertoire of feats in less than three years. The company’s managed portfolio has grown by 200% during this time. In turn, it has matured from just two directors to a team of six, and from a home office to office premises in Stoughton, and now a desirable high street location in Allandale Road.

To add to their success, Jaz and Narinder opened their first Coventry office earlier this year. They were named patrons of the East Midlands Chamber of Commerce last year, and Narinder has become a mentor for Leicester Tigers players who wish to get into property after retirement from the sport.

Their awards cabinet has now started to fill up having won the British Property Awards 2021 Gold Winner Estate Agent for Leicester in September and winning the Growth Business of the Year award at The Signature Awards 2021. Jaz was also a finalist at this year’s Enterprising Women Awards 2021, and both Jaz and Narinder have recently been shortlisted as finalists for the East Midlands Chamber’s Entrepreneur of the Year category. They also supported other local businesses this year as headline sponsor of this year’s Niche Magazine Business Awards 2021.

For the 20-somethings reading this who aren’t sure where they’re headed, or for the 40-somethings toying with the idea of setting up their own business, Jaz and Narinder hope that by telling their story, they can help to reassure and inspire.