Day in, day out we deal with Estate Agents. All of our team in residential acquisitions have had substantial estate agency experience. We get to see the best and the worst of the industry. Estate Agents, often unfairly, don’t have a great reputation in this country but standards in the industry have substantially risen in recent times. We are fortunate in that the majority of our work is in central London where the high property values tend to demand the highest service from agents. Even so, we can sympathise with the complaints we hear from people who have become our client’s after growing frustrated in unsuccessful dealings with estate agents. All too often clients tell us that agents did not call them about a relevant property and by the time they noticed it online the property was already under offer. Or complain at the number of hopelessly inappropriate properties they have been taken to see.
I went to view a property only yesterday where the floorplan and first line of the agent’s description boasted that the property had more than 2,000 sq foot of internal space. Only when I got there did I discover the ‘lower ground floor’, which accounted for at least a quarter of the impressive square footage, was really a basement with only enough head room for a young child to stand up in. I resisted the urge to tell the agent to read the Property Misdescription Act and moved on to my next appointment. These are the kind of viewings our clients never have to suffer as we preview everything we show them so there are no nasty surprises.
Another issue people have is the sheer number of agents there are now in every corner of London. It is a full time job for a whole team of us to establish and maintain good relations with every agent in the areas we cover. No wonder most people with full time jobs cannot keep track of all the agents and new properties coming and going in a matter of days. We have often found the best deals can come through the less well known agents that many people do not even register with.

A good agent can make a sigificant positive difference to the proceedings of a property transaction to the benfit of both vendor and purchaser. How they handle negotiations, manage price expectations and different peoples desired timescales can all help things run smoothly and avoid disappointment. If a relevant property is on with more than one agent we will carefully consider which agent to go through based on our relationships with them and also how they have conducted themsleves in past negotiations. Often where agents aren’t quite up to scratch we will have to guide them in the progressionof a sale or what to say to their client.

We are buying agents but when the time comes we also help our clients sell properties and will work with those agents we know to be the best in the area. We can negotiate favourable rates on selling and letting and have handled discreet sales for clients achieving excellent prices as well as mangaing full on marketing. Some of the finest properties in prime central london change hands without ever hitting the open market but this does not mean the owners do not get a full price. When it comes time to sell or let choosing the right agent and the right asking price can make a huge difference. If a property goes on for too unrealistic a price it can sit on the market for a long time and then people can start to wonder if there is a problem with it or if it wil be hard to shift when they come to sell it on. When there is a shortage of stock agents will often value high in desperation to get property on to their books but the initial excitment at the valuation can often turn to frustration when there is no interest in an overpriced property. Other agents will put things on at a very competitive price to deliberately generate a lot of interest and multiple bids to sell at well over the asking or guide price. This can be very confusing for buyers as asking prices on similar properties can be very different but ultimately one property might go significantly over asking and another take a large hit on their price. This is why it is impossible to answer the question we are often asked of ‘what percentage below asking are things goig for at the moment’ as every property is different and also why out local knwledge of what has sold and for what price is so vital.

So, as former agents and through our daily dealings with them we know the tricks of the trade and how to get the best out of them whether buying or selling. To find out more about dealing with a professional who only has your interests at heart and who will be your sole point of contact rather than a plethora of agents give us a call.

To give you a little insight into how we work at Irvine and Cole we thought we would give you a glimpse at a relatively typical day of one of our London buying agents:

I get to the office early to start putting together research for a client of ours who is seriously considering an off market development opportunity we have presented him with in Knightsbridge. We do a huge amount of business in the area so I am already very confident on the resale prices but of course I need to demonstrate this to the client with the most up-to-date information. I look at recent sales of comparable properties and also what is currently on the market. As expected there is plenty of evidence to demonstrate our estimated resale figures are if anything conservative. I put the report together, send it to the client and follow up with a call. Although we have first crack at this deal, like all good London development opportunities it will not be around for long.

I have a telephone appointment booked for late morning with an Italian couple who want a pied a terre in South Kensington. Like so many of our new clients they have been referred to us by a former client who was impressed with our service and over the moon with the property we secured them. Their requirements seem fairly simple; a one or two bedroom apartment, on a good floor and road close to where a friend of theirs has an apartment. They are not familiar with the leases we have in the UK, the different styles of property, or the ways in which they can be managed and what it can cost to maintain them. I take time to explain all these issues amongst others and to make sure I have a complete understanding of their needs and preferences, as well as their long term plan for the property. They seem happy promising to come back to me shortly and ask me to e mail our terms and conditions . I hope they use us – there are so many potential pitfalls for them if they try and go it alone in such a complicated and competitive market. Also I had a conversation with an agent friend last week and he mentioned an apartment that would be coming to the market soon that sounded perfect for them.

I meet one of the architects we work with closely for lunch. He has worked with us to get some incredible planning permissions for clients that have enabled them to improve their homes and increase their value. He has also provided some great leads for off market properties from clients who were willing to sell their homes discreetly and some development properties which he knew would come to the market once the planning consent came through. Once again he has an interesting possibility. He is confident he is about to get planning approval for a double basement and second storey extension on mews house in Mayfair. He knows the owner intends to sell once permission comes through.

The afternoon is spent on a whirlwind of ‘previews’ across Knightsbridge and Belgravia for a client wanting a first floor lateral apartment. Previews are where we go and see the property on behalf of our client so we can assess its suitability and note all the negatives (which the agents don’t put in the details) as well as the positives. This process ensure when the client comes to view there are no surprises and none of their valuable time is wasted on unsuitable properties. My findings will be typed up and sent over to the client tonight.

I get back to the office just in time to take the call from my developer client who has decided he does want to offer at the level I suggested on the Knightsbridge site. I phone straight away to put the bid in to the agent’s delight. We have a track record with him and so he knows our clients perform promptly and as promised which is what he and his client wants. He’ll have an answer for me in the morning.

A few more calls to make sure agreed purchases are progressing as they should, updates clients and arrange more previews, then I can head home to type up my report on today’s previews.

Day in, day out we deal with Estate Agents. All of our team in residential acquisitions have had substantial estate agency experience. We get to see the best and the worst of the industry. Estate Agents, often unfairly, don’t have a great reputation in this country but standards in the industry have substantially risen in recent times. We are fortunate in that the majority of our work is in central London where the high property values tend to demand the highest service from agents. Even so, we can sympathise with the complaints we hear from people who have become our client’s after growing frustrated in unsuccessful dealings with estate agents. All too often clients tell us that agents did not call them about a relevant property and by the time they noticed it online the property was already under offer. Or complain at the number of hopelessly inappropriate properties they have been taken to see.

I went to view a property only yesterday where the floorplan and first line of the agent’s description boasted that the property had more than 2,000 sq foot of internal space. Only when I got there did I discover the ‘lower ground floor’, which accounted for at least a quarter of the impressive square footage, was really a basement with only enough head room for a young child to stand up in. I resisted the urge to tell the agent to read the Property Misdescription Act and moved on to my next appointment. These are the kind of viewings our clients never have to suffer as we preview everything we show them so there are no nasty surprises.

Another issue people have is the sheer number of agents there are now in every corner of London. It is a full time job for a whole team of us to establish and maintain good relations with every agent in the areas we cover. No wonder most people with full time jobs cannot keep track of all the agents and new properties coming and going in a matter of days. We have often found the best deals can come through the less well known agents that many people do not even register with.

A good agent can make a sigificant positive difference to the proceedings of a property transaction to the benfit of both vendor and purchaser. How they handle negotiations, manage price expectations and different peoples desired timescales can all help things run smoothly and avoid disappointment. If a relevant property is on with more than one agent we will carefully consider which agent to go through based on our relationships with them and also how they have conducted themsleves in past negotiations. Often where agents aren’t quite up to scratch we will have to guide them in the progressionof a sale or what to say to their client.

We are buying agents but when the time comes we also help our clients sell properties and will work with those agents we know to be the best in the area. We can negotiate favourable rates on selling and letting and have handled discreet sales for clients achieving excellent prices as well as mangaing full on marketing. Some of the finest properties in prime central london change hands without ever hitting the open market but this does not mean the owners do not get a full price. When it comes time to sell or let choosing the right agent and the right asking price can make a huge difference. If a property goes on for too unrealistic a price it can sit on the market for a long time and then people can start to wonder if there is a problem with it or if it wil be hard to shift when they come to sell it on. When there is a shortage of stock agents will often value high in desperation to get property on to their books but the initial excitment at the valuation can often turn to frustration when there is no interest in an overpriced property. Other agents will put things on at a very competitive price to deliberately generate a lot of interest and multiple bids to sell at well over the asking or guide price. This can be very confusing for buyers as asking prices on similar properties can be very different but ultimately one property might go significantly over asking and another take a large hit on their price. This is why it is impossible to answer the question we are often asked of ‘what percentage below asking are things goig for at the moment’ as every property is different and also why out local knwledge of what has sold and for what price is so vital.

So, as former agents and through our daily dealings with them we know the tricks of the trade and how to get the best out of them whether buying or selling. To find out more about dealing with a professional who only has your interests at heart and who will be your sole point of contact rather than a plethora of agents give us a call.

In our line of work we get to see all kinds of properties in all kinds of condition. For investors and developers we visit building sites and properties that have fallen into complete disrepair – I have seen rats on viewings and been to houses where the roof fell in years ago and the pigeons have moved in, and been places where you can barely move for the junk inside them. More commonly we are viewing delightful homes in some of the best parts of town. We are used to finding the problems with properties most people could only dream of buying. But this week has been a bit special even for us. We work closely with a company based in Shanghai who assist Chinese families looking to buy high value property in the UK. For an upcoming magazine article they wanted some appropriate shots of the kinds of properties we secure for their clients. Through various contacts we were given amazing access to some simply stunning homes across London. We tried to choose properties/locations that demonstrate the great variety of architecture, interior finish, and lifestyle available in this great city. One morning we were in a beautiful period house in Richmond with spectacular views of the Thames, and that afternoon we were in a state of the art apartment in The Knightsbridge controlling every mod con you can imagine with an IPAD. A whirlwind tour of properties with price tags from £3m to £25m and all spectacular for different reasons.

So we see all sorts of properties at both ends of the spectrum. Please do not think we only deal with people with £5m or more to spend we regularly help people with £500k-£1m as well as those lucky enough to be looking with incredible budgets. I have often spoken to client’s who said they nearly didn’t contact us because they thought we were too ‘high end’ – fortunately they did and we have helped them all!

In our role as London buying agents we bring our clients the finest properties their budget allows, many of which are off market or accessed prior to marketing, and then negotiate the best possible terms. But this is far from the extent of what we can do for our clients throughout the complicated and expensive UK buying process. Over many years in the industry we have discovered those who provide the highest level of professionalism in their field. We often refer our clients to trusted solicitors, surveyors, architects, interior designers, amongst other. The importance of these roles can be immense.

A good solicitor is essential to protect you from any legal issues on a property and to can overcome potential issues or can help to increase value in many different ways. In a competitive market a fast moving solicitor who communicates well is vital. In central London leasehold enfranchisement is often necessary and again the solicitor is crucial but also the surveyor who will negotiate for you. The value an architect can add to a property by obtaining the optimum planning permission can be huge not to mention the quality of life while you live there. Interior design can turn a great property into a perfect home or help achieve a better price and more quickly when selling. We have acquired great deals for clients then helped them through all of these avenues to maximize value and when you start to estimate/calculate the collective benefit in the properties worth the figures can be staggering. In addition, our long-standing relationships with various property professionals, means we can negotiate the most favorable fees possible for our clients.

So please do not think we are here just for the super-rich who cannot be bothered to find themselves a place. We are here for the prudent purchaser who realizes that within London the impact of a wise property purchase versus a misguided one can be significant in terms of both finance and your life. There are so many different steps along the way where we can save or make you money as well as time and stress.

Happy New Year from Irvine & Cole, London’s number one property consultant. We trust you had an enjoyable and relaxing Christmas break. We downed tools briefly for some quality family time, but even on New Year’s Eve we made ourselves available to potential clients who were in town from overseas for a limited time. Many of our clients are international and may not be in the UK very often or for long so we make sure we are available when it suits them – regardless of time differences or what would be considered normal working hours. As part of our bespoke service your contact at Irvine & Cole will be accessible to you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

At this time of year, many people finally turn their attention to that house move or property purchase they have been considering for some time. If this is you, please be in touch with us for a no obligation chat. Even if you decide not to use us we will be able to give you a great and up-to-date insight into the London property market. Too many buyers take advice from the press – who tend to generalise and sensationalise, or from estate agents who invariably work for the vendor and only have a sale in mind. Don’t be a sheep and buy only when you’re sure everyone else is! Of course this is counterproductive as the increased competition means you will pay over the odds. So don’t sit back and wait to see what the newspapers will tell you in the spring, take the initiative with an independent expert in your corner and get on with your search and purchase now. It never ceases to amaze us how some people are willing to spend millions of pounds without independent advice, in a market place they are unfamiliar with and with so many potential pitfalls. Property can make or lose you significant sums, our job is to make sure you fall in the first category and our track record is impeccable!

We currently have numerous off market properties available in a wide price range. As well as sourcing the dream home or ideal London base, we do a great deal of work with developers and investors who are, of course, focused entirely on return. Whatever your property needs for 2012, get us involved. We wish you all the best for 2012 and would love the opportunity to help make it a happy and prosperous year for you, your family or your business.

As described in our last post, as a leading London buying agent we are still very busy at Irvine & Cole, pushing deals over the exchange line and snapping up some last minute December bargains. But of course at this time it is natural to look back over the past year and forward to the one to come. The markets we operate in have all risen considerably this year and some of the deals we secured early in the year which looked great at the time now look phenomenal. In the last quarter we have arranged hugely profitable off market property sales for clients on assets they bought earlier in the year through us.

Understandably the impact of global financial uncertainty and more immediately the situation in the Eurozone is something we are constantly asked about. We have no crystal ball, just years of experience in our market place, and we remind our clients that it has been under this constant shadow that we have seen rapid growth this year. It now seems inevitable that either the current structure of the Eurozone will collapse or the single currency will survive with a much tighter political and fiscal Union and more centralized powers. This is the kind of uncertainty that makes investors nervous and they will tend to seek safe havens like gold and quality property. In the Autumn of 2008, following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the reality of the credit crunch became very clear. There was a scramble to convert investments in the global markets into cash or property. We saw a dip in prime central London prices, but three years on Prime Central London Property values have reached new heights. Cash rich vendors, low interest rates, high rents and favourable exchange rates for foreign buyers have certainly helped. But the most important motivation is the disenchantment with stocks and shares, bank deposits and the realisation that even some European Government stocks may be a very risky investment. The tangible nature of bricks and mortar is a big attraction and the rental return of most London property significantly exceeds the interest rates offered by High Street Banks on deposits.

We will not see a satisfactory resolution to the major European issues for some time, and political and financial uncertainty will continue to be a feature of 2012. One thing that will not change is the short of supply of property in prime London postcodes. Theses factors are likely to drive more investment into the property market, especially as a new wave of buyers engage with the market in the New Year. The added value we bring to a deal gives our clients both maximised protection and returns. If you are considering buying in 2012 get in touch with us. Our constant contact with all the people that matter, and regular negotiations means few people are in a better position to let you know what is happening in the market place.

Here at Irvine & Cole, London buying agents, we can hardly believe that it’s nearly December already. I’m sure the thought of Christmas shopping is filling most of you with dread. Why not try something different this year and let us find you the perfect property in the winter sales! While many of our competitors are winding down right about now and starting to enjoy all the office Christmas parties a little too much, we are still very active.
December has traditionally been a busy and productive month for us. This may seem strange to you as agents are forever talking about the market being seasonal and things always going quiet in December. Well this is essentially true and it is for this very reason that it can be the best time to find something. Whilst the people who were thinking about buying start to focus on the festivities ahead and the approaching school holidays we are still braving the conditions for our clients. Those irritating vendors who are; maybe, kind of, thinking about selling, but not sure where they’ll move to, tend to take their homes off the market as they do not want the inconvenience of viewings at this time of year. This leaves us with the ideal combination of motivated vendors and less competition.
We always get the best possible terms for our client but at this time of year it can be a little easier and we often find we achieve even more off the asking price than usual.

It is also a great time of year for the off market property opportunity. We are constantly in contact with the hundreds of relevant contacts we have collated over the years. We find there are lots of people who have decided to sell in the New Year but are not putting the property on the market yet. We regularly get ‘one off’ viewings for our clients this side of Xmas, and well ahead of the competition. The fact our clients are serious enough to have retained a premiere London buying agent means that most vendors are happy to open their doors to us.

Once we have secured a great deal for our clients, a large part of our job is pushing it through as quickly as possible so that it doesn’t get away causing disappointment and expense. Again Christmas looming in the very near future can work as a great motivator and deadline. We pull out all the stops to ensure our clients can relax and enjoy the holidays safe in the knowledge they have exchanged on their property and can look forward to picking up their keys in the New Year.

So whether you want to snap up a winter bargain this side of Xmas or in the January sales don’t dither and wait and see what might or might not happen in the new year – give us a call today!