Buying agent

roms

Hi all,

I have read about buying agents like Kirsty and Phil. Does anyone know how to find an agent preferably ones that do not have upfront costs until you ask them to view with you and take a % of what they have saved you? I am based in Croydon.

Kind regards

Beige

I suspect being a buying agent with that kind of (wishy-washy) fee structure would not be economical and would be surprised if they exist.

eddddy

roms wrote: »

Hi all,

I have read about buying agents like Kirsty and Phil. Does anyone know how to find an agent preferably ones that do not have upfront costs until you ask them to view with you and take a % of what they have saved you? I am based in Croydon.

Kind regards

Hi roms

I may be wrong, but I don't think you'll get positive reviews of House Buying Agents from many people on the MSE forum.

Many of the contributors on this forum are 'keyboard warriors' who would do their own extensive research online. i.e. sophisticated searches and alerts on Rightmove etc; researching historic sales price data; checking google earth / streetview; googling details of the local area etc etc.

House Buying Agents are more for 'cash rich, time poor' buyers, who don't have the time or inclination to do lots of research, so they pay the agent to do it for them. And to do the first viewings etc. I guess the agent also has a circle of contacts, which helps.

I think using a House Buying Agent certainly saves you time and effort, but I doubt they save you any money. (In general, why would a vendor accept a lower offer from an agent than an individual?) In fact, you have to pay the agent a fee on top of the purchase price.

(For Beige and others that aren't familiar with House Buying Agents: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/buyingsellingandmoving/7324573/Property-buying-agents-Would-you-spend-15K-just-to-find-a-home.html)

cattie

I'd never trust anybody such as Kirsty or Phil to offer on my behalf. They waffle away on the phone to the to the ea, going into big war stories & either end up making a stupid offer that any idiot knows is likely to be rejected, or they will for instance offer say £5k less than sale price & act as though they have really pulled off an absolutely incredible feat when the vendor accepts.

They do nothing that a prospective buyer couldn't do themselves & most buyers would probably end up getting a better deal than either of these 2 so called experts could ever hope to achieve.

roms

Thanks all for your responses. Very interesting to hear your views. I'm quite prepared to do the research, but thought they may be able to help at the offer/bargaining stage. I also thought they might get first wind of a property going for sale. If this is not the case then happy to do it alone. Thanks for your time in replying.

eddddy

roms wrote: »

Thanks all for your responses. Very interesting to hear your views. I'm quite prepared to do the research, but thought they may be able to help at the offer/bargaining stage. I also thought they might get first wind of a property going for sale. If this is not the case then happy to do it alone. Thanks for your time in replying.

I completely understand what your saying. And if a Buying Agent didn't charge an upfront fee it would be interesting to see what they came up with - as you suggest.

If the Buying Agent was negotiating direct with the vendor, they might be able to 'talk them into' accepting a low offer. But in reality, your Buying Agent will be talking to the Selling Agent. And it's the Selling Agent who would need to talk the vendor into accepting a low offer. So the negotiating skills of the Buying Agent are less relevant.

Perhaps a Buying Agent can offer their opinion on tactics and psychology of buying - e.g. how much your first offer should be, when you should make it, how long you should wait before increasing your offer etc. (The sort of questions that many people ask on these forums!) But you will never know if their tactics actually got you a better deal or not.

And perhaps a Buying Agent is less likely to be bullied/fooled by an EA into increasing their offer unnecessarily.

Buying Agents may well get first wind of properties - by regularly phoning EAs, putting leaflets through doors (maybe), generally asking around etc. Again, some people are happy to do that kind of stuff themselves, others are happy to pay an agent to do it.