TWO employees at York-based Hunters estate agents are so impressed with the company that they are leaving it.

Tony Wallis, 43, manager of Hunters' City and Country branches in York and Harrogate, and Rebecka Try, 36, who works as a senior valuer at the Bishopthorpe Road office, York, plan to leave the company in order to set up a partnership in their own Hunters franchises.

The two of them are seeking premises to open five of their own Hunters offices over the next five years, the first planned in Selby for early next year.

Tony said: "We know what managing a branch is all about.

"Rebecca used to be manager of the Bishopthorpe Road office before she left to have a family, then returning as a valuer.

"I was manager at the Easingwold office for more than two years before I was promoted.

"At work, we often talked about the prospect of running our own show and now it's becoming a reality.

"We would not have dared risk it had we not been convinced that we were already working for a fantastic brand."

Already, Hunter's first two franchised branches are already up and running in Knaresborough and Boroughbridge with 50 more in the pipeline, as part of a plan to create 250 franchise operations by the year 2011 - all administered from York.

The latest deal to be sealed will see the opening of six offices in the Aire Valley area, north of Bradford.

Michaela Craven, who already runs a successful overseas property business, will launch the first of the franchises in Saltaire next month with the other offices being rolled out over the next five years.

But other Hunters employees are also considering opening franchised branches along the East Coast.

Jamie McMullan, the London franchise guru who was brought in to roll out the Hunters programme, said: "We really don't mind if some of them are our own employees.

"It offers those who join a true career path which, ultimately, will see them in charge of their own offices."

The franchise plan foresees 50 staff moving from Colliergate, York, into a new £5 million four storey head office next to the former Transco gas infrastructure site at Heworth Green, next October, with about 150 new jobs to follow over the next five years.

Latest annual figures show that the group, which employs 190 people, increased its turnover from £6.8 million in 2004/5 to £8.4 million.

Franchisees are expected to show that they have about £120,000, an investment which will include a fee of £15,000, covering initial training, branding and operations manuals, plus the costs of setting up an office of £40,000 depending on location.

Hunters may be able to negotiate funding for up to 70 per cent of the cost.