Sydenham Estate agents

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jacktaylor
Posts: 3
Joined: 15 Feb 2017 14:36
Location: SE26 4ST

Sydenham Estate agents

Post by jacktaylor »

We are looking to sell our flat in the next month or so and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations when it comes to agents?

On a similar theme, if there are any horror stories, would be good to know those as well.

Also any guidance on fees that people have negotiated would be much appreciated...

Jack
f4monty
Posts: 49
Joined: 2 Aug 2015 18:27
Location: Sydenham

Re: Sydenham Estate agents

Post by f4monty »

We had a dispute with Pedder, who revealed confidential information to everyone in our street and tried to ignore us until we complained to the Information Commissioner.

So we will never use them again.

We would consider one of the online groups instead - they’re so much cheaper.
Pally
Posts: 1492
Joined: 2 Aug 2014 05:38
Location: Sydenham

Re: Sydenham Estate agents

Post by Pally »

Property World is a real community estate agents who give a lot to the community. I have heard good things about them from friends/acquaintance but not actually used them myself
JMLF
Posts: 631
Joined: 12 Dec 2013 19:41
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Sydenham Estate agents

Post by JMLF »

We used property world twice - to initially buy into Sydenham and then to sell our old place and to get a larger place. In the end they were very honest with us and the place we wanted to buy which they had on the market didn’t work out because the person (after a while) they said wasn’t mentally ready to move out of her lifelong house/wasn’t realistic about what she wanted. They advised we looked for a place with other agents to which we ended up being successful.

Throughout they were very honest and always kept in touch/were very receptive to contact. As mentioned already in the thread they do A LOT for the community (Sydenham and Penge) including food/clothes collection points and sponsoring events such as Sydenham Arts / Spontaneous Productions / Penge day which gave us even more of an incentive as well to go with them compared to anyone else.
alywin
Posts: 920
Joined: 27 Aug 2009 12:33
Location: No longer in Sydenham

Re: Sydenham Estate agents

Post by alywin »

f4monty wrote: 5 Jan 2020 11:26 We had a dispute with Pedder, who revealed confidential information to everyone in our street and tried to ignore us until we complained to the Information Commissioner.

So we will never use them again.

We would consider one of the online groups instead - they’re so much cheaper.
I'm no fan of Pedder: I hold them - and possibly a few others - responsible for the overinflation of prices in the local market. Property World tend to be more realistic in their pricing, I feel - and as others have said they are a local, well-established agents who are committed to the local community. I'd be interested to know how many properties actually sell at the higher prices some agents charge, and how many actually end up being reduced, or not selling because the vendor is determined to get the price they were originally promised. There was a time not that long ago when it appeared to be quite a few for the latter.

I'd think twice about some of the online agents: yer pays for what yer gets, basically. I've often found that those which aren't local tend to get prices wrong in one direction or the other - some ridiculously so. Look at their pricing structures: are you paying upfront? If so, where's the incentive for them to help progress your sale rather than leave you to deal with it yourself? The initial price may look cheap - but do they add on extras, Ryanair-like? For example, I'm told one will charge for every attendance at the property once a sale is agreed - that may start to add up once you take into account surveys, technical inspections, the general pre-completion visits and so on. A good estate agent will help chivvy the sale along, communicate with everyone involved, solicitors included, and possibly provide a necessary buffer between the two parties - things can get a bit heated during a sale, so it's good to have someone acting as a more diplomatic go-between. An algorithm can't do that. The lack of personal contact between the parties can lead to misunderstandings, mis-assumptions and the like which may cause problems and even sink the deal altogether - and personally, I may be old-fashioned but I like to meet the people I'm buying from to get a feel for what they're like: the one time I tried buying online I had my doubts about the vendor's character, and they ended up proving me right by gazumping us. Far easier to hide that sort of thing online, I feel.

There are other threads - possibly in different sub-forums - on the subject on here, if I remember rightly.
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