Praise for an Estate Agent (!) - R Whitley & Co, London

laurathree

We have just bought our first home in the London area, and I wanted to give a shout-out to the Estate Agent, R Whitley & Co, who are a family-run business based in West Drayton, as I think a praise-worthy EA is probably quite a rare find...

We were house-hunting across London (in Forest Gate/ East Ham areas, as well as West in Hayes/ Southall), and estate agents in general did nothing to dispel the stereotypes of them being as generally awful and unprofessional as can be. However, we went to see a few properties with R Whitley & Co (three in West Drayton and the one in Hayes which we bought), and they were excellent. They were punctual, professional, and exceptionally friendly with all enquiries and viewings, and then with our actual purchase, they were stellar.

They arranged for tradespeople to go in and quote for us after a few minor issues were raised by the Homebuyer's Survey, and they kept on top of chasing both sets of solicitors, and pushed the whole sale through in under three months (including the Christmas break), which I was delighted with. On going to collect the keys for our new home, I was presented with a lovely gift hamper of a caffetiere, tea, coffee, and snacks, which although very minor, was actually a godsend on our first night sat on a floor with nothing to eat or drink.

In comparison to multiple no-shows, late appointments, general rudeness, and a total lack of effort on the part of many agents before (including when we had offered on previous properties), it was brilliant service. Jonathan Whitley was an excellent agent and I felt he was acting in our interests as well as that of the seller, despite us not paying a penny for it, obviously.

I know you can't choose who you're buying your house from, but these guys were the only estate agents in London (and I feel I have now probably dealt with 80% of them!) who I would recommend. The others were uniformly terrible (especially in East Ham - multiple disasters there). If you are ever selling a house in West London (or looking for something near a future Crossrail Station), go to Whitley's.

whitegoods_engineer

Or...Hey let's advertise our estate agency by making out we're an actual customer!

DoaM

Or...Hey, I joined this forum 6 years ago simply to wait until such a time as I can pretend to be a customer and praise our estate agency!

Don't be stupid!

Hermione_Granger

DoaM wrote: »

Don't be stupid!

Some posters find it easier being stupid than actually thinking before posting.

laurathree

I kind of expected that to be honest. Which is exactly why I thought it was worth giving them a shout out. Also this board is called "PRAISE, vents and warnings" but there are very few threads on here that ever praise anyone or anything. I'm quick to mouth off about douchebags who try to rip me off, so it's only fair that I give a shout out to the ones who are excellent - people tend to complain quickly but, as here, are reluctant to give credit where it's due!

Board mods and anyone else welcome to check my post history - shows I have been posting about searching for and buying a flat and a member for many years.

While I'm here raving about good service, I will also give a shout out to Hayes Timber and Damp Proofing Limited and DJ Domestic Appliance Services and Repairs, both of whom have made my first week in a new flat a lot less of a nightmare at the end of the week than it was at the beginning! West Londoners, take note.

Edwood_Woodwood

Estate Agents are useless, it's a non-job, they produce nothing.

As for your post-

1 It wasn't the EA who pushed the sale through in under 3 months. Rather, it would have been the efficiency of the lawyers for this, no amount of badgering from the EA would have made the slightest bit of difference.

Some sales are much less complicated than others, nothing to do with EA.

2 Considering you would have paid an awful lot of money to an EA for no good reason then the fact the EA provided you with a hamper with some tea bags, which you describe as very minor, then I'd say they could well afford this gesture.

3 Why anybody would be happy to outsource tradespeople to work on their home, rather than do it themselves, is beyond me.

Just how difficult is it to do anyway?

And no doubt the EA has cosy arrangements with tradespeople to provide them leads in return for a few quid.

4 Why does anyone need a salesman to point out what a kitchen is, what a garden looks like or to count the number of bedrooms in a house?

5 A house will sell for what it is worth, simple as. I will pay a max I can afford as a buyer, a seller will sell at their min.

etc, etc.

Pointless job.

hollydays

Pointless post..

Edwood_Woodwood

Pointless post to point it out...

ThumbRemote

Edwood_Woodwood wrote: »

Estate Agents are useless, it's a non-job, they produce nothing.

As for your post-

1 It wasn't the EA who pushed the sale through in under 3 months. Rather, it would have been the efficiency of the lawyers for this, no amount of badgering from the EA would have made the slightest bit of difference.

Some sales are much less complicated than others, nothing to do with EA.

2 Considering you would have paid an awful lot of money to an EA for no good reason then the fact the EA provided you with a hamper with some tea bags, which you describe as very minor, then I'd say they could well afford this gesture.

3 Why anybody would be happy to outsource tradespeople to work on their home, rather than do it themselves, is beyond me.

Just how difficult is it to do anyway?

And no doubt the EA has cosy arrangements with tradespeople to provide them leads in return for a few quid.

4 Why does anyone need a salesman to point out what a kitchen is, what a garden looks like or to count the number of bedrooms in a house?

5 A house will sell for what it is worth, simple as. I will pay a max I can afford as a buyer, a seller will sell at their min.

etc, etc.

Pointless job.

What an utterly bizarre post. Are supermarket workers in a 'non-job' then because they produce nothing? Police officers? Taxi drivers? Since when was a job defined by how much you produced?

Point 1 - Actually the estate agent chasing can make it happen faster. Conveyancers can have a habit of ignoring paperwork until prodded.

Point 2 - OP paid the agent nothing.

Point 3 - Fairly simply that they can't do it themselves. I assume by your comment you think that every person in the world is capable of every household repair job.

Point 4 - The seller may work and require someone to arrange viewings. The seller may live alone and feel uncomfortable letting strangers into their house. The seller may have already moved away. (Continue with many other possible reasons)

Point 5 - Erm yes, well done for stating the obvious.

Edwood_Woodwood

ThumbRemote wrote: »

What an utterly bizarre post. Are supermarket workers in a 'non-job' then because they produce nothing?

Supermarket workers produce a service, they replenish shelves that enables me to buy goods. They bake bread, they sell me fags & beer where one has to be licenced to do so.


Police officers?

Amongst many things, they apprehend scumbags, deal with riots, bust dope dealers, terrorists, which makes for a safer environment.

Taxi drivers?

They get one from A to B, their very service is tangible.

Your three examples above entail services, a produce.

Estate Agents provide nothing, they are not needed. I have done without them in 5 house moves, surplus to requirements.



Since when was a job defined by how much you produced?

Something needs to be produced, a service needs to be provided.

Just like the taxi driver example, there have been times I needed a taxi, which is why I used one. Or else I could not have gotten from A to B as I had wished.

However, I know that an EA is not needed to buy or sell a house.

I have bought and sold 5 houses without them.

Point 1 - Actually the estate agent chasing can make it happen faster. Conveyancers can have a habit of ignoring paperwork until prodded.

Rubbish, an EA has no influence at all. Indeed, professional people find them annoying.

Point 2 - OP paid the agent nothing.

So the EA sold their house for free?

Point 3 - Fairly simply that they can't do it themselves. I assume by your comment you think that every person in the world is capable of every household repair job.

Not what I wrote.

If I need a tradesman I find one and check them out. Why would I delegate this to some twerp in a suit?

Point 4 - The seller may work and require someone to arrange viewings. The seller may live alone and feel uncomfortable letting strangers into their house. The seller may have already moved away. (Continue with many other possible reasons)

I'd just ask a friend or family member to do this for £20 or so. Why would I pay 2%+ of my property value for some glorified shop worker to point out that stairs in a home lead up to bedrooms?

Point 5 - Erm yes, well done for stating the obvious.

Then why would I need some burk informing me of what price I should put my house up for? I know what houses sell for, I can look on the Land Registry.

Jeeeeez...!

DoaM

Erm ... OP bought the property, so did NOT pay the (selling) EA anything. (AFAICS)