Haart - Estate Agents (Positive's and Negative's)

lyndasharp

Just thought this thread had a lot of negatives so i'd add my good experience!

I bought my house through Haart 2 years ago. It had only been on the market a few days so they managed to get a sale very quickly for the previous owner, they kept me fully updated while I was buying, were very professional and efficient and I'd definitely consider using them when / if I sell! They were much better than the local agents I tried to buy through for the previous purchase (that fell through), the local ones never knew anything, I spent ages on the phone trying to find out what was going on.

I do wonder if it varies area by area?

firstaspect

They sold our house within 4 weeks recently after it had been on with a more local agent for a few months. They charge a bit more but they did put the work in to sell the house. They have annoyances but you just have to be firm and tell them how you want it sold, what price, that you're not interested in using their mortgage guys/solicitors etc.
It probably does vary based on region though as I've heard terrible reports about them from other places. I was in Cambridge btw.

mr_rush

I've been looking at buying a house in West London. The local Haart office was quite incompetent as well as being rude. They told me how they didn't want me to 'waste their time', cancelled appointments at very short notice, have quite tacky flyers for their houses/flats. I wouldn't use them if I was selling.

tiny_tear

lyndasharp wrote: »

Just thought this thread had a lot of negatives so i'd add my good experience!

I bought my house through Haart 2 years ago. It had only been on the market a few days so they managed to get a sale very quickly for the previous owner, they kept me fully updated while I was buying, were very professional and efficient and I'd definitely consider using them when / if I sell! They were much better than the local agents I tried to buy through for the previous purchase (that fell through), the local ones never knew anything, I spent ages on the phone trying to find out what was going on.

I do wonder if it varies area by area?

But I bought with them 5 years ago and it was great...
it's selling with them that has been the problem...

beej71

Haart are the worst company I have ever dealt with. They don't care about you at all and are bullies. Have spoken to other estate agents, and friends who used to be estate agents, and they say that Haart are despised as cowboys in the industry. Just wish I knew that before I used them. from my own experience I would say 'AVOID' but I'm sure some people used them and were happy.

sooz

<sebb> wrote: »

That's exactly how I felt about them when I was buying. The ads were horribly untruthful. "Fit for a King" - for a pokey little flat in a crime ridden part of Wembley, "Truely Massive, practically a mansion" - for an even pokier flat in another grotty area. .

Their ads in the local papers are even worse (yes...some people do look in other places than just righmove )

'Fit for a King' or some other pointless catchphrase with a 'witty' joke about the name of the street. Nothing regal about it at all, just happened to be near King Road. Utterly useless when looking at the adverts, as I'd much rather see one that told me the area, or even the street name.

BeauBelle

We had them in as prospective EA when we sold in 2006. The guy came in, plonked himself on the sofa and didn't even bother to look round before giving a random price abot £15k under the other valuations we had had done. Needless to say, they didn't get our business. We got the impression that they just wanted an easy sale at below market value.

In fact the house we went on to buy was multi agency with them as one of the EA, and from our previous experience with them I refused to buy through them and went with a local EA instead.

Hope it helps!

BB

honey9

We went into our local Haart (in SW London) as they had quite a few properties we were interested in, however the guy we spoke to told us they were all under offer (no matter which one we asked about!) and tried to get us to look at places that had been on the books over a year and didn't suit our requirements - one beds when we were looking for 2 beds etc. Despite us being FTBs with a large deposit and agreement in principle he couldn't have been less interested. He said he'd call us if anything came in but of course never did.

I called up pretending to be someone else to ask about one place and was told by another employee there that it was for sale (not under offer) so made an appointment to view, 10min later the first guy calls me back and tells me it's actually under offer! No idea if it was or not but if I was the seller I wouldn't have been too pleased.

So not a great experience, we are now buying through a different agent (Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward) and couldn't fault them so far.

I think it does depend very much on the individual office though.

beej71

honey9 wrote: »

I think it does depend very much on the individual office though.

I think you've hit the nail on the head. You can get a couple of bad apples in every office but I'm sure they aren't all bad.....

sunshinetours

beej71 wrote: »

I think you've hit the nail on the head. You can get a couple of bad apples in every office but I'm sure they aren't all bad.....

I also agree - you cannot tarnish a whole nationwide company with regional bad experiences IMO, but it does give an impression of that company

The things I do not like about their property details (and Spicer Mcoll also in our area) is the wide angle photos they take and over elaborate desciptions they use. They also have a larger estate agency company mentalility in our local area (like Bairstow Eves) in that cross selling everything and no real time taken by a number of their agents to try and understand your needs. In fairness that also applies to a number of agents I have come across

As someone else said a local long established independent agent (providing they advertise on Rightmove) can be your best bet. There will be a reason why they have been there a long while despite the fact they may not have the glossiest brochures or latest technology. You may actually get some service you never know!