Canvassing owners

dougk_2

SnowyOwl - you were lucky!

We were sent details of houses that were £75k extra.
We specified max of £225k and ideally under £200k and we still got agents trying to sell us houses for £299k....

We also asked for non-estate houses and not near a main road .... a good 60% were estate houses and nearly all the others were on an A-road!

John_M_Business

Just a word of warning - don't expect a bargain... ;-)

SnowyOwl_2

Ah yes DougK estate agents and their interpretation of what you want...

I said I wanted to be on a quiet road...I was sent to the end house on a quiet road, the end being joined to the A40 coming out of London...

I wanted a garden...they sent me to a flat with a little square of concrete at the front (nothing at the back!) - no way was I gonna put my washing on that!

I insisted on a garden...they sent me to a 1st floor flat with a shared garden. To get to the garden you had to go out the only entry point, ie the front door, lock the door, go past the building then turn down a side alley, go past the bit of garden belonging to the ground floor flat and into a postage stamp size of wasteland. That was not what I meant by a property with a back garden...obviously!!!

I wanted somewhere with minimum work required...they sent me to a place where the wallpaper was coming off the walls because it was so damp, and it stank, needed a new kitchen...didn't see the bathroom as had seen enough..

Wanted somewhere near the tube...was sent to a place somewhere in the wilderness around Watford, it was just a 20-30 minute uphill stroll to the nearest tube...imagine that on a wet Monday morning...

Wanted a decent size bedroom...saw a place which had a double bed in the one bedroom, with no space for a wardrobe, chest of drawers or bedside table. In fact I wondered how you'd make the bed...
So in the end I did it my way and found what I wanted...and for less than I was willing to pay too...the vendor was v.happy he didn't have to involve estate agents....and this was when prices were zooming up in 1998 in London.

I obviously can't say that this will be the outcome for the original poster, but there is nothing to lose by giving it a try...