The property section of Hitchin Nub News is exclusively sponsored by Wellington James.

Wellington Evans is a unique team, made up of experienced local estate agents Nick Wellington and James Evans, who live and breathe property in North Hertfordshire, including the Hitchin area, as well as Central Bedfordshire.

We will be running a weekly Pick of the Week series every Thursday, showcasing the best properties they have to offer in and around our town.

We will also be publishing regular, in-depth features on the team at Wellington James.

So, read on for the first part of our extensive Q&A series with Nick and James.

..............

HITCHIN NUB NEWS: Many thanks for your time Nick and James, great to have you on board at Hitchin Nub News

James Evans: We're very happy to be partnering with Hitchin Nub News, because local, community-based interactions sit at the heart of what we do.

We wanted to partner with someone who can showcase that we are different and can be trusted, and we wanted to partner with a local news outlet that enables us to communicate with the public - and Hitchin Nub News does exactly that.

HITCHIN NUB NEWS: There are many estate agents in Hitchin. What makes Wellington Evans different?

Nick Wellington: James and I decided that we wanted to do estate agency a little bit different. For want of a nicer word we wanted to do it properly.

We wanted to be completely transparent. We wanted to get the best price for people and look after them properly from start to finish. That was the starting point for the business: How we were going to be different.

Certainly, it's early days but the feedback we've had so far has been exactly that. The level of attention we've been able to give people has been different. Whether it's a viewing or someone looking to sell their property – customers are getting more time and more information – something that has been well received.

The feedback has been really positive. We've had a number of five-star review both on Facebook and Google which has been amazing. We haven't had a single person yet who has met us and then decided that they didn't want to use us, albeit clearly this will happen on occasion.

The reason someone would come to us is that we've both got experience of agency generally. We've done it for more than 25 years and James is similar. We've both worked in Hitchin with other well-known estate agents. So we both know what we're talking about.

We know the area. We know the business. We've worked through recessions – which is a big thing. We've worked in different market-places and we understand what works.

We've been able to set up our business to focus on that. We can make decisions to change things if they aren't working but ultimately we know what we're doing – and that advice will work – because it's worked for the last 25 years.

I was born in Hitchin a long time ago. Brought up in Shillington so I'm a local lad. I went to Robert Bloomfield and Samuel Whitbread just 'over the border' as I was in Shillington so technically it's Bedfordshire, but I consider myself to be a Hitchinite.

HITCHIN NUB NEWS: We know Hitchin is a special town. What has been your experience when 'selling' the town to people who may be new to the area?

Nick Wellington: It's not a difficult place to sell. I always say to people wanting to come here. Just walk around town, have a coffee, talk to people, it's a great place. I've never had anyone come back to me and say anything negative about Hitchin.

I always say Hitchin has something for everybody. It's close to London, it's a great town centre, it's a got a real sense of community. There's always lots to do, plenty of culture – but equally, the countryside is on our doorstep.

There are some lovely villages too. It's just one of those lovely places you want to live in. You look around and think 'where else would I want to be?' And you end up in Hitchin.

If you've got children we might be talking about schools.

But really I think that the town centre is something that stands out. I would always encourage someone to take a walk through the town centre to get a feel for it.

You've got boutique shops, plenty of cafes and bars, it's just a different vibe to a lot of towns. It's super positive.

We go and see a lot of people and go and see a lot of houses in the town and everyone loves Hitchin. Everyone loves living here.

I can't recall the last person who said they didn't like living in Hitchin. It ticks a lot of boxes for what people are looking for in life.

HITCHIN NUB NEWS: How important is passion for your job

Nick Wellington: I think it's essential. In any job you've got to love what your do. Particularly in this job as we're not selling bricks and mortar.

People think we sell houses. We don't. We help people move. If we're selling anything it's lifestyle.

You can't fake that. Either you're passionate about it, or you're not.

On a viewing you've got to believe in the town you're selling, or the property you're selling. That comes from the heart. You can't just read a script, it's not the same.

HITCHIN NUB NEWS: Working as a joint bosses of your own business must empower you as well

Nick Wellington: It's amazing how good that feels, because everything we do, we do for our clients. It's our decision making. I think that takes it to a different level.

When you work for someone else, of course you work hard and you do a good job and you care. But ultimately, when you go home and finish for the day at whatever time you do, that's it.

However, when it's your business, you live and breathe every minute. This is our lives for the next 15 to 20 years before we retire and we'll throw everything into it.

HITCHIN NUB NEWS: What is your ethos?

Nick Wellington: My ethos in life is have no regrets. I don't do regrets. Whatever decisions I make, I make them and then I move on. It's probably similar in business.

One of the reasons we've done this is because if we didn't take the chance, we would regret not taking that step. You can't regret things, life's too short. It is that straightforward.

Our ethos from a company point of view is that we want to be transparent. We want people to trust us. Everyone has an opinion about estate agents why people hate estate agents. We don't want to be 'that' estate agent.

We want to help. We want to know what are your problems and how we can best resolve them. And if we can't, then we'll tell you. We will be completely transparent. But given the experience we have between us we ought to be able to help most people.

The ethos behind it is us. We want to be involved in every aspect, every day. We don't want to be typical directors where they have dozens of staff and they're not involved in the day to day running of the business including being out there doing the valuations and talking to people. We want to be giving advice and following it through.

HITCHIN NUB NEWS: Have you noticed any changes in your industry through lockdown and beyond Nick Wellington: It's been interesting because we've noticed a change in lots of ways. The market got stronger after the first lockdown. The stamp duty holiday was the big one. There was a pent-up demand during lockdown and now lack of stock is driving the market. One of the things that James and I spoke about in-depth before we opened is whether we needed a shop front. And actually no. That's the feedback we've been getting. Post-Covid people aren't necessarily walking into an office. The world has changed. The reality from our point of view is that we've been working through lockdown, with sensible precautions of course, including social distancing, the wearing of face masks, hand sanitising – we take our responsibilities seriously. But it's mostly been business as usual. It is isn't a difficult thing to work around. From a valuation point of view, we still have to go to the property. The reality is that we've got to go round and physically look at something. Which is the same for a buyer. We can give a virtual tour, and while everything is online, you'd be pretty brave to buy a £600k house without visiting it first, for example. But everyone involved in the process has been very sensible, very respectful, we've got hand sanitiser coming out of our ears for example! Read Nub News for more from the team at exciting new Hitchin estate agent Wellington Evans, including Pick of the Week every Thursday