To sell house with Foxtons (which I would normally avoid like the plague)?

[Inneedoftea]

Ok, so DH and I have been thinking about selling house for a year or so, but have had other issues going on that have prevented this so far.

Since having our house valued last autumn, prices where we live have increased considerably. So I had another valuation two months back and one today with Foxtons, who are opening a new branch near us. The Foxtons agent did a typical estate agent speech etc and then valued us at £150 000 MORE than the other agents. No house has sold on the street for anywhere near that price at all. Our house is nice, we have worked on it since being here 5 or so years. New kitchen/bathroom - everything fresh. Lovely garden, Victorian charm, original features, lovely street. Buyers can really move right in. But it is such a huge difference.

So basically I'm asking what other people have experienced with Foxtons. Do they really overprice? Will they 'suggest' we reduce later. Obviously if we get a higher price our purchasing limit will increase too but although I don't want to be greedy, we are only human and want to get the best price we can.

My DH registered with Foxtons at one of their South London branches. We were looking in SW2 and SE27. They kept ringing us up about over priced properties in Thornton Heath and South Norwood and I kept having to explain we weren't interested in those areas.

We bought through someone else in an area where Foxtons haven't properly landed.

Foxtons always give unrealistic valuations. It seems to be their company policy.

Haven't read the full thread but

A) ask them to write in the contract % fee.

B) ask if they allow you to incentivise the agents. You could tell them if they get the full asking price you will give the individual agent who sells it x amount of Gift vouchers/ gift etc. this gives the individuals a very good reason to sell your house. You could say anything they get over x amount gets a bonus. (Ie other agents valued your place at 700k foxtons at 850k, you say to foxtons if you get me 800k you will give x gift vouchers to the agent if they get you 810, 820 etc you give them more). Any incentive still means you are vastly better off.

C) sign into a 6 week contract maximum. Then leave em if they have overpriced to gain the instruction.

You can tell any other estate agents to market your house at whatever price they think, not what they recommend. So why not split the difference and put it on with an agent you trust for say £50k more than their recommendation and see what happens in the New Year when people start looking at houses again?

If you put it on with an agent who believes it is overpriced they won't do their hardest to sell it. Some agents under price to sell quickly - less work for them if every tom dick and Harry want to view it.

We sold our flat and bought a house in Balham a few years ago and there was a marked difference in the houses Foxtons showed us compared to KFH, Aspire etc. they also completely ignored our very specific requests on location (due to catchments) and showed us houses either too far out or way too small for asking prices higher than the house we eventually bought through KFH. It is also true that they never stop ringing!

My favourite Foxton's moment though was several years previously when my now DH and I went in to start looking for flats. It was a scruffy Saturday morning and when we told the agent we wanted two beds, small garden in our area he told us we wouldn't be able to afford it - no enquiry about what we had to spend etc.! We walked out went up to see another agent and made a cash offer (due to an inheritance) on our gorgeous first flat two days later. When we sold it a few years later we didn't even bother asking them to provide a valuation.

Yy to never stop ringing, Thomas from foxtons was ringing me months after we bought our house. They are annoying as a buyer but my friend put her house on withi them at a ridiculous price and got it straightaway. It was a lovely house in an up and coming area and they dragged someone in from Clapham. It totally worked.

They are in my area now and I bloody hate how they put £300k on the asking price of big houses round here. Just pushes prices up mercilessly.

The Foxtons contract will say that it is 0% commission so long as you find a buyer and exchange contracts within a certain period of time. Usually a very short one like 2 months. Then they overvalue so that your eyes light up and you go with them. Of course you will not sell at that price or be able to exchange then their commission kicks in. They offer this to the first 200 sellers on a new area, which destroys the local independent opposition. Then they put their commission up way beyond what the opposition ever charged. So beware.

Ooh didn't realise this thread continued after October! Just to update we sold through another agent and got £50k over their suggested selling price. Still £100k less than Foxtons original suggestion. But way more than we expected so pretty good! Haven't bought anything through them as think they truly are terrible.

I've had some awful buying experiences with Foxtons. They've just started an office in our area and again offering 0% commission. I was unable to view a property over an open day as I was abroad. Initially they refused to even ask the vendor if I could view the property on an alternative date. After a long discussion explaining that I fully appreciated that no offer would be looked at until after the open day, and that if I was the vendor I would want to be made aware if serious buyers were unable to attend the open day (in order to decide if I would allow a viewing on an alternative date), they agreed to contact the vendor. Subsequently they informed me that the vendor was on holiday so arranging to see it would not be possible. The following day we walked past the house, noted that there was a dog in the property and that the vendors were very much at home. We decided to knock on the door, explained the situation and asked if the vendor would be willing to facilitate us viewing the property outside of the open day. His response was "when would suit you." We offered to come back the following week or that we could see it that day, and he subsequently invited us in and showed us around. We explained that we would approach Foxtons if we wanted to make an offer, and informed Foxtons that afternoon in order to ensure both parties knew we were acting in a transparent manner. An hour later a received an aggressive phone call from a Foxtons agent whom I'd never met or had any correspondence with, who without even introducing himself launched in with a raised voice saying "who do you think you are knocking on people's doors? You cannot do that." I tried to explain the scenario, but he was unwilling to listen saying that I was "not free to knock on peoples' doors" and that my actions were "unacceptable." He said that the vendor had made a complaint about me, and that I had "forced my way" into the vendors home ( interesting, the vendor was a male twice my size with an Alsatian dog about my size). I asked for details about the complaint, at which point he retracted this statement and said he had received an e-mail asking him to contact the vendor. I suggested we make an appointment to discuss this in person, and that I was unhappy with the aggressive and accusatory nature of the conversation. He refused, saying that this would be an inconvenience to him. He told me that he felt justified shouting at me in this manner as my " actions had led to this conversation," and that this was in no way compromising his professionalism. I asked him to contact me, and let me know if the vendor actually wanted to make a complaint. Obviously, I have never heard anything. I subsequently contacted the same Foxtons agent to ask they remove me from their books due to their lack of professionalism and because I felt they would not be able to represent my interests. I explained that I was considering complaining about the bullying nature of the telephone call. He retaliated saying that I did not need to have my name taken off their register as he planned to blacklist me so that I "could never buy a property through Foxtons."

Completely unreasonable and unprofessional in my opinion. This should have been discussed and resolved in a rational, adult manner with a face to face discussion, rather than by him picking up a phone and shouting at me down the receiver.

OP I have never used Foxtons myself to buy although my DH did on a property purchase. He didn't love them, put it that way. We did once use a mortgage adviser attached to them and had a brilliant experience. However, I think I would use them to sell a property based on the following:

1. You're in Zone 1 or 2 in London, in places where you're selling for no less than £1k per square foot.
2. You go to market right now

There is so very little on the market right now buyers are desperate. It's not uncommon to have sealed bids OVER asking - and not just in zones 1-2, all over London. Foxtons may inflate asking but in the current climate you would likely end up over the asking with a different agent.

This is just my instinct from looking at what is happening around where I am, and having agents knock on our door unsolicited once a week offering free valuations because they are desperate for property to sell.

And if they're offering 0% then it's a no brainer. Put it on with them and if after a month or so nothing happens, go to a different agent. You have nothing to lose.

Good luck OP.

Oh god sorry zombie thread! Anyway glad you had a happy outcome OP!!!

bloody hell, you really do learn something new on mumsnet everyday.

Hannah, how did you not deck the twat?