Estate agent recommendation around Camberwell/East Dulwich

[SunnyUpNorth]

Can anyone recommend a local estate agent, or tell me who to avoid? We have been out of the game a long time and no longer familiar with who is good/bad. Not sure yet if it will be for selling or for letting. How is the market at the moment? On rightmove lots of things seem to have been on for a very long time and I’m not sure if it’s because they’re overpriced or brexit related.

Depends on the type of property. You wouldn't go with Acorn if you've got a valuable house; you wouldn't go with Knight Frank for a flat and you wouldn't go with KFH if you've got a brain

It’s a flat but it’s a nice flat on a nice road if that makes a difference! I won’t be touching Foxtons obvs and would prefer to avoid Wooster Stock but don’t actually know who is good....if any!

I’ve heard bad things about pedder recently, and good things about urban village. Winkworth are ok I think. The keep their best properties up on rightmove for a long time as advertising so don’t be to swayed by that

*too

I haven't used Keating Estates in a few years but always had good experiences of them in both the rental and sales teams. I think they will cover the areas you're looking at (I used them in Brixton and Clapham).

I haven’t heard of Urban Village or Keatings, I’ll look them up.

Hi, I had a great experience with Daisy Lets & Sales. I was their tenant for almost 2 years. They have an office in Lordship Lane and a second one in Forest Hill. The entire team were amazing. They are a small independent business so they had a more boutique approach which I quite liked.
More recently had a poor experience with KFH (lesson leaned!), although not in ED and a good one with Acorn with whom we rented our current property. But all these are from a tenants perspective, so I am not sure how helpful you will find it from an seller/landlord perspective, although I know my landlord at the time was happy with Daisy's management services, if it helps.

We’ve recently sold in that area: also a flat on a nice road

One factor you might want to take into account is if you’re on a leasehold or freehold? If it’s leasehold, check they know their stuff and how to price/market accordingly. Our’s didn’t and it was a bit of a nightmare.

Based on my experiences, I think Pedder and Keating are worth a look. Possibly Oliver Burn. Agree with everyone said above about KFH...

In answer to your question on the market, it's very slow on flats, although slightly better post Xmas/election. With hindsight I wish I’d trusted my instincts and not gone with the estate agent advice on price. We went in too high, assuming room for negotiation. In the end it went for exactly what I thought it was “worth” - that was £50k lower than the advice we got. As a result we were on the market far too long and had to reduce twice.

People know it’s a buyer’s market for flats so negotiation isn’t really happening. Quick sales for reasonable prices are.

Thanks both. @Couchto5ktowine it’s share of freehold and we have been through the sale process of one of the other flats in the building so should be fine. Think we will most likely rent it again unless it was valued a lot more than we expect.

@BluebellsAndBees we used Daisylets years ago when we first let it out. They were unbelievably, shockingly bad. One of the worst experiences I have ever had with a company! The list of complaints we had in the end was ridiculously long - even things like in the initial letting they said it was a house not a flat, listed it as near Peckham rye station (it isn’t), said it was a 2 not a 3 bed etc. We should have walked away then but foolishly didn’t.

I’d recommend Roy Brooks, very professional, pricing is spot on (not like foxtons who overprice to get the business then slash down when it doesn’t sell), honest about how best to show your house and you don’t end up dealing with 4 different people from the same branch as small business.

@SunnyUpNorth I am very surprised to read about your experience. Mine was truly positive and I recommend them solely based on that experience (no vested interest whatsoever). But as I mentioned, I was a tenant, so I probably dealt with different team members. I am sorry you had such difficulty with them, though. It is stressful enough entrusting your property to an agent, be it for sale or lettings, without having to deal with mistakes and poor service.

I would second Roy Brooks, we sold with them a couple of years ago and they were extremely helpful. We had quotes from KFH, who were very pushy, and a third estate agent that I can't recall.