More detail on how I came to be here can be found on the ‘Making of Imagine’ page.

The challenge in recruiting a team for this business is that clients, quite rightly, expect us to be open very long hours, to be knowledgeable and professional on housing and financial matters and have great people skills. However, in my experience, the individuals who will do the hours are usually young, inexperienced and lacking in people skills and the ones who do retain those qualities don’t want to work the hours. The team below have been hand picked to ensure we can cover all bases. If they are young they are well mannered, none cocky and happy to pass on difficult situations to more experienced hands and if they are a bit older they are still young enough to retain the enthusiasm to put in the hours required.

Imagine employ only the very best looking individuals (Mark has asked me to say). What more can you expect from a man whose password to his pc is 'handsome'. Such confidence belies his vertically challenged stature and chunky thighs. However, to be fair, Mark is a class act. Very experienced, very assured and adept at calmly dealing with the stresses and strains that can come with working in Lettings. I haven't needed to update his photo as he never looks any older, especially as the lens doesn't pick up his grey hairs. Happy at home with long term partner Sara and two young children Mark is rarely allowed to venture on the town with his Imagine colleagues, earning him the nickname 'Olympic Torch'.

Surely the man with the loveliest hair in estate agency, it's only since working with Glen I discovered there were men on this planet who used hair straighteners. Despite my obvious concerns at this and with respect to the entire team, Glen remains my 'main man' at Watford. He's the person I turn to whenever I'm unavailable to hold the reigns and the person I can rely on completely to deliver the Imagine service in the way I like it portrayed. Like a son to me, if it weren't for the fact I'm way too young for that to be a reality. Nickname derived from his especially fulsome posterior for a skinny white boy

Danny arrives with 'Legend' status stamped on his back having spent over ten years in the industry performing at the highest level. A one company man till now he sought brighter surroundings, new challenges and a pay rise. When none of those materialised Imagine happily snapped him up. Hopefully he can now scale even greater heights although that's not altogether difficult for Danny as he's not the tallest chap in the world and most things require him to scale some amount of height. I'm not saying he's short, but it's the first time I have ordered a company vehicle to come with a booster seat installed for the driver!

Tom starts 2010 with a promotion following three years of exemplary devotion to the job at Imagine. Everyone loves Tom; he's unassuming, respectful, well mannered, hard working and ambitious. He's spent time in Lettings and Sales to become the well rounded individual we see today with a real grasp for most aspects of the industry. Few staff members allow their other halves to run their hands over my naked torso, so Tom receives plenty of bonus points for letting his girlfriend Emma, do precisely that. Yes she's a qualified masseur, but I'm convinced that's just an excuse.

Watching over the flock like a proud Mother Hen, Valerie keeps everyone in check as the voice of experience she undoubtedly is. Battling back to working life after two knee replacement operations she is another truly hard working character whose effort level would shame many half her age. Her role is undoubtedly the most difficult of all the staff as she is directly in the firing line of clients during the transaction process when they are at their most stressed. Not a position for the faint hearted and one she carries out with real integrity. When she first joined I was really concerned about the use of colourful language and near the knuckle humour, but to be fair she has kept it to a minimum.

What a find this girl is!!! Dealing with the headaches and hassles of tenants queries and associated stresses is not a role for the faint hearted. Miranda handles it, not just with an efficiency that has impressed everyone she deals with, but also an enthusiasm that is verging on odd. I've not known many people who can find a Banking Report sexy or a Gas Safety Certificate fascinating, but to Miranda such documentation, accurate and up to date, is what gives her job satisfaction. She is all the more valuable for it.

Pronounced Lee - La, the name is apparently Arabic and means Princess of the Night or Purple depending who you choose to believe. If you take the latter, she tells me her birth month of February is also signified by the colour purple as indeed is her birthday of the 5th. All of that either has you thinking she was destined to work for Imagine or that she is a bit of a crackpot. Luckily for her I chose to go with the former. She is a gifted musician and can claim to be the very first member of Imagine with a singing voice that doesn't strip paint. We are all hoping Danny will learns something from her and stop squealing like a banshee. Her role has her working really closely with Miranda to ensure tenants have a smooth transition in to their new property and on our Managed Properties have a friendly voice to contact when issues arise.

Kelly secured her role before her eccentricities were fully revealed. Her nickname is warranted not as a result of her work efforts. but because she keeps an animal menagerie that bears comparison to the good doctor. Kelly is a local girl, in fact of you live within a quarter mile radius you will probably already know her via the selection of wake up calls the small zoo she runs in West Watford offer up each morning. She has joined Imagine via one of London's premier agents, from where we hope she will harness the skills she has picked up in to more of a community environment. Big things expected....

Rumours that Laura is in fact daughter of much loved comedian Ronnie Corbett are unsubstantiated. She may be a little vertically challenged and yes we do have to let her stand on a box to meet clients, but I for one wouldn't want to cross swords with our secret sales weapon. Although still young she is actually very experienced in the business having turned her back on attempts to be a jockey. This followed a brief stint as an Actress where she had some early success with roles in Honey I Shrunk The Kids and The Borrowers before opportunities started to dry up. Acting's loss was our gain though. She has a relentless proactive approach that sees her constantly on the phones chasing applicants to go viewing. If I was selling or letting my house I would definitely want this girl on my side!

It's taken some time to find an individual with more extraordinary hair than Glen, but the angelic choir boy look of the business rookie Jamie has certainly challenged that title. I gather they meet early each morning to share tips on gels, waxes and styling. He also has a keen interest in fashion and one can only hope he manages to impart some of this on to Glen as well. This is Jamie's first 'proper' job since leaving college. He's desperate to get involved in dealing with the public, but a little like a new born lion cub, initially we are teaching him the ropes via the admin side, before releasing him in to the wild. (Not that lions do admin, but you get my drift.)
Summer 2010 update - Just got his chance as trainee negotiator....

New to the business in 2007, Jason's rise to have a stake in his own business in just two years has been remarkable and a testament to just what a quality individual he is. Incredible appetite to succeed, incredible appetite to give good service and indeed an incredible appetite full stop. With a daily food in take that would keep many small villages well fed, it isn't just Jason's knowledge of the business that has expanded since he joined! Bushey born and bred his local knowledge and contacts make him ideally placed to achieve his goal of making Imagine Bushey the leading agent for the area for many years to come. I for one wouldn't back against him.

With his silky Irish brogue and charming smile Colm epitomises all the reasons we love the Irish. The fact you can't understand a word he says most of the time is admittedly a bit of a stumbling block, but when you ask him to repeat something for the third time he generally just gives you a cheeky grin and you forget you ever cared. I've known Colm for many years and when he approached me to rekindle our working relationship I jumped at the chance, knowing he fitted the Imagine mould perfectly. He is hard working, relentless on the phones and great with clients. After a short stint in Watford he has taken up reigns as Jason's right hand man in Bushey. They share a passion for the business and fine ale that makes them almost inseparable as a couple these days.

Summer 2010 signing for Imagine, Mark is one of the most enthusiastic individuals you could wish to meet. He is also, by some distance the fittest (in the athletic sense of the word) Imagine employee by some distance. Not that that is necessarily a great claim to fame looking at the rest of them. Nowadays he is a keen cyclist having hung up his football boots when they stopped producing footwear in the shape of a triangle – at least that's what I assumed he wore by the way his so called passes used to fly off in every direction except the one he intended. Year after year the Top Branch Manager at his previous firm, Mark has come to Imagine for a fresh challenge after nearly 10 years plying his trade. He represents and outstanding addition to the talent in our ranks and someone that will undoubtedly help push whichever office he is based at forward.

Claire has bounced in to Imagine in 2009 with big ideas, big ambition and big... presence. She and been able to use her experience in the industry to really hit the ground running and was wrapping up deals from her very first week. Be warned applicants - she has an almost mesmeric or hypnotic quality when you meet her in person and you'll be signing on the dotted line before you've really looked up. With Kelly forms a deadly duo in Lettings that keeps Imagine way ahead of the competition.

Undoubtedly one of the world's most immaculately manicured men, Gio always looks as though he has come straight from the tailors. I've become convinced he transports a 'Corby' trouser press with him at all times. I've never seen a hair out of place (although he has less volume to worry about than once he did) and you could use his shoes as mirrors they gleam so much. To top it all, I don't mind admitting he always smells delicious. I'd have him around the place purely to gaze at, but as a bonus he happens to be a very high quality Broker as well. We first worked together over a decade ago and he remains the finest exponent of the mortgage business I have come across. Not directly employed by Imagine, he is fully Independent in terms of lenders and able to offer advice as such.

Having married in to the Gregorio dynasty Kate is a lady not to be messed with. I'm not sure there is strictly a term ‘brutally efficient', but if there is, it describes her perfectly. Taking no prisoners and working at a pace that only Mums who manage to be employed as well as running a household know how to, she achieves as much in a couple of hours as most people do in a day. This is particularly handy as she only works part-time and it saves me some wages. With many Sales businesses the good work at the front end can be quickly undone if you don't have high quality administrators to back up the business. Kate ensures Imagine Bushey have no such failing. Her penchant for permanently wearing UG Boots is slightly weird, but no-one is brave enough to tell her.