About Us
Passionate About Matching Homes With Their New Owners
Otters Home Search is owned and operated by Abbie Long and Francesca Watson. Both are experienced property professionals and chartered surveyors with in-depth knowledge and expertise having spent decades working across many aspects of the commercial and residential property industries.
“We believe the buyer should be professionally represented, be given unbiased opinions and advice to achieve the best price on the best property, to suit their criteria fully.”
Many of our clients at Otters Home Search are relocating across large distances or are busy with work and family and can’t physically research areas or go to viewings. OHS are certain we will add value and solve some of your property problems by saving you time and narrowing down your search, considering all aspects of not only your property, but its location and your lifestyle. You’ll only need to see a couple of options before pressing ahead with that all-important offer.
Crucially, we provide professional advice and relevant referrals, so you won’t make a mistake.
Francesca Watson, Co-Founder
• RICS Qualified Chartered Surveyor • Specialised in commercial and residential valuations • Personally renovated 8 properties, including listed, throughout the last 20 years • Expertise in finance, planning, design, and project management • Experienced businesswoman creating media business and managing a large digital community • Has first-hand experience of growing up and attending school in Bath • Her children currently attend schools in Bath Francesca qualified as a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in 2001 after graduating with a degree in Estate Surveying from Nottingham Trent University. She specialised in commercial and residential valuation at Montagu Evans and Donaldsons in London, before going ‘client-side’ working in property finance, advising on residential investment and development projects for National Australia Bank (Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank). Since buying her first flat in London in 2002, Francesca has renovated and extended eight properties. These have been both her own homes and investment properties and have included those with tricky access in London, and more recently a Grade II listed house with a long-winded and complex planning process. These personal projects have given Francesca greater understanding, and considerable insight and experience in finance, planning, project management, and interior design on top of her professional experience and knowledge. Francesca has deep routed links with Bath and the surrounding countryside so in 2019 she returned to the West Country with her husband and 3 sons after living in London and the South East for 21 years, settling in a period property in need of complete renovation in the Cotswold village of Biddestone, located between Bath and Chippenham.
Abbie Long, Co-Founder
• RICS Qualified Chartered Surveyor • Professional experience gained at DTZ/Cushman Wakefield in London and Bristol • Worked with institutional funds, developers, government sectors and corporate occupiers • Personal experience of relocating from London to rural Wiltshire • In-depth, first-hand knowledge of adaptive living to ensure full accessibility for wheelchair users • Wealth of expertise in regional education offerings, both private and independent, to suit individual SEN requirements • Worked with a social enterprise to create a national recognition scheme for volunteers Abbie qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in 2004 gaining professional experience working for DTZ / Cushman Wakefield in London and Bristol, and Jones Lang LaSalle in Bristol. This entailed working with institutional funds, developers, government sectors and corporate occupiers, including organisations, such as Aviva Asset Management, Deloitte, Chevron and Natural England. With her husband, Abbie relocated to the West Country in 2007, initially living in Bristol and then moving out to small Wilshire village where they converted a dilapidated, listed barn into their family home where they now live with their two children and two dogs. Abbie’s husband is a wheelchair user providing Abbie with in-depth, first-hand experience of sympathetically converting a listed Cotswold stone property for accessibility purposes. More recently, Abbie worked with a social enterprise start-up whose mission was to create a national gratitude and recognition scheme for fundraisers and volunteers. She then returned to her property roots as a consultant managing a private client’s residential and commercial portfolio. Abbie’s knowledge of the local and regional education offering is broad. She has explored schools in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Somerset, both private and state, and has knowledge of mainstream schools that offer a greater level of SEN support.