November 18, 2020
The Role of The Buying Agent
The main role of a buying agent is to add value to the process of finding a property as well as buying it. That is not just saving money for my clients, but also steering them through the inevitable minefield. Very few purchases are completely drama… Read more
Are you hiring a ‘search’ agent or a ‘buying’ agent? Be sure you know the difference.
When selecting a buying agent, it’s important to check if they really are a ‘buying’ agent, as there is a big difference between ‘search’ and ‘buying’ in an agent’s description. I’m not being pedantic. It’s not just semantics eit… Read more
February 1, 2020
What’s involved in finding an ‘off-market’ property to buy? (updated Spring 2020)
I have bought around 400 properties for clients over the last 34 years, and in most cases the buyer just wouldn’t have found the house on their own. Many people ask me, how do you find owners that want to sell their properties privately? This is w… Read more
One of the most important parts of our job is understanding the psychology of the seller
My first boss said, ‘we are not agents we are nannies’ and forty years on I can safely say he was not far wrong. Understanding the psychology of both the seller and buyer is vital to make a deal happen and helps prevent what I have always called… Read more
July 19, 2015
Where do you find your properties?
People often ask where we find our properties and, without wanting to sound evasive, the straight answer is anywhere and everywhere we can; towards the lower end of the market price-wise, a high proportion will be on the market via selling agents, a… Read more
What ever happened to the property auctions at the top end of the market?
In our view the best and most transparent form of sale is an auction. Everybody can see what is going on: the contract is exchanged so the buyer goes home knowing he has bought a property with no danger of a gazump. Sadly, however, modern day sellin… Read more
June 18, 2015
Protecting Our Client’s Privacy
Keeping secrets has to be a stock in trade for a premium house buyer. Everybody values their privacy; you don’t have to be a celebrity to want to keep your personal circumstances private. The press take an interest in the top properties and then w… Read more
The importance of cementing relations between seller and purchaser
It is absolutely vital that there is a good relationship between the purchasers and the vendors. It makes the negotiations that much easier if the owners actually like the buyers, (hopefully more than other interested parties) and it also helps wi… Read more
June 4, 2015
Is the role of the property buying agent the same in 2015 as it was in 1985?
People think the buying agent role is a relatively modern, new phenomena. But this really isn’t the case at all. It all started in the mid-1980s with houses, but it had been going on for many years before with farms and estates. Read more
What’s the difference between a Buying Agent and a Search Agent?
Is it just terminology? Is it just about the name? Yes, some call themselves search agents – and as you can see I call myself a “buying” agent. But the searching in my view is a very small part of the business. A buying agent has to add value … Read more