London Property Magazine
Natasha Higgins meets Andrew Ellinas founder of Sandfords and finds out about his unlikely past career
Rarely do you come across a radio presenter turned estate agent. It’s possible, most things are, but unlikely. So when I meet Andrew Ellinas, founding owner of Sandfords, who tells me he went from presenting Jazz FM’s Breakfast Show in the nineties, to selling houses in the noughties, I’m intrigued.
“I worked for the BBC, I presented Jazz FM’s Breakfast Show for two years, I worked on political shows, sports shows, showbiz – anything really. At times it was interesting, at times dull. I’ve interviewed U2, Cliff Richard and Phil Collins and made a guest appearance at Rugby’s Town Centre where I stood for an hour having my photograph taken with strangers. As to why people would want a photo with me still baffles me,” he says, amused.
Andrew receives me at his Regent’s Park office on Gloucester Place which he runs with two other partners. It’s a rainy Tuesday morning and the tourists huddled outside the Sherlock Holmes Museum nearby, look especially weary. Nonetheless, the office is brilliantly located on the periphery of Regent’s Park and a stone throw away from bustling Baker Street. Andrew’s other business partner is based at Sandfords’ offices in Marylebone..
Andrew-Ellinas“I set up the agency because I needed to start making money,” says Andrew matter-of-factly. “Disk jockeying doesn’t pay very well and I had a young family to support. I would never have been able to give it up completely, though, so I still do some work at the weekends but it’s now become more of a hobby”.
As a teenager Andrew was passionate about music. “I loved discovering great songs. Being able to tell my listeners why a piece of music was so good was a dream come true. The job was very creative – it was just you and a pile of records; you had to entertain people for a given period of time”.
After finishing his A-levels at University College School in Hampstead, Andrew studied law at Brunel University. He was supposed to go on to take his Part II exams at Lancaster Gate but decided that until he started he would furiously apply to jobs in radio as “that’s all I was really interested in doing”. Lucky for Andrew, just days before he was supposed to start at Lancaster Gate, he was offered a job as a presenter for the United Biscuits Factory (UBF) in-house radio station, which he readily accepted.
“The problem with radio is that after you’ve been hosting your program for about five years, the audience gets bored of you, you get bored of the show and it’s time to move on. Radio takes you to all different parts of the country and it can be very taxing on family life.” So, he decided to follow plan B.
Thanks to Andrew’s Greek father, a successful property investor and developer, Andrew knew a significant amount about the industry. Thus with no negotiating experience, Andrew opened an estate agency in Archway, called it Sandfords – his mother’s maiden name – and embarked on a career as an estate agent. “We were a small team of five. We opened in 1985 and for many years I was still presenting alongside being an agent.”
“Things were so straightforward back then,” says Andrew nostalgically. I remember mail merging my letters and people couldn’t understand how I did it. Our first office computer cost £5,000 and was much less powerful than a standard calculator today.” Andrew believes the modern way of doing things in his industry has become overly complicated as a result of technology.
Another bone of contention for Andrew is that he would like to see the industry become properly regulated: “This would enhance its reputation and eradicate cowboy outfits and underhand deals”.
Sandfords, on the other hand, operates at the top end of the market and proof of its success was the need to expand ten years ago when a new office opened in Marylebone after the main headquarters moved to Regent’s Park in 1995. “Our core market is Regent’s Park. We’ve already sold two houses by the park this year. We have a leaflet that goes through people’s letter boxes that reads: “If we haven’t already sold your house, we’ve probably sold your neighbours’.”
As for Andrew, his role today is mainly centred around what he calls ‘small’ jobs that need looking after in a big company: “I head up marketing, IT, Finance, HR, and anything nobody else wants to do. My fellow directors tend to do the property valuations and our negotiators do the viewings.”
So, almost 30 years on, does Andrew see himself as more of a radio man, estate agent or a bit of both? “Deep down, I am a bit of both. Radio is not something you can shake off. It becomes an inherent part of you. At the same time, I love the day to day buzz of the property market”.
Given the chance to do it all over again, would he have chosen a different path? There’s a long pause. “No. I wouldn’t have played it any differently,” he answers.
