Forum Topic

Estate agents for house sale

Can any one recommend any of the local estate agents for selling a house. Or better, which ones to avoid.Many thanks and we will feedback our experiences

Alex White ● 5402d14 Comments

Don't use Daniel Goodman.I've had at least two dreadful reports - though, to be fair, both for his letting business not selling.

Sara Nathan ● 5401d

Dear Sara,Thank you for your reply. I might look for an older thread regarding estate agents. But if I remember well, the feedback tends to be mostly about rentals. Perhaps people selling/buying houses move away from acton and do not use the forum anymore. best,

Alex White ● 5401d

Hi Alex, using an old thread may prove to be misleading.The staff turnover at any estate agency can be very high, so a bad one may have since left and been replaced with a good one, and visa versa.I suggest you call and meet some of them. I'm sure you'll quickly get an idea.Personally, I would go in with the approach they are all estate agents and be on your guard from the start.Good luck, Carl

Carl Tamboli ● 5400d

Dear Carl,Thank you for your advice. You are quite right. Luckily when we bought, the BBC broadcasted (TV) this very interesting/scary undercover investigation: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4826444.stmSome of this happened to us, but thanks to this program, we avoided the worse, and learnt a lot. I was scalded and sworn never again to sell/buy/move....But, we might try...We have met some of them and they actually seem pretty decent and professional. But, we need to decide which ones to really trust. In that respect, some advice from someone with a recent good/bad experience could be very helpful. best,

Alex White ● 5400d

Hi Alex,I'm sure there are some decent ones out there, and I really don't like generalizing - (which is why so many posts on this forum drive me bonkers).From experience, I'd say that the most cunning ones I have encountered are actually the most friendly and helpful.Just be careful, don't be afraid to ask as many questions as you want in order to be comfortable and if it doesn't feel right, then stick to your guns. I'm sure you'll be fine.Carl

Carl Tamboli ● 5399d

Friends have used Rolfe East and found them to be good,  Grimshaws in Ealing Common are a long standing independent estate agents who I have never heard negative comments about.I would beware an agent who gives a very high figure as I would say they are only doing that to get your business.I would call 3 estate agents ask them to come and give a valuation and discuss their terms and try to negotiate the best percentage.  Good luck.

Jen Morty ● 5398d

Also someone told me spring/summer are when most sales take place and December is the slowest month!

Jen Morty ● 5398d

Avoid Tomlud Lowson like the plague.

Rosco White ● 5398d

Gimshaw hmmm..... enough said.The Orchard boys (ealing common)are very keen and up and coming and the Aston Rowe (Churchfield Road) supported local state primary school, so deserve a plug!

Ireen Esmann ● 5398d

thanks all for your input. We didn't think about Grimshaw nor Orchards because we were looking for more local estate agents. Ludlow and foxtons seemed to be quite similar and having had a bad experience in the past, this time we gave them a wide berth. We have visited some of the ones in the high street: Rolfe east seemed good. We didn't think about the new starters in churchfield road and their website doesn't seem to be ready yet. We will also wait until the house market gets started after the new year. All the estate agents we spoke to seemed friendly and helpful, and none of estimates seemed outlandish, so were is the catch?

Alex White ● 5398d

Well...we started off 2 years (Jan 2010) ago selling our 2 bed flat with Bushells. They had sold our old 1 bed flat before and we'd been happy then. Didn't feel like they were getting enough people through the door, and after no offers (despite lowering price) after a few months changed and went with Foxtons (ealing branch). Foxtons got a lot of people through the door but seemingly only chiswick and ealing area hunters, so still no offers after about 6 months. Not worth the higher fees in my opinion! Finally we changed again and went with Dexters, who did get us a lot of viewers and we finally finally got an offer (65K below original asking price), and felt we had to take it, as it was our first offer in 18 months! Dexters did give us a lot of feedback, which was very helpful. They also had fairly competitive fees. Sadly lowering the price so much meant we could no longer afford to move to a bigger property in Acton (so bye bye Acton after nearly ten years of lving here) or any part of Ealing but we have found a house to buy in Boston Manor - moving in 10 days which I hope works out well. Never want to move again as it's taken us just under 2 years!!!!

Laura Wood ● 5398d

In my opinion it is you that sells your property not the estate agent.  All the estate agent does it get prospective buyers to cross your threshold. Therefore you need to ensure that in order to get prospective buyers across your threshold that the details the estate agent are printing are correct and inticing.In order to do this you need to know what your target buyer will be.  Do some research.

Dee Cook ● 5398d

What a tale of woe Laura. And what a shame you have to move out of the patch.

Sara Nathan ● 5398d

Anyone but Foxton's I would say.  Orchards do seem pretty good though - young and hungry for business which is what is needed to get people through the door.  I always see them nipping around the area in their distinctive cars and they have a lot of boards around too.

Eileen Francis ● 5397d