Foxtons opening date

[Peckham native]

Foxtons 0% offer just dropped through the door. First 200 who instruct them to sell their property and sell it before 21st December pay no commission.

[Ladygooner]

0% will be hard to resist!

[kingtubby]

Hi Peckam native

Have you got the number?

Thanks

KT

[Alan Dale]

0800 FOXTONS

0800 369 8667

They are going to make a mint..

[Mark]

would that be a Glacier Mint?

[Alan Dale]

I get it! A Foxtons Glacier Mint. Very clever.

[Loz]

Any small print on the offer?

[ClareC]

All the talk on this forum of Estate Agents over valuing / creating a spike etc etc etc, what is the position when an Estate Agent undervalues, seemingly taking advantage of an elderly owner for a super quick sale ( more than likely to a mate!). Are they regulated at all to prevent this occurance?

[Muttley]

0% deals may sound attractive, but it may be a false economy for the seller. If Foxtons are getting no commission then their main interest is to sell as fast as possible, i.e. drop the price by ten grand. So what the seller saves in paying the agent he loses in earnings from the sale.

As made clear in Freakonomics (and elsewhere), the system whereby estate agents take a percentage of the sale price is not in the seller's interest. Estate agents should be rewarded for how much extra they manage to get from the sale above some agreed base price. So if you have a flat that would definitely sell for ?250k but could sell for ?300k, the estate agent should be paid, say, 10% of the proceeds above ?250k.

With smaller agents, it is usually possible to negotiate this sort of arrangement. With big chains like Foxtons it's much harder. So avoid them.

[Goodliz]

If you want to sell your home and avoid slimey estate agents I would highly recommend using Property Broker. We used them to sell our flat a few years ago. They charge a one off fee (?112 back then) and come round and take lots of pictures and put a board up. You write the description.

Potential buyers get to see the pics and description online. What is great is that the potential buyers contact you direct so they can ask lots of questions etc. This means you do not get loads of people traipsing round your house/ flat just because the agents have brought them there even if the property is not what they are looking for - if you know what I mean.

There is no commission to pay. Once you get an offer you do the rest yourself just as you would if you were selling through an agent.

Their website is www.property-broker.co.uk

Sorry this is not a rant about Foxtons - I cannot stand agents so do my best to avoid them! I have seen the Putney office though and yes, it does look very posh from the outside!

[dita-on-tees]

I had a vile experience in the Acorn in East Dulwich when I was buying my place. The estate agent bounded over as opened the door, shook my hand and actually sniffed me, took a great big inhalation and rasped 'hi my name is X and hmmmmm what is that perfume your wearing its divine' I was nearly sick on my shoes with horror.

The people in Roy Brooks are lovely and quite honest, but in general I think Estate Agent baiting should be an Olympic sport - at least it is something the Brits could win at.

[Nero]

Divine? A camp, flamboyant estate agent! How original. Nero

[Andyng]

Goodliz

Selling a house by yourself is not as easy as it sounds regardless of whether

your selling through an agent or yourself having people traipsing round your

house is inevitable anyway.On the other hand an agent can filter out all

the timewasters etc.Also wouldnt you find people ringing you up at all hours

of the day annoying?

If you have the time and patience you can save a lot.If you have time then it can work

out.

[Jeremy]

Yeah... as andyng says... selling your own house is all well and good if you've got someone who's always at home to show people around.

[lorraineliyanage]

Yes, nothing good to say about Foxtons, particularly from a landlord's point of view as I've been strongly advised against using them by several people who have let and rented using their services.

However, Bushells seem OK. Thanks for the tip about Property Broker, I might investigate that as I'm thinking of selling soonish.

[smith]

Best letting agent in ED - Jamie at Property In. Professional, polite, friendly, helpful. No hesitation in recommending at all... unlike Ludlow Thompson (head office somewhere in Midlands).

[Jamma]

Can I just pile in in support of Property Broker too. Selling through them is dead easy. Most folk want to view properties evenings or weekends when you are likely to be in so you don't have to have someone at home all day to do viewings. And you can do viewings on a Sunday (why to estate agents shut on a Sunday?). Another bonus is that you've met the person you're selling to so when the inevitable hiccups occur during the tortuous legal process you can just call them up and work it out between yourselves. There's no need for estate agents. Fact.

Foxtons are evil because they are crooks as shown on the Whistle Blower programme. Whether other estate agents are crooks or not does not take away from the fact that Foxtons are and therefore are a Bad Thing. Plus they think they are cool with there twatty motors. And they treat their staff like the cast of Glengarry Glen Ross.

[georgina]

I wonder if they will update their map - apparently we dont even exist!

[SimonM]

>>Foxtons are evil because they are crooks as shown on the Whistle Blower programme. Whether other estate agents are crooks or not does not take away from the fact that Foxtons are<<

Libel alert!! :))

[mikese22]

Bushells were brillant when i bought my flat through them and just as good when i sold through them 3 years later - the staff are really friendly and very 'human' in the way they dealt with me

[Andyng]

personally If I was selling I couldnt care less who sells my house

as long as it gets sold and i get the right price= everyones happy

[ratty]

Just for the record I found Hart to be very helpful when we bought our house. In fact they were the only people really interested (apart from Acorn who showed us round a load of cack!)

Foxtons letter through my front door the other day too - they don't waste any time do they?

[Jeremy]

I also got the 0% offer letter. I guess there is nothing to lose by taking up this offer, as long as you put it on with another agent too. Otherwise you may find that they are much more interested in selling someone else's property which they WILL be earning commission on.

[Alan Dale]

I suspect that a number of people are making the same flawed assumption here.

Foxtons are waving their commission but I'm sure the sales negotiators will still get their sales commission. The company will make up the difference out of their promotions budget.

The offer will in no way disincentivise agents from selling houses. That would be ridiculous.

[Bellenden Belle]

The trick is to make sure you get valuationsfrom other agents - and to do your homework so you know exactly how much you should be getting. Then go with Foxtons.

Agree with Alan Dale that sales negotiators will still get their commission.

Bottom line is that in this area good houses will sell - with very little imput needed by estate agents.

Also - anyone out there thinking of hosting an Autumn Fair/ Christmas charity fundraiser - this is the time to approach Foxtons as sponsors as they will be very keen to see a flurry of boards across the area showing their community spirit (hee hee) and of course because that trick makes people think they are selling houses even when they are not.