Buy and sell with same estate agent?

[katesjustchillingout]

I've seen a property I like and this has prompted me to want to sell my house. I haven't made any moves as yet. The property I like is on with Foxtons and another London agent.

People say sell with Foxtons, buy don't buy with Foxtons. I get it. I'm just wondering in this scenario is it better to buy and sell with the same agent? If I go with one for the sale and other for the purchase, they will obviously know and its a chain situation. But are there any other pros or cons?

I would view through the other EA and potentially put your property on with that agent too. Not a fan of Foxtons.

Watching with interest as I currently have the same dilemma.

Have bought and sold with the same agent in the past and felt it made things a lot smoother.

But then had a disaster 2 years ago when I lost both a sale and purchase and felt both situations were partially the responsibility of the EA. I didn’t feel they had done enough to understand why my buyer suddenly pulled out and then discovered that they hadn’t checked the information given by my Vendor regarding their onward purchase. That Vendor had claimed that they had already bought their next house. A total lie.

Looking back I realise that in that small chain scenario the involvement of another agent would have meant that the information I was relying on to make a decision regarding which property to buy and which offer to accept would have been subject to a lot more scrutiny.

That is such a good point @Lapwingsreturn

We’re selling with same agent as buying, but they’re different branches. I’d have thought communication between them would be better, but it’s not great tbh.

If the property you want to buy is very sought after then I would use the same estate agent as the house you want to buy cis there is more incentive for the estate agent.

I've done this as figured vested interest in getting two commissions. Worked out fine. Your solicitor needs to be on top of things.

Yep - when we saw a house we wanted we deliberately put ours on with the same agent. Both unusual. It paid dividends as when we were offered a lower price for our house the agent had a reason to persuade our vendor to drop their price by a similar amount.

This helps. I'll have both come round to value my property, see how I feel about that and then go with one. Whichever I go with, I will then engage them on the house I 'think' I might like to buy.

Don't do it automatically thinking it will be more straightforwards! Our buyers and us sold through the same estate agent who were control of the whole chain (of 3). They were a nightmare - telling everyone what they wanted to hear (which was not the same thing as they were telling everyone else) which then caused an awful lot of stress and the sale(s) nearly all fell through. We saw no benefit over one estate agent overseeing a whole chain. It was the most stressful period of my life. I would go with the agent you think will be able to sell your house and get the best buyer and best price. Good luck!

We bought and sold with the same, small local EA. It worked massively in our favour, so much so it was a bit immoral. Our EA persuaded our vendors to take our very low offer.

We bought and sold with the same agents. It was good for us as it was us and one other bidding for the house we were buying and I'm pretty sure the agent swung it for us - he was thinking of the double commission!