Would a 'property finder' be useful?

[umbrella5000]

I'm wondering whether anyone would find it useful to have a service where someone could view properties on your behalf before you move to Edinburgh, to save you time and money, at reasonable rates?

I've noticed several threads in the Edinburgh section asking for advice on potential moves to the city and I'm wondering about starting a service to help draw up a shortlist of properties for someone to view to save them a lot of travelling back and forth.

There are one or two professional property finders operating in the city at the moment but they charge hefty % fees and registration contracts, whereas I would only charge per viewing (and very reasonably at that - say, £25 per viewing).

Of course only the client can know whether a property 'feels' right to them, but it might help to have someone go along and see whether a prospective house feels damp, or draughty or is actually much darker than in the photographs etc.

Could you let me know your thoughts? Thanks!

I can't imagine being comfortable with someone dismissing properties out of hand on my behalf... it's a very personal thing and hiring someone seems like an unnecessary expense.

I have watched Phil and Kirsty for years so I know that the problems with this are that what people say they want versus what they actually want can be very different. So you could view the property and think it ticks all the boxes but then when they go to see it it may not live up to expectations. Equally you could discount a property which may be perfect with some simple cosmetic fixes, etc

Plus I think property finders tend to know lots of estate agents and have good links with them so they can view houses before they are available on the open market, will advice clients on areas and pricing and will also suggest builders who can remove internal walls and brighten up living areas with costs worked out, etc.

Thank you this is really useful! :-) Much better to get honest responses than push ahead with something if it's not going to be helpful to people. I think you're right - it works better for high-net-worth clients who want to see properties before they go on the open market and only the creme-de-la-creme, without someone veto'ing choices. Thank you again!