So you're looking to buy, sell or let a property

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What would make the process easier for you?

Are you mainly looking for the lowest costs possible or do you prefer value for money in as much as you don't mind paying for a service so long as you get what you pay for?

Obviously everyone can't be pleased all of the time but a happy medium needs to be struck I feel.
I know the property market is something that infuriates a lot of people and causes a lot of stress.

I'm keen to find out what others feel would make the process more bearable?

For me, it would have to be accountability by estate and letting agents.
At the moment the industry isn't regulated which leaves you open to the companies who are out for maximum profit with little effort (these are often large companies too).

I don't mind estate agents, in fact I feel they serve a purpose provided they can account for the charges the make in relation to that service.
I am also a big fan of the "sell it yourself" companies that are popping up now, however I sometimes think that even though the charge is small... it's still a charge for zero work.

Is there a happy medium?

hearts

Estate agents, for the work they do, are VASTLY over paid ;-)

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All of them?

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Anymore for anymore?

Polovski

if accepting an offer was legally binding - that would cut the amount of gazumping etc - is that what happens in Scotland?

Tiger_greeneyes

Polovski wrote: »

if accepting an offer was legally binding - that would cut the amount of gazumping etc - is that what happens in Scotland?

It sure is

For me it would be honesty on all levels and smaller egos.

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Tiger_greeneyes wrote: »

It sure is

For me it would be honesty on all levels and smaller egos.

Haha I fully agree with you.
There does appear to be (according to what you read) a lot of underhand tactics by some agents in the industry when it comes to buying and selling property.

And to Polovski above, I believe it is legally binding scotland once an offer is made therefore gazzumping is not really an issue.
However I don't know how that would leave the seller should the property they're looking to buy falls through (could be a number of reasons for this).

Are they then obliged to pay the purchaser of their property a fee for having to back out of the deal or are they obliged to continue anyway.
If someone has experience of this I'd be interested to hear it.

So would any of you object to paying between 1-2% for the sale of your property to an estate agent if the service was handled in an open and honest matter, your property was advertised to the fullest extent available and suitable candidates were found to purchase your property in a timely manner?

Or are you more inclinded to try and sell your own property if it were to save you money? And if so, what would be the sort of figure you'd expect to pay in advertising?