Essex-Born.
Independently Built.
Clever by doing things differently. For people who care more, and want a decade of ruling the standards of property in Essex.
Michael Rayner
Co-Founder & Director
Michael Rayner grew up in Colchester and has spent his entire career in the Essex property market. He joined a corporate agency as a junior negotiator and spent the next decade learning every aspect of the business – progressing steadily through the ranks to become a branch partner, overseeing one of the busiest residential sales offices in the area.
It was that experience, the best of it and the limitations of it, that shaped his ambitions for Michaels. He had seen first-hand what great agency looked like. He had also seen what held the corporate model back: volume over quality, short-term targets over long-term relationships, and a structure that made it difficult for the people at the top to stay genuinely close to their clients.
When the opportunity arose to build something new, on his own terms, Michael Rayner took it. In 2014, he and Michael Simpson opened the first Michaels office on Head Street in Colchester — the city he had grown up in, and the market he knew better than anywhere.
More than a decade on, you will still find Michael Rayner in the business every day — involved, available and as committed to the outcome for every client as he was when Michaels first opened its doors.
After ten years in corporate agency, I had a very clear picture of what Michaels needed to be. What I didn’t anticipate was just how proud it would make me - not of the business itself, but of what we achieve for our clients every single day. Michael and I are both in this business, present, every day. That’s a deliberate choice. When people trust you with one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives, being available, accountable and genuinely invested in their outcome isn’t optional. It’s everything.
Michael Simpson
Co-Founder & Director
Michael Simpson’s passion for property started young. Growing up in Halstead, he joined an estate agency at 16, and quickly discovered that this was the industry he wanted to build his life around.
Over the years that followed, he gained experience across some of Essex’s most varied and active property markets. He started in Braintree, moved to Wivenhoe, and then to Colchester. Each office gave him a different perspective on what buyers and sellers truly needed, how markets behaved and what outstanding service looked like in practice.
By the time Michael Simpson and Michael Rayner sat down to plan Michaels, he had already worked in three of the four areas the business would eventually call home. When the doors of the first Michaels office opened in 2014, he was ready, and the business has been moving forward ever since.
Like his co-founder, Michael Simpson remains a constant presence in the business today, on the ground, in the branches, and directly involved in the outcomes that Michaels achieves for its clients.
I started in this industry at 16 because I genuinely loved it - and more than twenty years later, that hasn’t changed. If anything, the pride has grown. When a client who came to us as a first-time buyer comes back to sell and move up the ladder, and then refers their children to us - that’s what Michaels means to me. Michael and I are on the ground every single day, not managing from a distance. That presence is something our clients feel, and it’s something we will never compromise on.
A fresh approach
to selling homes.
When Michael and Michael founded Michaels in 2014, they were making a deliberate statement about how property should be done. The corporate model they had both worked within was built around volume: as many instructions as possible, processed as efficiently as possible.
It had its strengths, but it also had significant blind spots. In the quality of marketing. In the consistency of communication. In whether clients genuinely felt looked after, and whether they ever came back.
Michaels was built on a different model. One centred on marketing excellence, genuine customer focus and the kind of service that creates loyal, long-term clients rather than one-off transactions. That meant professional photography as standard long before it became industry practice. It meant embracing digital marketing and social media early.
It meant proactive, honest communication at every stage, and always asking: is there a better way to do this? More than a decade on, both founders are still asking that question. Every day.
How we think.
How we work.
Some things at Michaels have changed considerably over the years, the technology, the reach, the team. Others have never changed at all.
Marketing done properly
The best way to achieve the best price is to invest in marketing properly, not a basic portal listing, but a genuine, multi-channel campaign presented in a way that is impossible to overlook.
People, not just technology
Great technology matters, but it will never replace an experienced negotiator who knows the area, understands the buyer and knows how to bring the right deal together.
Honesty over optimism
Honesty outperforms optimism. An inflated valuation might win an instruction, but it costs sellers time, stress and money when the market catches up. We give an accurate number from day one.
A constant presence
Michael Rayner and Michael Simpson are not silent owners or distant shareholders. They are in the business, every day, upholding the standards Michaels was built on.
Our Journey
A decade of growth across Essex.
Michaels Today
The team that Michael Rayner and Michael Simpson have built around them reflects everything they set out to create, experienced, local professionals who take genuine pride in the outcomes they achieve for the people they work with. That team now spans four branches across North and Mid Essex, each offering sales, lettings and local property expertise under one roof.
The Essex property market has changed many times since 2014. Through all of it, Michaels has adapted, invested and grown, always returning to the same founding conviction: that great marketing, honest advice and genuine customer focus are the things that matter most.
10+ Years Established
A decade of purposeful growth across North & Mid Essex, built on the same founding principles since day one.
Sales & Lettings
Full-service sales and lettings handled in-house at every single office.
Whole of Market
Independent mortgage advice through Michaels Financial, available at every branch.
Commercial
Specialist commercial property expertise through Michaels Commercial.