No-flies

We hear what you say ...

You are very welcome Sue. It is amazing what you unearth when ferreting around for website content :o)

Just spotted this - http://www.dulwichsociety.com/news/831-the-crown-and-greyhound

Lol - I love this forum - hello giggirl. Thank you for your post. I'm glad to say our approach seems to be working as we have just got our first property under offer after only days on the market, so fingers crossed it will sail serenely to exchange of contracts in the coming weeks. Busy looking for new properties to sell now so please feel free to put the word out that we are here, we are local and we are easy to deal with.

No problem..

Red Devil we are doing a couple of posts on Gazumping on our blog. The first one is posted and may be of interest to you. You can find it here: http://no-flies.co.uk/index.php/2013/04/23/. I'll let you know when we do the second one.

Congratulations. A great achievement for the local area to have two short listed museums.

Hi V511 - you are right that, without the overhead of a high street office, we are in a position to be competitive on fees. We currently have a flat rate promotion of ?3000 with no vat payable irrespective of the price of the property being sold. We also have some targeted promotions which we are offering through flyers we are currently circulating. I don't think that price should be the only factor that people consider when choosing an agent to help them sell their property but I would hope, given our cost controls and lower overheads, there would not be many instances when we are beaten on price by agents providing the same full service as us.

:o) Thank you!

Thanks Red Devil. Yes I am aware of the internet search extract that you attached - some of the suggestions are the "collateral contracts" I mentioned in my previous post. Unfortunately none of the suggested solutions are quite as black and white as they appear and, whilst you very clearly have the gazumping risk at the forefront of your mind (having been a victim of it in the past), most people would not be sufficiently concerned about it to wish to incur the delay and expense of negotiating a separate agreement or buying insurance. An estate agent having a gazumping policy ( and I have never actually seen one of these in practice) is not going to stop you from being gazumped in reality. For this reason we will not have a gazumping policy at No-Flies but we will put some info on the topic on our website.

Red Devil - you raise an interesting, but difficult, point on Gazumping. Unfortunately there is legally nothing wrong with the practice. Personally I am against it and would never encourage it - particularly as the estate agent is the one that will feel the full wrath of the buyer ( or seller in the case of Gazundering)when it happens. At No-Flies we would never encourage the practice but we are under a legal obligation to pass on all offers to the seller (whether or not the seller has already accepted another offer). It is a feature of English law that there is no binding contract for a sale of an interest in land until written contracts have been exchanged. Interestingly, but of little consolation to anybody who has been gazumped or gazundered, the position is different in Scotland and these practices/problems do not exist there. There are some tactics that could be employed to reduce the risk of these practices, often involving collateral contracts, but few are really workable in the context of a domestic conveyancing transaction. Hope this has clarified our stance on it.

Thank you njc97 - most helpful.

Hi Red Devil thank you for your reply. I assume you have read the website (and if so, thanks for taking the time) and feel that it includes little more than sound bites. I fear that that is the risk when just reading some words on the web. The proof is in the pudding, not reading about the pudding. As I said in my reply to Kid - estate agency is not rocket science - it is a question of doing a lot of small things well. You are right about the problems that arise when individual employees are incentivised by commissions and it is for that reason that we do not operate on a commission basis within No-Flies. For more details see the "How do we do it?" Section of our website at: http://no-flies.co.uk/index.php/how-do-we-do-it/

I agree Kid - it is hardly rocket science. All that is required is being open and honest and delivering on your promises - and all for a fee that is fair. Notwithstanding that, there still seems to be a high level of dissatisfaction out there.

Hi Jenny You have probably got yourself sorted now as seen 8 estate agents, but we are a new online estate agency with our registered office on Upland Road, SE22 and are offering to the market a totally different approach. Please visit our website www.no-flies.co.uk if you would like to find out more about our Company. Many thanks Brendan @ No-flies

'There?s only one thing worse than an estate agent but at least that can be safely lanced, drained 
and surgically dressed.? STEPHEN FRY, A BIT OF FRY AND LAURIE, 1989 Sadly a view that seems to be held by more people than Mr. Fry. Our aim is to change this perception. We are a new online property sales agency operating in the SE22, SE5 and SE15 areas. We offer the same services as high street agents at a lower cost and with excellent levels of service. Check out our website at www.no-flies.co.uk Registered office ? Upland Road, SE22