Estate Agent: The Buyer List
So…
You walk into your local high street estate agent and you give them your details…
They tell you that they will contact you whenever a suitable property is on the books…
Alternatively, you look on the online portals and find a couple of properties that catch your eye…
You phone up, book a viewing for each of the properties and subsequently view them and are disappointed with what you see…
What do you do now?
Quite a lot of people that I know in the industry would simply recommend “view as many properties as you can” or “the more that you view, the more that you may like”…
Interesting advice and to be fair, it is fairly logical - the more that you view, the higher the % is that you will find your dream home…
My recommendation is that you work your way to the top of the buyer list…
What is a buyer list, you ask?
Each estate agent will have a list (this list could be in their head, but in all likelihood it is written down) of a range of buyers and their readiness to move and exactly what they are after (we have one as well when we are selling properties in London!)…
Your sole job should be to get to the top of this list if you are looking for your dream home.
“Your sole job should be to get to the top of the list.”
What are some steps that you can take to do this?
As a start, don’t be rude!
A lot of people are rude to estate agents and are quite disrespectful.
Being a top estate agent is a LOT more than simply turning on some lights and showing someone round a property.
Register your details and requirements with every single estate agent in the local area. Even though it is time consuming, I would recommend physically going into each branch and doing this.
If you cannot do this with every estate agent due to time, I’d do it with as many as possible…
This is because you can meet the estate agents, they can meet you and it’s a more personable way to introduce yourself rather than just behind a phone call, or worse, an email.
Be incredibly specific about your requirements - for example, not just how many bedrooms, but what size of bedroom you are after.
Not just the fact that you would like a private garden, but roughly what size? What way would you ideally like the garden to face?
Would you like the property to have an attic, which you can convert to extra bedrooms?
If you are after a flat, would you like the property to have a 24 hour porter?
However, do not go overboard with this. It is better to be specific but not overly specific - meaning it is more than fine to say that you would like 3 double bedrooms, but to ask for 2 double bedrooms to be south facing, one double bedroom to be west facing and each of them to be exactly 10 feet by 11 feet in size is over the top!
When you register with the estate agents, ideally you will have instructed a solicitor (or you are talking to a few and are close to choosing which one you’d like to use) and you will have a mortgage in principle (also sometimes referred to as an agreement in principle)… The mortgage in principle can be done in a few minutes online!
This will show the estate agents’ that you are more serious when you come to making an offer…
Please do bear in mind that an estate agent can only show you properties that are on their books, meaning that, as an example, Knight Frank cannot show you properties that are marketed solely by Savills.
Contact the estate agents once per week (I would recommend that you don’t do this on a Monday or Friday due to these often being intense times of the week) and give them feedback on properties after you have seen them - please, be honest with your feedback as that way they will be able to help you more - and also to enquire if there is anything else that they feel may suit you.
When you do this, please speak to an estate agent in person or phone them!
Email is fine if you have explained the facts to them on the phone and you are literally keeping them in the loop with a ‘follow up’ email.
At the end of the day, you need to be organised (with a solicitor at the ready and a mortgage in principle - if needed) be respectful, be honest with what you are looking for and honest when the estate agent asks for feedback on said property.
If you take these small steps, you will be well on your way to getting to the top of the ‘buyer list’…