Estate Agents which one???????

[coop's]

I know there are lots of threads already on this site about this, but i wanted to hear from anyone who has used them and which one was the best or worst?

I've had a walk up and down but there are far to many to go into, has anyone got any advice?

thanks in advance.

[Ted Max]

We had realistic, decent service from Winkworth. But no doubt there'll be someone along in a New York minute to say, "Never Winkworth".

[lozzyloz]

coop my experience with DVR was great. Ask for Mel or Claire. Also Paloma at KFH (village office) is very good.

[susyp]

I switched to DVR from Winkworth. DVR are great, very friendly and seem like normal human beings. nuff said.

there's another thread somewhere where a forumite rates estate agents out of ten - was spot on.

[Ted Max]

We had realistic, decent service from Winkworth. But no doubt there'll be someone along in a New York minute to say, "Never Winkworth".

I switched to DVR from Winkworth

There you go. Personal recommendation is nearly useless in this area as so much is down to chance as well as the efforts of any one agent. You will have to go with what suits you, a combination of personal chemistry, gut feeling and prejudice, as do we all.

Insist on a short "sole vendor" period though. Gets them moving and means you can change whenever you like.

[susyp]

Also check who will actually be conducting the viewings. This is where I fell down. The person who comes round to see you won't necessarily be the person selling your flat. So you'll get smooth talked and think that person is a good salesperson - and then some office junior shows round 5 people at once and doesn't do any more than open the door and let them in.

This doesn't happen at DVR, however, hence the switch.

[mockney piers]

We used Wates in Dulwich village. They actually worked pretty hard for us when the vendor was being particularly difficult.

We used them previously for lettings (they sort of acted as an intermediary as they don't normally do lettings) and again were fine.

Considering the horror stories I've had over the years renting all over london, it was a nice change.

[wee quinnie]

We too used Wates (ED) to let our house last year, and we were lucky enough to get a fab tenant paying top whack through the Village branch. (?200 pm more rent* than we had been quoted by Winkworth, Bushells and Haart). Whilst this was great, we felt that communication between the branches was pretty poor. Once they'd got their share of the money, every time we rang them they tried to palm us off with the other branch. But overall, it was worth it for the extra dosh. Mind you - it was a pretty straightforward deal, and they weren't really tested to any major extent.

*Cleary achieved due to the exposure in the village I assume.

[coop's]

Thanks loads guys i've had a chat with wates and it's come down to them and ludlowthompson and bushells, it's so competive. This is the first time i've sold and it's like being a duck in shooting season. Has anyone used Ludlow or bushells??

[Loz]

As a buyer...

Winkworth. Very good and friendly, but rely on part-timers on Saturdays. Apart from that (which is better than not having enough staff) they have impressed the most.

Burnett, Ware and Graves. Really quite good. Have stayed in touch and got properties out to me.

Wates. Better than average. Good at emailing properties.

KFH. Pretty good.

DVR. Have tried to get to know us, but don't really have enough properties at our range at the moment.

Acorn. OK, though a bit distant.

Roy Brooks. Average. Very friendly.

Bushells. Little contact after registration.

Ludlow. Not very proactive. Rely on their (rather good, admittedly) email and sms updates.

Foxtons. Haven't heard a peep since registering.

I'm dependent on alerts from Rightmove, Findaproperty and Fish4. If you wait on estate agent you will miss out.

As a seller, I can't say that I am too impressed with Foxtons so far. I suspect my experiences as a buyer might explain to some extent why...

[lozzyloz]

I'm dependent on alerts from Rightmove, Findaproperty and Fish4. If you wait on estate agent you will miss out.

You make a very good point Loz. Once you've registered with the various agents it's worth having a regular trawl through the propertyweb with your specific criteria and then follow up with a call to the relevant agent for a viewing. Stock will always vary between agents and after a while the agents will get to know you better and hopefully call you first when a property comes up but is not yet marketed.

[Mark]

... and don't forget you can put your property details on this website for free in the Residential property in East Dulwich... section to help you sell it

[panda boy]

Well not wanting to start another 'all estate agents are angels of saten' topic, i've just managed to avoid dealing with the whole lot of them and dealt direct to a landlord to rent my new flat.

Unfortunately the agents have the lions share of choice, but the constant bending of the truth and economy with the facts led to me becoming very cynical about them.

(I'm actually being rather measured in my opinion of estate agents right now...)

There are plenty of ways to get direct access to landlords / property sellers without having to deal with 'middlemen' who

will happily take their cut without baring any responsibility. ('Gumtree' is a good website to start with...)

The ones have dealt with in the past have been friendly enough, after all we're all human and it's not as though they're arms dealers or anything, but in my experience many of them have been sadly lacking in terms of professionally dealing with, what is after all an important transaction.

Quite frankly they're all much of a muchness really...

It depends on what approach you want to take; deal with a intermediary, or do some extra research and deal direct to the person you're actually doing the deal with...

Just my humble etc...

[annaj]

Bit of an essay I'm afraid, but I happen to have views on your top two...

We sold a few years ago through Bushells and weren't very impressed. They were very positive and upbeat when we went in to sign up, but then it all went a bit wrong when we got to viewings. The flat was empty, as we'd already had to move, so we relied on them completely to do viewings. At first, despite quoting lots of great figures and telling us how many people they had on their books waiting for a flat like ours, absolutely nothing happened. When they did start showing people round the agent, apparently working for us and certainly paid by us, kept pointing out a non-existent "funny smell" to people and warning them about damp in victorian flats - we had provided a recent damp survey showing no damp. When we eventually got a offer, a lot lower than the asking price and we weren't being greedy I promise, they acted like we should be really grateful for anything. Oh and if I remember rightly the buyer was a friend of one of the agents - what a lucky coincidence. Throughout the whole process I had to ring them constantly to get updates and never got call backs when requested. I felt the whole time like they were working for the buyers not us.

When we bought our current flat it was through Ludlow Thompson and we were really happy with them. We had the same named contact throughout and he was friendly, straight forward and always rang when he said he would. Towards the end things got a bit sticky, because our solicitor was advising us to hold out on a couple of legal things. The agent obviously had a duty to chase us a bit, but was never less than totally professional and polite. Just recently, over a year later, I had to ring them about a sale board still on our building. By chance I got the same guy on the phone. He recognised my voice, remembered my name, a few details about us and where we lived. He got the board down the same day and called back two days later, without needing to take my number again, just to check it had come down. Very happy with them.

So, my two pence worth is Ludlow Thompson - hope it helps.

[Andyng]

did you deal with the office manager at bushells?Never met

such a unpositive person in my whole life

annaj Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Bit of an essay I'm afraid, but I happen to have

> views on your top two...

>

> We sold a few years ago through Bushells and

> weren't very impressed. They were very positive

> and upbeat when we went in to sign up, but then it

> all went a bit wrong when we got to viewings. The

> flat was empty, as we'd already had to move, so we

> relied on them completely to do viewings. At

> first, despite quoting lots of great figures and

> telling us how many people they had on their books

> waiting for a flat like ours, absolutely nothing

> happened. When they did start showing people round

> the agent, apparently working for us and certainly

> paid by us, kept pointing out a non-existent

> "funny smell" to people and warning them about

> damp in victorian flats - we had provided a recent

> damp survey showing no damp. When we eventually

> got a offer, a lot lower than the asking price and

> we weren't being greedy I promise, they acted like

> we should be really grateful for anything. Oh and

> if I remember rightly the buyer was a friend of

> one of the agents - what a lucky coincidence.

> Throughout the whole process I had to ring them

> constantly to get updates and never got call backs

> when requested. I felt the whole time like they

> were working for the buyers not us.

>

> When we bought our current flat it was through

> Ludlow Thompson and we were really happy with

> them. We had the same named contact throughout and

> he was friendly, straight forward and always rang

> when he said he would. Towards the end things got

> a bit sticky, because our solicitor was advising

> us to hold out on a couple of legal things. The

> agent obviously had a duty to chase us a bit, but

> was never less than totally professional and

> polite. Just recently, over a year later, I had to

> ring them about a sale board still on our

> building. By chance I got the same guy on the

> phone. He recognised my voice, remembered my name,

> a few details about us and where we lived. He got

> the board down the same day and called back two

> days later, without needing to take my number

> again, just to check it had come down. Very happy

> with them.

>

> So, my two pence worth is Ludlow Thompson - hope

> it helps.