By Sarah Walker
29 July 2025
A young property entrepreneur whose business has already turned over £3.2m in its 18-month history has taken over a well-established lettings agency in Eston.
Jordan Ward, 29, of Redcar, set up Proinvestment Properties in 2023 – and has never looked back, seeing the firm go from strength to strength while supporting investors to buy profitable rental properties across Teesside.
Jordan, who now employs 28 staff, has also acquired Lettings Express in Eston, which was set up and grown over the last 17 years by Andy Hutt, who is now looking to “slow down” and pursue other business interests.
Jordan says: “We pride ourselves on buying, renovating and selling houses quickly and efficiently at the right price for everyone involved and when the opportunity came up to acquire Lettings Express, we felt this would be the right fit to develop the rental side of the company.
“We have achieved a great deal over 18 months in business, but we are not standing still – we are looking to grow significantly and we are always looking to achieve the next goal at the same time as continuing to provide the highest quality service to all our clients.”
Jordan has taken on all the existing staff at Lettings Express, providing longer term job security for the people who work there.
His “next goal” is to have 1,000 maintained properties and 50 staff.
“With all the projects we have ongoing, we are looking to create more jobs to support the growth of the business,” Jordan says.
Reflecting on 17 years running Lettings Express, Andy Hutt, who will continue working in the background to assist the transfer of the business over to Proinvestment for a short time, said: “It has been our family business that we have taken as far as we wanted to and now I am ready to enjoy a slower pace of life.
“The time was right to see another company progressing the business, with the maintenance and property sourcing side.
“The business needed a new lease of life and I’m confident Jordan, who shares our values, will take the business to another level with our existing staff and landlords and by continuing to look after all of our tenants.”
Andy praised and thanked a number of people who helped him establish and grow the business to where it is today. These included landlords who have been with him since the beginning, the late Bernadette Harris, an estate agent who sadly passed away on Boxing Day last year and a number of staff members and associates.
He particularly thanked Joanne Nicholson for her work as former office manager, Alison Haynes, who works in the business as a property consultant servicing clients out in the field and Mark Sadler, maintenance manager.
Andy also wanted to acknowledge, Phil Johnson, a close associate for many years and ex-wife Sarah Hutt, saying: “I wouldn’t have got the business to where it is today without the help of all my team over the years.
“Lastly, Fiona Nicholson, who has been my rock over the last 18 months, sharing both the strains and pains of getting the business sale to this point. Her unwavering support and belief in me have been invaluable, and I am deeply grateful for everything she has done by my side throughout this journey.
“I’m really excited to see Jordan take it into the next chapter and the opportunities ahead for our staff.”
Jordan specialises in buying “run-down” properties and turning them into profitable rentals.
“We sell to investors around the world as well as in the local area,” he says.
“It’s important to us that we are also giving back to the local community by providing high quality, affordable homes that are finished to an excellent standard and ready to move into.
“Although we are buying properties that require a lot of work, we don’t go in with lowball offers, we pay the market value.
“It has been really great to see how the business has taken off and we have our new Middlesbrough office at Boho 4, which is fantastic.”
Jordan credits the “team effort” and ethos at Proinvestment Properties with helping the business to achieve its goals.
In particular, Jessica Marshall, operations director and Danny Harrison have key roles to play – not forgetting “Bob the Builder” Robert Foster.
Jessica says: “I’ve been on the journey with Jordan from the beginning.
“He has visions in his head that he has to make into reality when anyone else would be saying “no, that’s impossible!”
“He always finds a way to achieve what he sets out to achieve and the sky is the limit with Jordan at the helm of Proinvestment as he’s always got something else to aim for.”
Robert adds: “We are always moving forward – going for it.
“Jordan runs the business with his heart not his head and looks after the staff. Everyone is happy.”
Jessica adds: “If you’d told us when we started out where we would get to be now, we would have said ‘we will never get there’ but we have done and there is always something new to aim for.”
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