Agent representing purchaser

[fruitqueen]

As i am traveling on business and away most of the time, I was mulling with the idea about appointing an agent to view properties on my behalf. Are estate agents mostly representing sellers or are there any specializing in representing purchasers as well? If there are, what are their commission or charges like? And what would be their scope of services?

I think what you need is a Property Finder. They do the sifting and searching and only take you to the ones that will be suitable.
Round here (rural SW) they're used by families relocating from London or buying 2nd homes where distance is an issue. Sometimes they find houses that haven't properly gone on the market yet.
Expect you'll pay a premium for the service though.

Where are you fruitqueen? I know someone in London who does this. Not sure what the fees are, but you can see the kind of service it covers here

Hello. I'm currently using a Property Finder in london. She has been great and just found us our family home in west london. Her fees are £2k for a 6 month search retainer plus 1.5% of the house purchase price, payable on completion. in our case £25k which has been worth every penny. Her fees are pretty standard so I would expect in line with the going rate for search agents.