The added value of a Buying Agent

With an average 10% growth in Buying Agent services in recent years in London alone, we explore the role Buying Agents can have as they are set to become more and more commonplace in the buying process, not only in the English capital but also in other European cities, from Paris to Barcelona, as well as in the most sought after second homes locations such as the French Riviera and Tuscany.

Photo Credit: Derek Harper / Flickr

We have asked one of our London based buying agent partners how the work has evolved as the market became more sophisticated he summarises:

“Going back 2 - 3 years our job was all about negotiating discounts, something I have 20 years experience in. Now is it more to do with negotiating the best deal for the client while acquiring the property. Often it is simply a case of acquiring the right property. As the competition to secure the best London properties has increased in some cases even having a few hours head start can make the difference. .”

Hiring a buying agent means tapping into their vast contact network and local expertise:

“We have very good relationships with the local Selling Agents; they know how we work and that we only represent serious buyers. As a result we are often first to see new instructions, often before they reach the open market. You can frequently see the floorplan guy or photographer in the background of the video we send to clients.”

Other times they are able to rescue the buyer from making a costly error:

“We had a recent case in North London with a client considering buying an apartment in a period building of 3 flats. The property appeared to be realistically priced from initial viewings and as result interest levels were high. “

“The Selling Agent had 26 viewings in 3 days and 4 asking price offers, so proceeded to sealed bids. On the morning of the closing day for best and final offers, the agent sent round an email detailing works required on the building, the first time it had been mentioned. We knew from the outset that the service charge contained no sinking fund so the cost of the work would be the responsibility of the buyer and other owners (share of freehold). The price of the property no longer seemed as good as it did to start with and the works identified seemed quite extensive for the price quoted.”

“That morning our surveyor (who is also a fully qualified structural engineer) conducted what we call a “pre-offer survey” to find out that the original quote was totally inadequate and whoever purchased the property was liable for a considerably larger bill. We asked the agent for a copy of tender but only then did the agent find out that it had not been tendered. The quotes the agent sent were simply estimates from the vendor, who was a barrister, not a builder or engineer. We withdrew our interest immediately but we know it sold for approx 10% over the current market average for the area once you include the works.”

Photo Credit: David Burrows / Shutterstock

What is the profile of the typical buying agent? As part of its effort to launch an international commission sharing platform, Te Atrium has collected a number of demographical information about property finders and their clientele. It has emerged that agents are generally based either where most of their clients live or where the properties they help to find are located. They know their clients reasonably well and regularly keep in touch with them, more and more often also using social media; their clientele, among which a number of well known celebrities, is very often international, has high mobility and little available time. Most property finders serve less than 10 clients a year and about 40% of the times they help their clients purchase outside of their catchment area.

It is advisable that luxury property buyers carefully consider both the opportunities and the challenges of hiring a buying agent; nonetheless we are confident that hiring a professional buying agent could prove to be a very smart move provided that the chosen agent has the expertise , the network and the ability to listen to his buyers’ demands. If you are looking for a property finder anywhere in London and other European locations our Property Scouting Service can put its users in touch with some of the best buying agents.

Have you ever used a Buying Agent for buying a property? Was your agent able to save you money, find a luxury property before it went to the open market or save you from making any mistakes? Let us know in the comments below.

This article was originally published in Jul 2012 and was updated on December 20th, 2012.

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The added value of a Buying Agent

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