Fox&Sons

DanDan123

Hi,
Could anyone tell me if Fox and Sons are likely to be "Whole of the Market"?

Thanks

VIGILANT22

No they are not, they're known as multi tied and work from a panel of lenders....avoid EA advisers...

DanDan123

I thought that might be the response.
Thanks

shane42

i would avoid them, they linked to or owned by sequence, they would nt even let me view properties until i agreed to use their services, i didnt view any properties !

Dan_1976

They have a panel of 20-22 lenders. They also now charge a fee.

You will find some of the brokers very good some not so good. They are owned by Sequence, sister company of Connells, and are owned by the Skipton Building Socirty. Well the were, I think they still are.

You find they have a very structured mortgage process based on your budget and will start with a price that includes about every insurance you can think of!

Not all EA's have employed brokers, some refer to good wom brokers. The free or fee thing is for another day though.

I was WOM and had 2-3 agents refer to me.

Senior_Paper_Monitor

This whole subject (estate agents insisting that buyers "must" use their brokers otherwise the buyer will not be able to acquire the house) really winds me up.

Normally I would not publish details about how we run our business to the benefit of our competitors, but I would rather compete with real brokers than the sort of crooks described above.

We provide the following statement (with a couple of additional recommedations/comments about how the agency brokers 'may' restrict their options) to all our clients .....

We regularly have clients advise us that the estate agents for the property are ‘pressurising’ that “unless you use their broker you may not be able to get the property”- we have no problem with you seeing anyone you wish, BUT it is not legal to ‘make you do so’, nor to indicate that it will ‘impact on your ability to buy the property ifyou do not’.

Additionally, extra ‘credit checks’ / ‘Decisions in Principal’ may adversely affect your credit rating:

You may find the following extract useful:

Extract from The Property Ombudsman Code of Practice for Residential Sales (as of 22.02.10)

· as recognized by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA)

· as approved by the Office of Fair Trading under its Consumer Codes and Approval Scheme


6. Submission of Offers

6a By law, you must tell sellers as soon as it is reasonablypossible about all offers that you receive at any time until contracts have been exchanged (in Scotland, missives have been concluded) unless the offer is an amount or type which the seller has specifically instructed you, in writing, not to pass on. You must confirm each offer in writing to the seller, and to the buyer who made it, within two working days.

6b You must keep written or computerised record of all offers your receive – including the date and time of such offers – and the seller’s response. Such records should be made promptly.

Discrimination

6c By law you must not discriminate, or threaten to discriminate, against a prospective buyer of the seller’s property because that person declines to accept that you will (directly or indirectly) provide services to them. Discrimination includes – but is not limited to – the following:

· Failing to tell the seller of an offer to buy the property.

· Telling the seller of an offer less quickly than other offers you have received.

· Misrepresenting the nature of the offer or that of rival offers.

· Giving details of properties for sale first to those who have indicated they are prepared to let you provide services to them.

· Making it a condition that the person wanting to buy the property must use any other service provided byyou or anyone else.



I also regularly provide clients (whether selling or buying) highlighted copies of various estate agents' Code of Conduct (and members of the Sequence Group, particularly those with predominant use of the coloured dots, feature regularly) that they appear to believe they can suscribe to, publish and then blatently ignore.

My last comment on the subject before I become libelous !!!

Dan_1976

Great post SPM!