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Original poster

INIGO (the modern house) or Local agent

31 replies

amy0691 · 16/09/2022 13:22

We had INIGO came over for an appraisal for our house, think they are branch of the modern house . Their fee is 2% (quite a lot I think), the valuation price is exactly the same as our local knight frank (their fee is 1.25%).

However, they are very slow with responses ... INIGO appraisal valuation came in a day after nearly 5 pm , and there is no responses off them second day .... if they are treat new vendor like this, I am wondering if they worth the 2% fee, and how they will treat the buyers? Anyone used them before? seems a bit slack for my liking ... I am thinking apart from their amazing pictures ... do they worth the fee they are charging?

OP posts:
LionessesRules · 16/09/2022 13:58

Do you have the style of house INIGO specialize in? If so they may be worth considering.
Otherwise, go with the physical estate agent. Or get a third agency round if you aren't keen on FK.

Original poster
amy0691 · 16/09/2022 15:08

We do have what INIGO after, they won’t agree take us on otherwise. The question is do they worth it ?

OP posts:
AdelaideRo · 16/09/2022 19:43

They sell a lifestyle.

They are very picky and they insist you present your home a certain way (looks around all the crap I'm storing for a friend while their house is on the market).

They get results (said friend is a property solicitor).

stuntbubbles · 16/09/2022 19:45

FWIW I save and pin almost every single house I see on Inigo and had something come up in my budget and area I’d have moved heaven and earth and mortgage fees for it.

But equally if you have a house that’s of that aesthetic and oeuvre already, it will probably go quickly whoever you list it with.

Original poster
amy0691 · 06/10/2022 15:00

I went with INIGO at the end, mostly because no up front fees and only 12 weeks contract. Their photographer came over spent 5+ hours taking pictures .... while she is styling the shots. The rest of the process seems a bit slow .. over a week now I still haven't seen the pictures or write ups of the property. will keep updated.

OP posts:
Babyboynamehmm · 13/10/2022 13:59

I found this thread while searching old threads for Inigo as a baby name 😃 but I used The Modern House to sell my last property, same company, so maybe my opinion is relevant?

They were really good. Generated a heap of interest. Got a great price - over asking and went into sealed bids - and pushed through a sale that was flagging. They definitely sell a lifestyle.

The market is slow right now of course.

How is your sale going?

utopian99 · 27/10/2022 10:23

Hi, jumping on this as we're also considering Inigo - have the right house and they've expressed interest, but we also want an efficient sale as we've already found the house we're moving too... Would be interested in updates!

Original poster
amy0691 · 27/10/2022 13:33

Mmm, personally I don’t know if they worth the over 2 % commission. Because my house is out of London, the sales team is trying to make me do the viewings… and we think it is crazy if all they do is photos and advertising on on Rightmove 🤦🏻‍♀️. They are super polite and very responsive. I am not getting a lot viewings, not sure they have a lot high net worth clients compare to KF or Savils. Or could be just the market. 🤷🏻‍♀️

OP posts:
Cuc · 23/08/2023 15:30

@amy0691 did you ever sell your house with them?

Original poster
amy0691 · 23/08/2023 16:46

We did, one of the buyers came back with an offer after we advertised with them for 3 months. But it failed through recently because buyers want a big discount, don’t think they did a lot at all.

OP posts:
Cuc · 23/08/2023 16:58

Oh bummer sorry to hear. We are thinking of going with them (they’ve expressed interest), but the market is such a drag.

Original poster
amy0691 · 23/08/2023 20:44

Their fees is around 2% + VAT.

For such high fee they don’t show your house, so you have to show yourself ( if you live outside of London) ;

They encourage everyone to view your property (we had a lot ppl came around to just ‘see’);

Most of the agent were polite but not estate agents. They don’t know how to sell.

I was quite annoyed they never really try to sell was just rely on the style of your house.

They don’t really try to make the house sell, when our buyer wants a significant discount, they were sort of push me to give the discount.

I don’t recommend them, we used foxton before they were really good, did everything they could to make the sale. inigo is not an estate agent, more of a glossy magazine.

OP posts:
Cuc · 23/08/2023 22:55

@amy0691 thanks so much for this information and I hope you get a better buyer! Are you in the southeast? All the best with it all.

Original poster
amy0691 · 24/08/2023 09:23

Thank you X ! Yes we are in the south East, our buyers wasted us so much time effect and money … people these days …

OP posts:
ibelieveinmirrorballs · 30/10/2023 08:11

Just thought I’d add a different perspective - I’ve gone UO with Inigo within a month and they were confident I’d get £100k more than local agents suggested (am selling a house that would appeal to families moving down from London). I had lots of viewings and three final offers last week, one of which was just under asking and two of which were cash/chain-free.

They have been fantastic to deal with from my perspective and compared to local sales-y agents, it has felt like dealing with grown ups who actually care about houses. All the viewers were also decent, turned up on time/reliably etc - it’s all made a big difference to the process.

I’ve been so nervous to go with them as one of the local agents made me feel like to go for the higher valuation would be grabby and pretentious.. but as it turns out I just don’t think on this occasion the local agents knew the market for this type of house properly. She was comparing my period house unfavourably with new builds (“buyers pay a premium for brand new”) or my hand built kitchen like for like with one sold nearby which was clearly flat pack/laminate worktops. Nothing wrong with any of that but there is a difference! It’s early days yet but so far it’s been a good experience.

ibelieveinmirrorballs · 30/10/2023 08:16

One other thing they never expected me to host the viewings and offer to have an allocated host do them on your behalf. That person then comes round for a specific meeting before viewings start and to ask lots of questions about the house. In fact the thing that sold Inigo to me was having had a viewing with one of their hosts at a property I was interested in and she was excellent at anticipating any issues I might have had and coming up with suggestions/mitigations!

I also thought my house wouldn’t be fancy enough for them or that there would be a snobbery about dealing with a more ‘normal’ house but haven’t found that at all!

Cuc · 30/10/2023 13:09

Congrats @ibelieveinmirrorballs that’s great! We are on with them, lovely agency, just a slow market sadly.

ibelieveinmirrorballs · 30/10/2023 15:05

Thank you @Cuc - who knows if this will actually play out but did want to say my experience of them has been good overall - glad yours has too and best of luck in this market.

highgatemom · 21/01/2024 22:23

Hello @Cuc we are on with Inigo as well but very slow, almost three months gone and nothing happening. They are now suggesting a 10 percent price cut on the price they themselves established less than three months ago. I wondered if your experience is still positive and whether you have sold already? We are thinking about switching agents. The problem with Inigo is they are not experienced estate agents and we feel there is no pro-active marketing activity. Any thoughts?

Cuc · 21/01/2024 22:39

Hi @highgatemom we ended up having a lot of browsers and no offers, but found out dream home and are able to keep our current home and rent it out while the market still wobbles. I think with Inigo it’s a beauty contest, which I don’t mind, and if you have a house in the right location at the right price it will sell. That said, there could be an argument that a local agent jams with the local market better (Inigo feels intimidating to some buyers). For us though, we tried the local agents first. Just a terrible market! Hope it works out for you. If you need to sell, then maybe make the cut and see how it goes

highgatemom · 21/01/2024 23:07

Thank you for your quick reply, glad you found hour dream home and that things are moving forward for you. We too had our share of browser time-wasters plus a few “cash” buyers who came back for second viewings but sadly not a single offer. Maybe an experienced estate agent could have elicited an offer from these people, somehow I don’t think me as the owner conducting viewings is a good idea. We also had a few high-profile viewers who were clearly known to them and it felt a bit like Inigo were more interested in keeping their design-obsessed house hunters happy than trying to sell the house of their actual clients who will be paying their fees. That is such an interesting point you made about Inigo that people find them intimidating, I had never thought of that - perhaps that explains the strange absence of local buyers forthcoming to view our house. We have had someone from Zurich and a couple from LA but not a single local family which is weird. Also they feel quite passive - we haven’t heard from our sales rep for a month and are passed onto others and the senior guy who came to value our house and then assured us he would see through our sale dumped us onto a junior agent within days of his initial promise. Maybe having joint agents might increase the competition?

Cuc · 21/01/2024 23:20

@highgatemom i so agree, I’m not sure I was the right person to show people around…and yes I think a lot of their staff are junior. I have a feeling it’s a business that makes almost all of its income from the super homes (£10s of millions), and the rest are just part of the project. I sound so down on it all, but the people we spoke with were really lovely, and they really understood our home. I was willing to pay the relatively high agent fee but in the end it just wasn’t working. Two agents might be the right route, but tbh I don’t think it will nudge Inigo to get more aggressive, I don’t think that’s their vibe..

highgatemom · 21/01/2024 23:27

Totally agree. I am thinking to finish with Inigo and relaunch with two normal estate agents. At times I felt people were just coming to look at our furniture and had to turn down a few who were not proceedable

Cuc · 21/01/2024 23:38

@highgatemom totally, a lot of curiosity and people looking for ideas I think..it sounds like new agents might be worth a shot. Best of luck xx

highgatemom · 22/01/2024 09:28

Many thanks, same to you ☺️ this chat has been really useful for me and helped to crystalize my thinking so thank you for sharing your insights. If anyone is reasing this thread, my advice is not to use Inigo. Also I do not have confidence in their so-called selling agents who are very junior and come from backgrounds that have nothing to do with sales, let alone selling homes. I do not have confidence they would have the teeth or tough skin required to deal with buyers, solicitors and all the demands and pressures of negotiations that happen in an offer stage prior to exchange