A modest estate agent found himself the focus of a search to find him after he became an unexpected hit on social media.
All Dan Stevenson, 26, did was go to value a flat belonging to Lorna Hayward, in Wandsworth, London.
But then Lorna uploaded a Facebook photo of him with her two small daughters Elsie and Marnie, aged three and 19 months.
She wrote: “‘In the last hour Dan (who is a complete stranger) has had both my daughters request cuddles, can he hold their hands, if he would watch Peppa with them, does he like cheese, if he was staying the night and the finale – Elsie walking out of the toilet announcing she had just done ‘her biggest poo yet – it was a bit spikey though, so please can you wipe my bum’.
“Poor Dan. Poor poor Dan. Gonna just pour meself a pint of wine.”
In a story of our times, her post was liked shared over 25,000 times, sparking the hashtag #FindDan, and causing the Motherload’s website to crash.
Step forward Purplebricks, who claimed him as one of their own.
Meanwhile, Lorna, 36, rang Dan to tell him he had coped very well with the children’s infatuation with him.
She said: “Dan seemed rather unfazed and told me that he had an email from the CEO of Purplebricks last night saying how he had seen a post and photo about Dan on a mum site.
“Dan seemed pretty chuffed at that. I also felt it was only right, and fair to the dedicated fans of Dan, to ask if he was single. The answer is YES.
“Soz Dan, I think you’re about to get a LOT of attention.”
That seems to be an under-statement.
He is now said to have been inundated with date offers, after describing what should have been his routine valuation visit: “When I went round to see Lorna I wasn’t really expecting anything but the kids were amazing. I walked in and they were having their dinner, I just started talking to them about what they were having and the next thing they were asking me to pick them up. They are just hilarious and I just went with it.”
Yesterday a Purplebricks spokesperson said: “Dan’s a really modest person and is finding all the attention a complete shock.”
According to his Linked In profile, Stevenson is unarguably a local property expert, covering south west London which he knows well. Although with Purplebricks only a month, he was previously with high street business Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward.
This feels oh so Disney….PR stunt? I hope not.
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I didn’t think this was a PR stunt until I saw Purplebricks mentioned. Now it’s all I can think about! Expect a conspiracy theory later!
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One view; He sounds like a really nice guy. Great pity he doesn’t want to work for a full service independent agent aiming to give the vendor the complete personal service and best overall result possible.
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Well done Dan,
Imagine if he didn’t sell this one!
Second thoughts, just imagine if he does!
Anyone know a single Mum with two small kids who paid upfront just before Christmas and didn’t achieve a sale?
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“Stevenson is unarguably a local property expert, covering south west London which he knows well” and all at the tender age of 26. I would guess that pretty much any agent can recall stories such as this, the difference is most don’t feel the need to turn it into publicity.
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Im not sure I would want my Valuers 5 minutes of fame for wiping a childs backside!!
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I’ve done worse…
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Im all for the signed Terms of Business and im happy to stroke the odd moggy but theres definately limits
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Whatever it takes to get the instruction. WHATEVER it takes!
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I once had a little boy pee on my briefcase whilst I was at an appraisal! The mother wasn’t too concerned and said ‘he’s always doing that’ !! It was a felt briefcase that had to be thrown away afterwards.
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What next PB cute pic’s of him with animals? Oh please!
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Oh Purplebricks you are just so good how do you employ/self-employ such amazing people, where do you find them? Low fees and a personal service what else could a seller want? Don’t tell me all your superheros will be wearing purple capes and a mask next as uniforms!!!
Call me cynical but this is PR at it’s worst, the masters of spin at PURP do it again.
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“In the last hour Dan (who is a complete stranger)…”
Well… I suppose it COULD be purely down to this ‘chance meeting’ that they are friends on FB…
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Dan’s proper on the ball, mind you – looking at his LinkedIn profile:
“My current role is Sales Negotiator at Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward, one of the largest independent estate agents in London.”
I’m surprised to say the least that someone who now exists entirely online (‘cos that’s where it’s all gorn, innit!) hasn’t updated something so fundamental.
Based on that show, though, it’s just as well that little Elsie never got to find out how good his ‘paperwork’ was!
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#FindDan? I wonder what prompted this? Could it be that they had no way of knowing where this ‘local property expert’ was based? Sounds like he doesn’t operate from an office in that area! Nice story, but surely not newsworthy. Any agent/sales person will be nice to the kids, pets etc when doing a val, won’t they?
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