NVP – the Not-so New Kids on the Block

It’s been a while.

I’ve been reluctant to write anything in the last few months, partly because there’s been so much doom and gloom, and partly because, as we always say to clients, by the time you read something, it’s already old news.

At NVP we live and breathe Knightsbridge, in the thick of Prime Central London (PCL). Other areas in the Royal Borough too of course, but Knightsbridge is our base.

When Patrick and I moved into our first Montpelier Street premises, a space that had housed numerous agencies before us, I remember looking further down Montpelier Street at the Hobart Slater operation and telling him: we’re going to have our work cut out. I had no idea that we’d eventually acquire Hobart Slater and literally walk down the road into their space, which is now our beloved home from home.

Back in 2014, we couldn’t have imagined how hard the PCL market was going to get hit. It really has been one challenge after another, at times almost relentlessly. But we’ve somehow managed to go from the “new kids on the Knightsbridge block” to where we are now.

We’re not naive enough to think we’re the only ones left standing, but it genuinely feels that way some days. Harrods Estates closed its doors recently after 130 years. JLL, Hamptons, W.A. Ellis and Kaye & Carey have shut up shop. And we’ve just heard that Savills won’t be renewing their lease here, with their team relocating to Sloane Street.

I won’t pretend that on any given day, depending on where my head’s at, those facts don’t land differently. Some days it reads as opportunity – and it is. Other days it’s just a straightforward reminder: it’s tough out there.

We’ve always been willing to have uncomfortable conversations. When we start a sales valuation, the first question we ask is simply: why are you selling? We’re in the business of telling people what they need to hear, not what they want to hear.

Last year we lost our partner John Van Vlissingen. The conversations we were fortunate enough to have with him continue to drive us forward with a positive outlook.

This morning I was walking and talking with Patrick, on our way to appointments, and we realised that in nearly 12 years of running NVP we’ve never benefited from a boom cycle – yet. But, and it’s a big but, there’s something exciting and deeply satisfying about growing this company organically, through acquisitions, and particularly our block management arm, which is going from strength to strength.

So I didn’t want to write another property blog. But here I am.