Flint Homes: A Little Back Story

Above is a typically relaxed picture of me & my late pops - John Royle - my inspiration & hero growing up. Not such an unusual tale I know: son idolises father… so why am I telling you?

For those of you who don’t know (& we have been blessed with so many new friends & Insta followers of late why would you?!)… my father was an estate agent & Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) professional surveyor.

He created a local real estate empire - a successful chain of six estate agency offices in St Helens & around the North West of England where I grew up, with the backing of my mum, Sheila Royle MBE & a team of amazing staff (check out the picture – & haircuts! – below).

He prided himself on quality of service & was way ahead of his time with property particulars & marketing - an early adopter of utilising multiple images, of the might of good branding & power of positive PR. He was a trail blazer & it gave him a competitive advantage.

I wanted to go into business with him from a very early age - but it wasn’t to be. He sold the business to an expanding Prudential corporation in the height of the mid-80s boom. Like I said, he was a very smart business man…

And so life picked a different path for me - of journalism.

But I came back to the example he set after a successful career in news - creating my own publishing, media & marketing agency, always my own boss, just like him… & I’ve been proudly self employed for 25 years.

Working with my amazing designer wife, Bonnie, we have built a mini media empire & run a sought after creative agency - with international big brands using our skills.

But I have always loved & dabbled in property - buying, selling, renovating, flipping, renting & investing. To put this into practical perspective, my Grace daughter is 11 & has lived in eight houses!

I guess I always knew I would return to my passion & dad’s influence of property - not as a much loved estate agent like him (a much maligned career which I have enormous respect for & an industry I fully support), but the other side of the same coin, as a buying agent.

Hence Flint Homes…

Cheers pops - I hope you’re proud?

You might not be here to tell you - but thank you for inspiring me, to be the best I can be.

There’s nowhere to hide if you run your own business. The buck always stops with you. No team to prop you up. Nobody to pick up the pieces. To multi-task. Or do the work when you are off your game. You just can’t be off your game. It’s that simple.

My dad inspired this work ethic in me when I was a young boy & I have picked up that baton & run hard with it ever since, as a grafter of a small business owner.

This is the background, passion & dedication of service that runs throughout Flint Homes, for each & every client who trusts us with their property finding mission.