As Mr Martyn Cox takes one gracious step towards retirement, Martyn R Cox & Co take two steps forward with the appointment of two new partners, Simon Daughton & Duncan Macmillan. Simon joined the company 30 years ago this month whilst Duncan Macmillan is the most capped player with over 40 years experience. Martyn opened the business in one of the most difficult markets of our lifetime, 1988. Abolition of dual MIRAS, interest rates in excess of 15%, rising unemployment and global political unrest made it a difficult time for all. Not an ideal time to open your own Estate Agency, but Martyn could see an opening for a new local practice. 33 years later and the principles on integrity, professionalism and hark work remain the same. The name is one that is known to pretty much every resident of Witney and the surrounding villages, the only area that Martyn R Cox & Co trades in. “Some agencies cast the net far and wide,” Simon told me. “Whilst we focus on the patch we know, I was born in Witney, I went to school here, I have always lived here and I love here. This is my town, and I know it very, very well. This helps me to sell not just the property, but the area as well, and this helps my seller clients get a better price in an appropriate time frame.” “Simon and I work well together,” reports Duncan Macmillan, who really is a veteran of the business. “I have as much passion for the business today as I enjoyed with my own practice over a twenty year period. I sold up a few years back to enable me to explore other areas that surround the exciting world of Estate Agency.””There’s nothing that beats the moment you receive a call from a client that has interviewed three agents, to say that you have won the business. This is just the start of the journey, of course, as we turn our focus to getting the best price possible for the client in the most appropriate timescale. It’s not always the quickest sale that the client is after, nor one at the highest price, but quite often a blend between the two. If there is one thing that I have learned over the many, many years in the business, it is that to truly exceed the aspirations of the client, you must first establish what they are. This comes with experience, not form filling, it comes with dedication and commitment, not pressure.”Martyn is still very much connected to the business that carries my name over the door is in very, very good hands. This, is our story.
