As you get older you become more boring and different things excite you! So there I was on Saturday night watching telly (in the old days would have been out) and in popped an email from someone I haven’t seen in 20 years. It was a lovely email about how great our team in Chorleywood have been during this ladies property search. She wrote to me that “I just wanted to let you know that they have been absolutely outstanding in their service, knowledge, and general dedication to what has transpired to be a rather lengthy and painful search!”. As a business owner, one of the hardest things to do is let go of your control and you can only do this when you know that the teams that you have running the offices are doing as good a job or (in this case) better than you could do. The best thing is that I receive this sort of praise about all of our teams time and again.
Sewell & Gardner Chorleywood
The main reason for this blog however, was not to sing the praises of the team, but to emphasise the importance of building a relationship with your local estate agent. I am currently looking for a property, not in this area, so this isn’t an opportunity to bash the competition. The area I am looking in is very popular and properties are going on the market and selling very quickly (very similar to this area). So how do you make sure that you get the call from the agent? The key is to build a relationship with the estate agent and to allow yourself an element of trust, I know more than anyone the unfair reputation that estate agents bear on a daily basis, but in my experience, most are decent and want to help the customer find their dream property. If they call you and tell you that they have a property that matches your criteria perfectly then take them at their word and don’t just ask for the details to be sent to you, they have no benefit in showing you properties that you won’t like and it might just get you in the house first and in pole position to get the house.
Happy house hunting.
Cheers, Alex.
Alex Sewell
Managing Director