SO Resi Partnerships has appointed an experienced new Head of Partnerships, who has taken over responsibility for the innovative shared ownership sales agency. Mark Porter will lead the service’s national expansion, helping to provide greater opportunities for external agencies to market their shared ownership properties to prospective customers.

Mark Porter joins SO Resi Partnerships from heylo, where he spent four years managing the housing association’s Your Home product, a shared ownership offering for the second-hand market. Prior to his work at heylo, Mark had a successful 17-year career as a mortgage broker with The Mortgage People.

Mark comments: “What attracted me to the role was the opportunity to get back into relationship management in its full glory, and be a part of an innovative agency that is genuinely making a positive difference across the affordable housing sector.

“I have seen first-hand the impact that shared ownership has in enabling people to get onto the property ladder, and I am looking forward to getting stuck into expanding SO Resi Partnerships and opening up the doors to homeownership at a national level.”

SO Resi Partnerships launched at the start of the year, and to date has seen huge success, working with several key partners including local authority providers and housing associations. The team has assisted with selling hundreds of shared ownership homes across London and the South East, including selling out of two schemes before handover.

Alongside sales support, SO Resi Partnerships has also acted as a consultant for its clients, created compliance and governance procedures, assisted with resales and pricing for new schemes, and provided full analytical market research for a variety of clients.

The team has also devised and implemented full sales and marketing strategies to ensure the success of schemes.

Mark adds: “Fundamentally, to ensure the delivery of more homes to those who need it most, we need to collaborate with other like-minded third parties within the affordable housing sector. At the core of SO Resi Partnerships is the idea of collaboration – we have already seen the mutual benefits of working with our partners including ReSI, Tonic Housing and Brick By Brick.

“I am looking forward to embracing this challenge and helping to expand SO Resi Partnerships’ offering across the country. We are an established, experienced brand and I would encourage those within the sector to get in contact with myself or the team if they are interested in finding out more about the service we can offer.”

SO Resi Partnerships offers its partners an extensive database of would-be buyers looking for shared ownership homes, coupled with an existing strong market presence through the SO Resi brand. The service the team can provide is twofold; from finding buyers to taking customers through to legal completion, utilising their internal processes to help get sales across the line.

The agency service will also allow users to advertise their property on the SO Resi Partnerships website and access the teams’ expertise including marketing and sales support.