Sebs

OPEN INVITATION - if anyone needs some insight or advice on a property matter, feel free to PM me... Between my girlfriend & I we ought to be able to help out. Qualifications as follows: I work for a large commercial & residential real estate firm in Chelsea, have a masters in property valuation and have worked in residential agency for over 6 yrs. My partner is an ARLA qualified residential property manager for a central London firm. Barry Road residents for a year. B)

That's exactly right Fishneed. A decent proportion of the "buyers" won't be suitable for the property. Remember, each negotiator at Foxtons is on an aggressive commission-led pay scale and competes directly against his co-workers. There is therefore not a great coordinated or co-operative approach by the staff, to selling. Instead its more about quantity. Although for some properties that might be a good strategy... ;-)

Just a quick comment on how Foxtons works (as I was an employee once!). The people ringing you up effectively canvassing for business are not estate agents. They are 18-25yr olds working in the head office over in Chiswick Park. Their function is business generation, not selling houses! That said the firm is a good agency IF you know what you have no illusions. The Foxtons approach to selling property is unsubtle and is based on a simple numbers game: push enough people through the doors and one is bound to make an offer eventually. This is reinforced by the opening hours & the fact they target the branches on the percentage of sole agency instructions - effectively if a buyer can only view properties after work, then they will be registered with foxtons. If you think your house will appeal to buyers aged 25-35 who work long hours, then by all means use them. You'll have a lot of viewings, but remember the best house agents probably don't need to do +50 viewings to match a buyer with a property. Sometimes less is more!