Interview with Jo Eccles, Founder and Managing Director of Eccord

Jo is the founder and managing director of Eccord, a leading buying agent in London. She has been described as a “superstar woman in property” and acquired more than 400 residential properties in prime central London on behalf of individuals and families.

She is consistently recognised as one of London’s top property advisors, is a regular commentator in the national press and on TV, and she writes a monthly property column for The Telegraph.

 

You've built Eccord into one of London's leading property advisory firms. What inspired you to start the business, and how has it evolved over the years?

I have loved property from a young age and knew that's where my long term passion was. I initially started my career on the trading floors of two banks, and I had seen so many frustrated colleagues being shown unsuitable properties by estate agents, or lacking access to meaningful pricing data to be able to confidently understand values and negotiate offers.

The UK buying and selling process has always been in favour of the seller who has an estate agent advising them, whereas buyers are left to search and negotiate themselves, with no professional advice. I knew there was a better way to do it.

It's been 19 years since I set up Eccord, initially as a buying agency, but over the years we have expanded into finding properties for clients to rent, not just to buy, and we provide an exceptional relocation experience to global brands when they are relocating very senior executives and their families to London.

In addition, we have a superb in-house property management team who manage £1.5bn of rental investments for landlords and private homes for home owners who live in London full time or part time. We launched this approximately 10 years ago in response to clients asking us to manage their investments and homes for them. The after care is really important for us and property management underpins that.

 

What is your leadership philosophy, and how do you use this to inspire and motivate those around you and in your team?

I have exceptionally high standards which run through everything we do, and this is hugely important when we recruit.

Our amazing Operations Director, Fiona, is extremely good at understanding who will thrive in our culture and love the way we work and what we stand for. This brings an energy, motivation and consistency which we're passionate about and many of our team have been with us for 5-10 years as a result.

So, in terms of my leadership style, I would say it's based on holding myself and everything we do to a very high standard and our team and clients feel the benefit of that.

 

You've worked with both internationally mobile buyers and those anchored in the UK. How do their needs and priorities differ when searching for a property in London?

Every client is different and that's one of the many things I love about my job, being able to walk the individual journey with each of them to ensure they navigate it successfully.

Approximately 70% of our clients are based in London. Our family clients are usually buying for 10 years or more, and therefore a lot of care and guidance goes into choosing areas and properties which meet their needs now, but also when their children grow up and are likely to use the space very differently.

Kensington, Notting Hill, St Johns Wood and Hampstead are particularly popular areas, as well as Richmond and Wimbledon.

For clients who don't have children to consider, we are often focusing on properties which have a much bigger emphasis on entertaining space rather than bedrooms, and open plan kitchens, roof terraces and convenience for work and socialising are high up on the list.

Many of our internationally mobile clients are from North America, Australia and Europe. They are often looking for a lateral lock up and leave which they can enjoy when they're in London for work or pleasure, or as a family base for children attending UK boarding school. We are however, seeing a growing mindfulness around high service charges for those who are only in the UK for short periods throughout the year.

 

Access to off-market properties is a key part of your service. What percentage of deals are now happening off-market, and why is this such an important advantage for your clients?

The proportion of properties selling off market has risen significantly over recent years, and this is one of the biggest challenges facing buyers in today's market; its now impossible for standalone buyers to access the entire pool of properties without representation.

To give some context, in 2020 approximately 30% of properties in London transacted off market. Last year, that rose to 47% of the properties we acquired for our clients up to £20m were off market, and 73% above £20m.

Because of this, more than 60% of the buying clients we work with have been searching themselves unsuccessfully for anywhere between 6-24 months before retaining us. In every case they don’t have complete confidence that they've seen all the options and are choosing from the best, or they can't get to grips with pricing and may have missed out on properties where they underbid and lost the property, or overbid and then got cold feet.

 

You've mentioned a shift between cash buyers and those using financing. What trends are you seeing in this space, and how does the choice between cash and mortgage impact negotiations?

Three years ago, the ratio of our clients obtaining mortgages versus paying cash was 50:50, whereas in the last 12 months, 80% have paid cash with no borrowing.

Higher interest rates have been the biggest driver. Our clients buying under £10m will nearly all obtain a mortgage, unless family money is being gifted to them.

Above £10m though, our clients who can afford to pay cash are doing so, unless there is an inheritance tax consideration, in which case they will put a mortgage in place. This is the case even with our super prime clients, for example two of our recent acquisitions at £21m and £30m, both clients paid cash.

Some clients will always use a mortgage though, for example many of our hedge fund and private equity clients typically borrow high amounts, as they are confident they can earn superior returns on their personal cash and therefore don't want to tie it up in a property.

 

High-net-worth buyers often have very specific requirements. Can you share an example of a particularly complex or unique property search that Eccord successfully navigated?

We are privileged to work with a whole variety of clients, ranging from down to earth individuals and families to high performance industry leaders, pioneering entrepreneurs and many household names in the music and media world. With that variety comes very different requirements and dynamics.

So much of our role is relationship driven and gaining access to completely off market properties is an art in itself, as is winning competitive bid scenarios where our client may not be the highest bidder, or successfully navigating complex purchases times.

Last autumn we secured a £32 million trophy home in the heart of Notting Hill for a client relocating with his family from the USA to London. They fell in love with a turnkey house in Notting Hill but there was already another interested buyer who was able to exchange sooner. Our intricate knowledge of the buying process and our reputation in the market enabled us to gain the trust of the seller, persuading them to agree to a two-week exclusivity period in return for a £100,000 non-refundable deposit.

It was a big leap of faith for our clients, but they put their trust in us and the process. Having assembled the best team of lawyers, surveyors and other specialists, we successfully exchanged 4 days ahead of the deadline, in what was one of the biggest transactions of 2024. Our clients were overjoyed with the outcome and relieved to have been expertly guided through such a competitive, high stakes transaction.

 

Beyond acquisition, Eccord also manages high-value properties. What are some of the biggest challenges and expectations that HNW clients have when it comes to managing their London homes?

Property management has come on leaps and bounds over the past decade and a range of boutique property management services has emerged us being one of them.

Our property management team now manage 150 rental properties and private homes within central London and growing. At least 50% of have not come through our property search team, they have come to us as property management clients in their own right, through recommendations.

For our landlords, their number one priority is quality of tenant, followed closely second by gross yield and technical property management skills. They want peace of mind that their tenants have been carefully vetted and we personally interview every tenant we place as a result.

For our home owner clients, the relationship is much more personal. As well as ensuring their homes are meticulously managed in terms of maintenance and servicing, we will also do regular video walk throughs, receive and unpack deliveries, liaise with Thames Water to resolve an incorrect £11,000 utility bill, or check if they left their Chanel jacket in their wardrobe when we're next there for a property inspection.

 

Building trusted relationships is key in London's prime property market. How do your long-standing relationships help your clients gain an advantage?

Our relationships and track record are a big reason why clients retain us to represent them, to give them a competitive advantage that they wouldn't have as a standalone buyer.

We have a 95% success rate in finding and securing the right property for our clients within our 6 month retainer period and that really does set us apart.

We are also one of the few remaining buy side only buying agents in London, most of our peers have moved into a hybrid role and they now sell as well as buy, but this means they're not shown the best properties by selling agents, as they're deemed competition. As pure buy side however, we gain our clients access to the whole of the market, with nothing held back. The selling agents value and nurture our relationships with them and proactively work with us to create potential buying opportunities, as we don't compete with them.

Over the past 19 years we have acquired more than 400 properties for clients, which is more than any of our peers, and it means that pretty much every selling agent in the market has had firsthand experience of seeing how well put together our clients are and how meticulously we run the purchase process once agreed.

 

What's your outlook for London's prime and super-prime property market in the next 12months?

Despite a lot of criticism, the Autumn Budget provided clarity for many HNWs and UHNWs to make decisions with certainty.

For those who are globally mobile (typically with grown up children, no children, or those with roots elsewhere) I expect we will see continued departures from the UK, turning London into a 45-90 day per year city rather than their full time home. Most aren't selling their properties here, instead choosing to rent them out or have them turnkey ready for when they visit.

Those who are less mobile (anchored to the UK for schools, aging parents, or they simply love London and have the financial means or mindset to decide where to live based on lifestyle rather than tax), will remain in London.

Americans now make up 30% of our client base and we expect this to increase. In the past 12 months we have acquired properties for Americans ranging from £3m for a London base in St Johns Wood, £5m for a family home in Islington, £21m for a house in Kensington and £30m for a house in Notting Hill. In all cases our clients have been moving from the USA to London full time for lifestyle and UK schools which continue to be a big draw.

Entrepreneurs also make up a big proportion of our clients and we have seen a lot of wealth events accompanying company sales. Many have been in their 30s and 40s and we're seeing our UHNW clients getting younger, coming also from industries such as commodities trading, algorithmic trading, private equity and hedge funds.

In many of these cases, clients have had to be based in London for their wealth creation and we expect this younger prime and super prime buyer trend to continue.

Finally, we expect the two tiered market of turnkey properties commanding significant premiums versus the rest to continue. Buyers are still choosing immediacy and convenience over major refurbishments and will pay a premium in return, if they can.

 

Many people would love to follow in your footsteps. Reflecting on your career, what is one piece of advice you would give your younger self when starting out in the industry?

I am one of four siblings very close in age so there was a lot going on and we weren't pushed as individuals. We were told we were being given the privilege of a private day school education and the rest was up to us, but within that message it was firmly encouraged to do what we love and find a way to build a career from it.

I did exactly that, I followed what I love and that has always been property. I have two coasters on my desk in my study at home ‘Do what you love' and 'Follow your dreams' and I feel lucky every time I sit there with them, to have had parents who gave me the opportunity to do that.

So, my advice would be to do what you love and follow your dreams, clients and colleagues pick up on genuine passion and expertise, it's authentic and it shines through in making us exceptional at what we do.