Esther Bennett:
07940 965522
Esther’s property journey started in Suffolk working for a small independent Estate Agent with Karl Mitchell training her! She went onto a PA and Marketing post for a Home Improvement Group where she progressed into Management co-running a sub division of the Group based in Essex. Esther then went onto work in Commercial Lending having worked alongside
Lesia Chomiak for a National Brokerage for 12 years. It was within those 12 years that both herself and Lesia and introduced lending business to Mark Ellis at the Bank.
Esther has been a Landlord which progressed with some Refurbishment and Flips in Suffolk. When moving into Norfolk she challenged herself to an extension within PDR’s to include Heavy Refurbishment. That last project and her experience in lending led her to set up the Brokerage “Development Money”. Her most recent property challenge (Commercial to Residential) was her first major 10,000 sq ft Development which is now c. 7,000 sq ft to include a Conversion and New Build of 6 units in Norfolk. Successfully some units have been sold and some retained and let to private/corporate tenants that is managed in-house. This recent experience will take her into 2020 with 3-4 New Builds in her local area of South Norfolk.
Outside of work Esther is a Mother to two young children, loves sailing and travelling, eating out and continues to build her property investments to secure her children’s financial future.
Mark Ellis ACIB:
07843 147539
Mark has carried out his own Property Rearrangement on an HMO back to a Single Family Dwelling.
Mark has had 25 years of working in Corporate and Commercial Lending for several High Street Banks. His former post, Head of Real Estate saw Mark manage a team of 130 Business Development Managers and a Multi-Billion Pound loan book.
In Mark’s spare time he is a regular Gym member however his quality time is spent with his wife and young daughter enjoying and exploring new destinations around the UK and Overseas.
Karl Mitchell:
07947 716759
Karl started his property journey in Suffolk working for a small Independent Estate Agent. His first position was as a Negotiator progressing to Branch Manager after 10 years of service.
Karl had a career change moving into selling ‘Regulated Insurance’ products to the Army however after a few years he missed property so much that he came back into the Industry and trained in Property Finance to work with Development Money.
The best tonic for Karl keeping a clear head is taking out his dog Daisy for long walks which allows him to problem solve some of his most complex deals! Aside from this Karl likes to get away a few times a year to some of his favourite destinations.
Grahame Wells:
0776 588 1996
CEMAP, FPC 1,2,3
Grahame is our newest member to the Development Money team. His first exposure to property was at Greenwich University where he trained as an architect. In the last 10 years Grahame then went on to start his own Finance Business doing Residential and Commercial Mortgages, Life and Protection Insurance. During this time he also acquired some Commercial Investments that he still manages.
Grahame is based out of our Head office in Norwich and was born locally! His favourite pastimes are playing County and National Badminton, gymming and swimming and spending quality time with his new family.
Vicky Applegate:
01508 491111
Vicky had a career in the Airline Industry covering the London Airports and then relocated to Norwich in 1998. After taking redundancy from KLM she spent time raising her children. Vicky then went into Business Development and Recruitment in the Care Industry for 4 years.
Vicky joined Development Money in November 2017 as the Office Manager and PA to Esther.
Sarah-Ann Cotes:
01508 491111
Sarah-Ann began her career in Pensions working in London, Essex and Norfolk. She went on to start up her own business in 2005 selling children’s gifts and accessories and for 10 years dealt with the daily running of her business with all aspects from sales, marketing and accounts.
Sarah-Ann joined the Development Money Team in Summer 2019 and heads up their accounts department.