To consider using a "property consultant"?

[Movingsoon21]

I want to start by saying I'm not the type of person who would normally use this type of service, so it seems very over the top/needlessly luxurious and hopelessly expensive to me, but I'm trying to keep an open mind.

DH and I have wanted to move house for the last year. Like many people, we felt during lockdown that we'd outgrown the space we had, especially as we were both working from home and knew we wanted a second child. We also wanted to move closer to our parents.

We did a lot of research about areas and there's basically only one area that fits the criteria of OK commute (both 3 days a week), good schools, affordable properties for our budget, near family and friends, safe area, etc. We kept an eye on the market for a number of months and barely anything came up there, which seemed surprising. Eventually a couple of months ago we signed up with local estate agents and that was when we found out that properties do come up but the market is so "hot" at the moment that the houses don't get publicly listed - they all just go directly to the people on the estate agents' lists, they arrange c.40-50 viewings(!) per property and then usually get around 20(!) offers at or above asking price. It's crazy!

In the two months we've been signed up only 2 properties have been sent to us on the estate agents' lists, and although they've been nearly what we wanted, they both had quite big issues that put us off. We are now pregnant with no.2 and DH is starting to get desperate so has suggested we use a property consultant to find us somewhere, especially as we're both short on time with our jobs.

I'd never heard of the role but essentially they are someone you hire to find a house for you - they are supposed to have local expertise and contacts in your area that get them first dibs on house viewings etc/hearing about houses before they go to estate agents and then they help you to negotiate a good price.

Seems wonderful in theory, but the fees are 1.5% of the purchase price!! (payable on exchange). We don't have extra savings of this amount lying around so we'd have to take it off our deposit, giving us a potentially worse LTV ratio depending on the eventual purchase price. This just seems like a crazy amount of money to me and I think we should just put more effort in ourselves, leafleting houses on the roads we like etc, but DH keeps banging on about it, talking about what rave reviews these consultants have and how much time, effort and stress it would save us.

So has anyone used a property consultant and if so, were they worth the money?

Is it crazy to use one or AIBU?

Or just would you use one in my position?

We considered it before we found our house (completed over the summer). I did have a chat with one who was quite nice and gave some free advice.

She was open though that she would add most value in a particular price bracket (above ours!) so I'm not sure if we actually would have gone with her.

You're probably already doing this, but if not make sure you're phoning the estate agents every week to remind them you're out there and still looking. Are you FTBs (sounds like it from your OP?) as if so you should be high up their lists.

I'd wait until after baby to move, when things have gone back to normal. Otherwise it sounds as though you will have to make too many compromises.

@RedHelenB that sounds like a fairly good option to me, only think is we're worried about getting priced out of the market (we're renting) - but then I guess the market could drop if it's ridiculously high at the moment?

I was on the end of selling my property to a buyer who employed a property agent and never again! If I had the choice between 2 buyers in the future and one was via an agent, I would choose the other buyer!

The agent was incredibly pushy and demanding. I agreed to my estate agent giving her my mobile so I could answer some of the buyers questions directly and she never left me alone. Constantly chasing me, and not listening properly to information I gave her. For example, I'd say I should have x document by Friday, cue calls from her Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday asking if I had it yet.

She was so desperate to get the sale through that she went too far and totally alienated me. The sale fell through anyway because my purchase fell through and I decided to stay put. She still messaged me for up to a month after asking if I had reconsidered, despite me saying very clearly I would let her know if anything changed.

My estate agent said he had dealt with a few agents and the above is a common theme. So not saying they are all like that but do be aware there is a flip side.

I'd get Phil and Kirstie on the job!