Anyone used Felicity J Lord in Hackney? (Or any other local agent)

[threeleftfeet]

Would you recommend them?

That's all really! They reckon they can get a good price for my flat, just wondering if anyone has any experience of them? (Or any other agents in Hackney).

TIA :)

I did, although it was about 7 or so years ago! They were very good though

No.

However, we purchased our house through Keatons, just up the road from Felicity J Lord. When we were house-hunting, we rated Currells as the best agent to keep in contact with us, send us regular marketing emails etc. All other agents simply didn't seem to be that keen to keep us updated. Currells do seem to dominate around my part though (south Hackney).

I don't rate Foxtons.

Good luck!

Thanks for the replies :)

We've had Keatons round, so far it's between them, Felicity J Lord and an internet agent.

Didn't think of Currells, maybe I should ask them round too ...

I've heard bad things about Foxtons elsewhere actually, interesting to hear you say the same in Hackney.

Have just had my flat in Stoke Newington up with 4 agents - Location Location and Oakwood (both local to N16) and then Ludlow Thompson and Foxtons.

Found Foxtons quite dreadful all round. Completely lacking in integrity and impartiality, will tell you what they think you want to hear rather than giving actual good advice. No interest whatsoever in what you actually want (selling or buying) just smooth and smarmy. Really crap.

Ludlow Thompson ineffectual. Location Location really nice and quite proactive for us when we were searching but got barely any viewings for our sale.

The only half decent one was Oakwood. In the end they got us 2 offers (although we ended up selling privately) and were by far the most proactive.

Not sure where in Hackney you are, though, and what area they cover.

Never used FJL though, sorry.

I bought through FJL in E14. I was not very impressed because I had to find the properties and ask them for viewings because they only showed me the more expensive ones ie they showed me one flat in a block even though there was another on their books in the same block which they knew suited my requirements better, just it was less expensive. Once we had offered they were ok, not great, on seeing it through to completion. Would not recommend their recommended conveyancing solicitor.

And they don't do floorplans-very irritating.

Thanks for the replies, ecuse and nemno - very useful :)

No floorplans? That's annoying! Particularly as one of the selling points of our flat is the nice layout.

We're in Clapton btw.

I had a bad experience with Felicity J Lord - they lied to me about a flat I was interested in buying and were otherwise incompetent. Also, a friend of mine was selling his flat in South Hackney and signed up with FJL after they valued it very highly, only for it to sit on the market for months.

Keatons though were excellent.

Thanks MooncupGoddess "they valued it very highly, only for it to sit on the market for months."

That's what I suspected. Felicity J Lord valued it much higher then three other EAs we met, but they're the only one who wanted to tie us in to a 16 week contract! (The others are asking for a month's commitment only).

In the area we're in, demand is high for flats, and they're going in just a week or two rather than months. (I know this from recent experience of neighbours as well as the advice of EAs). So that begs the question what on earth do FJL need 16 weeks for? Unless they've overvalued it to get me on the books.

I asked them today actually if they'd consider cutting the weeks. They suggested 10 weeks, and the EA said it'd take a couple of weeks to get everything set up. (Set up what?!!) Considering the others are promising to sell it within 2 weeks, I think I have a definitive answer now! Also I'm a bit bemused by them posting the valuation letter - all the others emailed it to me.

I've heard good things about Keatons, actually, and the woman who came to visit us seemed very professional - I didn't feel she was doing a sales number on us - and she was recommended to us by a neighbour.

We've decided to go with an internet agent after all (housenetwork.co.uk , they charge a flat fee of £600 rather than a commission), but if that doesn't work we'll go with Keatons.

Just sold in stoke Newington via house network too, very painless experience, glad we didn't fork out for a local agent. Market here is moving so quickly that as long as it is on line it will sell, imo.

That's good to hear Stokey.

The feedback for using housenetwork as an estate agent seems to be overwhelmingly positive, we're definitely sold on using them as EAs!

However we've come across a couple of bad reviews of their conveyancing service. Do you mind if I ask, how did you find the conveyancing bit?

We didn't use them as conveyancers and nor did our buyers so can't help you as went with friends recommendation.

Right, I now know what conveyancing actually is (thanks to mumsnet, of course!). It's the legal bit, and we'd planned to use a solicitor for that anyway, so definitely going to use housenetwork as our EA.

If this works (and I see no reason why not) then mumsnet has saved us about £7K. Brilliant! Thanks everyone :)

I'm using Hutchins & Co solicitors on Lower Clapton Road. Not completed on either sale or purchase yet but been really pleased with them so far. MILES better than the online conveyancing house I used last time who were worse than useless and only £100 or so more (7 years later). Jack Lambdon is my solicitor. He has been very flexible when first our buyer and then our vendor pulled out, meaning an entirely different chain now than when started and (so far!) hasn't mentioned charging us extra for either transaction keeping fingers crossed

I had a very positive experience buying in Clapton through Keatons. 3 close friends have also sold through them in the last few months- all flats sold within a week! That could just be the fast moving market- but they were certainly very quick off the mark in getting people in. All received asking price offers too.