Newbury estate agents Options

[Alice]

Hi,

I'm new to the Forum and was just wanting to get some feedback regarding Newbury's estate agents.

I'm currently in dispute with one and was wondering if any of you have had stories you were keen to share about your experiences.

[Bloggo]

Estate Agencies appear to attract a lot of "Hooray Henrys and Henriettas" who like to strut around the district in suits convincing themselves and trying to convince us they they are inportant people and are adding huge value to the house buying and selling process when in fact they are only putting buyers and sellers in front of each other so that the conveyancing solicitors can then extract as much money as they can for the management of what is, or ought to be, a simple transaction.

[diamond41970]

Estate Agencies appear to attract a lot of "Hooray Henrys and Henriettas" who like to strut around the district in suits convincing themselves and trying to convince us they they are inportant people and are adding huge value to the house buying and selling process when in fact they are only putting buyers and sellers in front of each other so that the conveyancing solicitors can then extract as much money as they can for the management of what is, or ought to be, a simple transaction.

I work in a solicitors and actually we usually don't make that much money out of conveyancing and have to have a large turnover just to make a profit which usually leaves that team very frazzled. When an estate agents charges 2.5% to take photographs, measure the rooms and show a few people round it is a mockery - Estate Agent = approx £3750 - solicitor = approx £1,500 you do the maths.........

[Bloggo]

I work in a solicitors and actually we usually don't make that much money out of conveyancing and have to have a large turnover just to make a profit which usually leaves that team very frazzled. When an estate agents charges 2.5% to take photographs, measure the rooms and show a few people round it is a mockery - Estate Agent = approx £3750 - solicitor = approx £1,500 you do the maths.........

Yep, I agree, both sums are far to high for the work involved.

[diamond41970]

Yep, I agree, both sums are far to high for the work involved.

Actually Bloggo rightly or wrongly there is a lot of work for the solicitor to do on house transactions. I recently had some work done on my car and it cost me more, for a lot less hours I might add, than it would have cost for me to get one of our solicitors to work on buying a house for me !! People need to make money it is a fact of life. Obviously I don't know what your job is and I am sure I have never had to do it so don't comment on "the work involved" and I really don't think you can also if you have never done that job yourself. I, from an outsider point of view, can say "well hey why has it cost me £2,000 to have my car repaired for only 6 hours of work - obviously there are a lot of "extras" as well.

[Alice]

Actually Bloggo rightly or wrongly there is a lot of work for the solicitor to do on house transactions. I recently had some work done on my car and it cost me more, for a lot less hours I might add, than it would have cost for me to get one of our solicitors to work on buying a house for me !! People need to make money it is a fact of life. Obviously I don't know what your job is and I am sure I have never had to do it so don't comment on "the work involved" and I really don't think you can also if you have never done that job yourself. I, from an outsider point of view, can say "well hey why has it cost me £2,000 to have my car repaired for only 6 hours of work - obviously there are a lot of "extras" as well.

When we purchased our house, a few of my colleagues recommended Gardner Leader to do the conveyancing. We called a few companies to get quotes and they were actually the cheapest people in Newbury. We were fine with their pricing because it's completely transparent so you know exactly what you're paying for. We were also given the option of doing some things ourselves - like the stamp duty tax return form - but opted for Gardner Leader to do the work because we didn't want the headache.

Also, a proportion of the money goes on searches that have to be carried out, so the only money our solicitor took was for his fees which were reasonable for the work involved. He made it clear from the start that we could call him any time for advice - which given that we were first time buyers was greatly appreciated.