"Suckers rally" say Savills - a headline that may take some explaining

My old colleagues at Savills may have some explaining to do if any recent clients happen to drop in for afternoon tea over the coming weeks.

Yolande Barnes is their head of residential research and is quoted in this Bloomberg article as saying:

“The mainstream housing market is at a tipping point....the lack of homes for sale and drop in transactions resulted in price gains that some in the stock market might call a ‘sucker’s rally.”

They also say that the market probably won’t recover until 2012. Prices will drop 2.5 percent this year and 1 percent in 2011.

Hmmm...fighting talk but if I had just bought a house through Savills buying agency Prime Purchase I'm not sure I'd be best pleased at the colourful and headline grabbing description used.

www.cognacproperty.com

"This is money" article - Can a buying agent save you money?

Interesting article on This is Money which you can read here.

"If you are serious about moving it's hard to see the flaws"

I'm not sure that people still see buying agents as being just for the super-rich - thanks to Phil,  Kirsty and others that view seems to be a thing of the past.

If I was moving a long distance in the UK I would certainly use a buying agent, if I were buying a property in a different country with additional linguistic, legal and cultural barriers then it's clearly a "no brainer".

We may not have "super powers" but we certainly know our local market and you'll be safe in the knowledge that we are acting solely for you and not the seller.

One final thought on the idea mentioned of taking a fee as a percentage of the saving made (in this case 15%). 

Yesterday morning I sent a client a shortlist of houses I'm suggesting he visit when he comes out.

Top of the list is a house that is being marketed for €330,000.  His budget is €250,000 and I sent it to my client as I know that the owners would accept this. 

In the "buyers" market that currently exists I think it's far fairer to take a simple percentage of the purchase price.

Mind you, the client is always right so if anyone wants to work with me on this basis then I'm happy to hear from them!

www.cognacproperty.com

The increased role of "buying agents"

Another good article from the Daily Telegraph.

This one highlights the benefits of using a buying agent (or property finder as they tend to be called in France).  It's clear that more and more people agree with me that the market is changing and that buyers are looking for someone to represent their interests.

This is emphasised by the fact that Strutt & Parker, Savills and Knight Frank all have buying agents in their portfolio (albeit trading under a different brand with chinese walls).

My favourite quotes were these:

“We know who’s out there, who’s made a bid, who hasn’t made a bid,” says Peter Mackie of Property Vision, one of the biggest agencies. “We’re all totally embedded in the business.”


Others talk of local knowledge, trade contacts, networks of past clients and even dinner-party and front-doorstep gossip.


“I had one of my best tipoffs from the man who delivers my logs,” says Tom Hudson, of specialist rural buying agents Middleton Advisors.


And once you have been whisked through the front door with a metaphorical blanket over your head, the buying agents are keen to clinch you a deal. Though not, it should be said, at any price.

I really can't understand why anyone should think about purchasing a property overseas without at least exploring the option of having a local professional represent them.

www.cognacproperty.com

Absolutely delighted - my next "guest" blogger will be....

....the "housing expert" himself, Mr Henry Pryor.

You will probably know Henry from his regular appearances on the BBC (as well as Sky News, ITV and channel 4) or from the Sunday Times where he appears in the "ask the experts" column.

We first met when we both worked at Savills in the early 1980's.  I think that one of his greatest achievements since then is to set up http://www.primemove.com/ from which he still collects data on around 97% of all homes for sale or to let in the UK. A phenomenal database.

Like me, he also offers a "buying agent" service for private clients and you can find out more about this by visiting his website at  http://www.hclp.co.uk/

I will be posting up his thoughts this coming Friday and can assure you that - as always - they'll be worth reading.

www.cognacproperty.com

Buying agents - the miracle workers

So say "The Times" this morning in this illuminating article.

It's great PR for those of us who act purely for the buyer and does go a little way to justifying some of my earlier blogs about the changing role of estate agents.

I particularly liked this quote:

“We take the pain out of buying and make it fun,” says Mark Lawson, head of farms and country estates at The Buying Solution, a Newbury-based agency. “People come to us principally because they have been looking for a while and are fed up, or because they know they don’t have the time or knowledge to do it well.”


If someone buying a house in the UK is scared that they don't have the time or knowledge to do it well then imagine those overseas buyers looking to buy a property in France - with its different language, process, laws and tax structure.
 
Trust is a big issue in the buyer/agent relationship and we need to earn the same confidence that buyers have in their other professional advisors like their accountant or lawyer.
 
www.cognacproperty.com

"Estate agents regularly lie to home buyers"

This rather emotive headline from the Daily Telegraph (see full article here) seems to have caused hysteria throughout the internet with most people saying "yeah, tell us something new".

I have two thoughts:

Firstly, most of the estate agents I know are honest, hardworking folk who would not knowingly mislead anyone who came into their office.  If you look beyond the headlines it says that 24% of agents were deemed "not to be complying with consumer protection laws" which actually could be the most insignificant thing.  Sure one or two agents are bound to lie and be unscrupulous but tarring everybody in the same way is just too easy to do and smacks of lazy headline writing.

Secondly, traditional agents act for the vendor who ask them to portray their house in the best light possible and to the widest possible audience.

Buyers need to recognise this (particularly if they are buying abroad or in an area they don't know). Put simply, the agent is acting for the other party and will get every penny out of you he can on behalf of his client.  Other professionals like lawyers & management consultants do this in business every day and people understand what to expect.

When they sign a mandate with an estate agent most people don't say - "I want a fair price", they say "I want the best price you can get please".

If you want a fully impartial opinion and someone to help you negotiate the lowest possible price you need to appoint a buying agent. 

Sure they will charge you for their services but they will almost certainly save more than this cost by helping you buy at the lowest price as well as giving you peace of mind that no-one is pulling the wool over your eyes.

If you're thinking of buying a house in the UK you can find a list of buying agents through APFBA (The association of property finders & buying agents).

If you're thinking of buying a property in France follow this link to a list of registered property finders who would be happy to act for you http://www.frenchentree.com/french-property-finders/

www.cognacproperty.com

The changing face of estate agency

The revolution is gathering pace.

Today's Independent has an excellent article headed "Online property search: the diy sellers", you can read it in full here.

In it the journalist says:

Customers are becoming increasingly autonomous, finding properties on the internet for themselves and seeking professional advice as and when they need it. With the vast majority of properties now advertised online, and tools that allow buyers to look at flats and houses from street level such as Google Street View, buyers don't need an estate agent in the same way they used to.

This strikes a chord with the way my business has changed since I set it up in 2003.

In the beginning my clients would have no knowledge of what properties were available and simply trusted me to show them a suitable cross selection. Some clients still act in this way.

However, there are a growing number who have spent ages scouring the internet and have a good feel for what is on the market - they may well even have found houses that look promising on paper. They are looking for someone who can "project manage" their purchase:

• add to their existing list of properties (by using local contacts, private sales, back street agents)


• do an initial sifting to weed out unsuitable prospects


• guide them through the buying process, offering independent advice and acting purely for them not the agent or vendor


• help in negotiating the lowest possible price


• act as a signpost towards other professional advisors (notaires, surveyors, lawyers, currency brokers, architects, builders, artisans, mortgage advisors)

The French market is going through the same fundamental change as the UK. Nightly television is full of adverts for private sale websites and for property portals. The number of traditional agents is diminishing (I was shocked to see that in the UK one in four agents have closed over the last two years).

I'm not saying that traditional agents are dead men walking, nor am I saying that they don't have a place in the market. Clearly they do and changes like this don't happen overnight. If I were selling my house I would still use local agents and would expect them to advise me on how to "dress" my house to the best effect and how to get the highest possible price for it.

What I am saying though is that customer needs and actions are changing fast. Buyers will need traditional agents less and less.

Sellers on the other hand will be looking to their agents to help them differentiate and stand out from the crowd.....if the agent fails to deliver this then more and more sellers will go it alone and Sarah Beeney may well be proved right when she says:

"The internet has removed the need for estate agents and that in the future it is likely that estate agents will be the preserve of complicated or "out of the ordinary" sales".

www.cognacproperty.com