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Post by Space on May 15, 2007 8:34:50 GMT -5
What are the best options with regards to estate agents locally if you are selling your house. Has anyone had a recent valuation? if so would be itnerested to hear what the discrepancies were if any between what estate agents valued the houses at. We have recently had fliers through our door from estate agents in Blackheath Standard (Brooke and Brown or something) and Bairstow Eves in Woolwich and I wonder if using an estate agent from Woolwich maybe adds more value as they advertise it as near crossrail/dlr etc than using a Plumstead one. From the research I have done so far tho Robinson and Jackson seem to have Plumstead houses at the highest prices on their websites..
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grant
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Post by grant on May 15, 2007 10:43:35 GMT -5
When I bought the house I am in now I bought it through a website, outside of agents. This was the site - www.mypropertyforsale.co.uk As lots of searching is now done on the internet it could be an option. It got indexed by a couple of websites, but RightMove doesn't index sole sellers Grant
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Post by silverbirch on May 25, 2007 7:05:30 GMT -5
Plumstead agents do advertise the forthcoming DLR. I would certainly NOT recommend Mann Countrywide in Woolwich or Harrison Ingram in Plumstead (I have bad dealings with both these agents) but otherwise, they're all pretty much the same...out for commission for the smallest amount of work...in my opinion
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dimps
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Post by dimps on Jun 12, 2007 20:07:42 GMT -5
It is interesting to note that Jacksons still seem to be over-valuing houses. This was the story back in the 70s in Plumstead and environs. In my experience, they were doing the same in Bromley in the 80s. The merger with a building society (Halifax?) made no difference. Friends in Plumstead reported the same throughout the 90s and "noughties".
Evans in "The Dip" offered, and provided, the best - no nonsence -service in this area... But that was back in the late 80s. I asked them a little while ago to value my house for divorce purposes and again, they were very fair.
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Post by nOSEY on Jun 13, 2007 7:07:39 GMT -5
It looks like the application for another estate agents has been approved in plumstead common road. Whilst looking at the appeals section on LBG site I also noticed the following...
Erection of 10 x 2 and 3 bed houses (144 Plumstead common road)
Is that in the dip? Does anyone know anything about it?
cheers
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Post by Simon on Jun 13, 2007 9:45:54 GMT -5
It is interesting to note that Jacksons still seem to be over-valuing houses. This was the story back in the 70s in Plumstead and environs. In my experience, they were doing the same in Bromley in the 80s. The merger with a building society (Halifax?) made no difference. Friends in Plumstead reported the same throughout the 90s and "noughties". Evans in "The Dip" offered, and provided, the best - no nonsence -service in this area... But that was back in the late 80s. I asked them a little while ago to value my house for divorce purposes and again, they were very fair. Don't claim to be an expert in these matters, but there are 2 houses very near me for sale one with Jacksons found a buyer in 3 days, the other with David Evans has been up for sale for at least a month, with no buyer.
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Post by guest on Jun 14, 2007 5:47:02 GMT -5
Not sure what the problem with overvaluing houses is as long as they can get a buyer for that price. I think compared to houses in charlton/shooters hill that prices in plumstead are still far too low. Hopefully they will start to catch on with other areas sooner rather than later and the DLR will push this along.
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Post by guest on Jun 16, 2007 4:04:13 GMT -5
Not sure what the problem with overvaluing houses is as long as they can get a buyer for that price. I think compared to houses in charlton/shooters hill that prices in plumstead are still far too low. Hopefully they will start to catch on with other areas sooner rather than later and the DLR will push this along. The problem with overvaluing is that young couples/families/professionals and others from the local area cannot get on to the property ladder. These overvalued houses and flats get scooped up by developers who end up, for example, chopping up lovely victorian houses into 2 or more flats (or rooms to rent) to maximise profits from rent. Then we have an area full of people renting, who 1. have no hope of getting on the propery ladder, 2. mostly don't care or feel invested in the local area/community because they are only renting, 3. move on after short period, ruining the sense of neighbourhood, 4. don't keep their places tidy, updated, etc thereby making the neighbourhood look like crap (driving prices down possibly?), etc. etc. I say this, BUT I rented in plumstead for a few years, and really really wanted to buy. I was only JUST able to scrape onto the property ladder recently. You should have seen the overpriced nutse we were shown (mainly by robinson jackson and the pip-squeaks at harrison ingram). some of the places were frankly insulting, one smelling and looking like it was ran-sacked by junkies and offered the privilege of buying the place for 185,000, with a rotted bathroom floor and vermin. disgusting. however, this was exactly the kind of place a property developers scoop up. to gut, slap some paint on the walls and chop up to rent out to as many people as possible. indeed the bedrooms each had separate PADLOCKS!! on the doors and it was rented out room by room which you'll see a lot of around plumstead these days. there are loads of signs 'rooms to rent', there is one always in front of a house on bramblebury rd. what kind of community and neighbourhood evolves from people renting rooms, etc.? an itinerant one i say. not that i have any problems with renters, but chop places up into small units where families wouldn't be able to live, or if they could they would be crammed in, inhumanely and unhealthily, like sardines, and with no hope of ever owning a place of their own. that's not a positive thing for people or the local property market. i think overvaluing across london is extremely unhelpful and bad for the property market. it encourages fat cat developers and does not allow first time buyers much of a chance to own a home of their own. by the way, in my experience of local estate agents (and I had way too much last year!), Goodwin Ellis seems to be the most professional. Then David Evans. After that you have Your Move, who seem professional but are snooty and rude, and i'm pretty sure they do NOT bring all buyers' offers to the seller, attempting to keep nudging offers up and up. And Robinson Jackson are a step down from used car salesmen, except younger and slimmer. And the bottom of the heap are Harrison Ingram, with their fat ties and boy racer cars, salesmen ("agents") who are only just out of short trousers and still live with their parents! These are the people valuing the properties around here. So would you believe that the prices reflect ACTUAL value!?! I don't think so!
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Post by sibonetic on Jun 16, 2007 15:09:02 GMT -5
Not sure what the problem with overvaluing houses is as long as they can get a buyer for that price. I think compared to houses in charlton/shooters hill that prices in plumstead are still far too low. Hopefully they will start to catch on with other areas sooner rather than later and the DLR will push this along. If they get a buyer at that price then that is not overvaluing, a house is worth what a buyer is prepared to pay, no more no less. Overvaluing is where an estate agent appeals to a sellers greed and or ignorance by quoting an unrealistically high price in order to get the seller locked into an exclusive marketing arrangement, then can't get a buyer at that price. Equally bad is where the agent quotes too low a price so the property sells quickly, meaning they get there commission quickly, but cheating the seller in the process.
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dimps
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Post by dimps on Jun 23, 2007 20:03:41 GMT -5
I am unfortunate to live next to a house that was sold way beyond its market value (for families, that is). It was sold to an unscrupulous, but naive, property developer. He wanted to split it into two flats to rent. He contacted the Housing Dept. rather than the Planning Dept., who advised him to rent out 6 rooms with microwaves.
At that time, houses in my road were selling to families very quickly for around £230K. This was a house in very poor condition (the existing landlord had clearly let it fall to rack and ruin, awaiting the death of his tenant). It was sold for £200K and needed AT LEAST £50K to bring it up to a reasonable condition. The naive new landlord brought in various contractors. There was an average of 7 workmen in there each day for over a year! Think of those daily rates!! The house is still a mess - they were all cowboys.
Most of the tenants, luckily, were quiet (there could have been six noisy ones, each with their own TV and HiFi, for instance). However, I had to organise wheely bins (for the first few weeks, we had to put up with rubbish - including a lot of fish - in the front garden); we were constantly overlooked in our back garden (if it had been a family home, the upstairs back room would not have been a living room/kitchen) by a chap who took an undue interest in both our toddler daugher and the teenage girl sunbathing in the garden on the other side. The builders told us that the landlord had bought a number of houses in the area. One of the builders said that he was even selling his own house to the same landlord as he had been offered such a fantastic price and was planning to move abroad as a consequence. A friend who lived about 300 yards away was not so lucky. She had loved living in Plumstead Common up until that point (and still misses the area), but feels she has been forced to move away for the sake of her children.
The house next to mine was sold again last year. What bliss for a year! We have had to put up with encroaching brambles, but also delighted in the solitude and the family of foxes who had taken residence*. The new landlord applied for planning permission for two flats (including a loft extension, living room-cum-kitchens adjacent to neighbours' bedrooms and an external rear staircase). Permission was declined, but he is going ahead anyway!
Yet, this remains a popular road for families, and family homes (those advertised at 'market' prices) sell to families very quickly. Unfortunately, more and more are selling at higher prices to be rented as rooms.
Some friends of mine have already decided to take advantage of this situation. They lived in a street that was typical of Plumstead Common - a mixture of elderly folk and families, with a very good community spirit. However, as the elderly died off (most of whom had rented rather than owned their homes), the developers moved in and converted the houses to rented rooms. The road became noisier, dirtier and the crims moved in. My friends decided to sell whilst they could get a decent price and still had enough of their working lives to afford a mortgage, rather than wait for the road to become a slum.
This is a ridiculous situation. Families are crying out for three-bed. homes in the area and they snap them up as soon as they are available. Yet the Council is under such pressure (not least from the Deputy Prime Minister's Office or whatever the latest name is) to provide housing, that some Council officers are advising dodgy landlords how to "get round" the regulations.
* The brambles in the back garden were cut down and the foxes have moved on. The brambles are regrowing and the rubbish (mattresses, sinks, plaster, wallpaper) removed from the house are littering the front garden and pavement (which I shift to the dustbin by-the-by). Rubbish or foxes - I know which I prefer.
Council Enforcement Officers have been notified. Watch this space.
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Post by Sarah on Jun 29, 2007 6:13:49 GMT -5
Regarding Plumstead Estate Agents, we used both Robinson Bellegrove Jackson & Harrison Ingram in our search to buy a house in the area and found them both to be very helpful, they contacted us regularly with new properties that had come onto the market. I must admit that I wasn't keen on the group viewings that Robinson Bellegrove Jackson did, but felt that they kept us updated.
We ended up purchasing a property through Bairstow Eves in Woolwich and never met any of the agents there as we saw the property on the internet and went to the viewing unaccompanied; easy money for them! The purchase went through smoothly with the aid of a good solicitor so no complaints.
Not impressed with David Evans, dealt with at least 5 people when trying to purchase a property last year which we ended up losing. Goodwin Ellis were ok, Your Move too.
Most viewings were unaccompanied; estate agents don't need to actually put in much effort in selling properties as demand outweighs supply.
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Post by Guest on Jul 10, 2007 6:18:10 GMT -5
Are house prices actually going up in the area? I have seen a few houses recently in the local rag and online that look like they are breaking through the £250k (and above) barrier. We have just had some work done to ours in terms of sprucing it up so am going to get the estate agents in for a valuation to see what it is worth now compared to 9 months ago when we moved in. Keen to see if the DLR and my painting and interior decorating have added any value...
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Post by ebilpirate on Jul 17, 2007 6:51:07 GMT -5
I will give another vote against Mann country wide.
As a buyer I once turned up to a viewing on time with missus pirate running 10 minutes late, on the train, with a broken arm. To be told that the agent had plans for the evening and as Mrs Pirate was running late we couldn't be accommodated.
When I asked if she really wanted me to take my custom elsewhere I was given the reply, "fair enough, we have plenty of buyers on our books already".
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Post by Mrsdp on Jul 17, 2007 7:03:42 GMT -5
we bought our house through them and they were rubbish indeed. We never met them, just viewed the house on our own and then dealt directly with the vendor which they disliked. The only time we set foot in their office was to pick up the keys which some small boy threw across the desk to us. That being said I didn't deal with any estate agent along the way that I actually liked, I found them all to be incredibly uninformed and unhelpful. It can't be that difficult to be courteous..
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Post by batfink on Jul 18, 2007 9:16:44 GMT -5
we bought our house through them and they were rubbish indeed. We never met them, just viewed the house on our own and then dealt directly with the vendor which they disliked. The only time we set foot in their office was to pick up the keys which some small boy threw across the desk to us. That being said I didn't deal with any estate agent along the way that I actually liked, I found them all to be incredibly uninformed and unhelpful. It can't be that difficult to be courteous.. re: Mann - strange that. on our first meeting with their rep she b1tched (albeit cautiously) about the vendor we'd just visited on our own. she complained that he 'wanted constant feedback' about viewings and so on and so forth. Didn't bother me much, but i did think it was a tad rude. It seems that some agents feel it is unreasonable to ask for proof of their having done any work at all.
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