I am selling a property in Crookes and am looking for recommendations for an estate agent. I have already had differing valuations from Bairstow Eves and Blundells. Has anyone out there had dealings with either of these two and if so, good, bad or indifferent??

Thanks in advance.....

We've had a good experience with Blundells, which surprised us. Wouldn't touch Bairstow Eves myself.

Cheers Tricky

Whats the problem with Bairstow Eves?

i would definitley try and sell privately first if i were you.

I am looking to buy a property in s10, do you have anymore detils

Its a 2 bed 1st floor flat in Crookes (ex council).

Cheers Tricky

Whats the problem with Bairstow Eves?

We were looking at a house they were making a pig's ear of selling. Rubbish photo, missing details from the brochure, rude on the phone. The vendors have now ditched Bairstow Eves and switched to Saxton Mee.

I don't know for sure if there's a tie-in with the Halifax (they share an office), but they're another organisation I won't do business with.

Thats interesting Tricky. Was it the Crookes office that you dealt with?
I was going to go with Bairstow Eves but I'm having second thoughts now!

Anyone else got any experience of them?

It was probably Ecclesall.

Hmmmmmm - I was'nt that impressed with Blundells either (and they were more expensive) - can anyone suggest any other decent Agents?

Try Haybrook perhaps, I don't know anything about them. I couldn't in all honesty recommend Saxton Mee.

We sold out house in S11 with Spencers and found them to be fairly priced. We didn't have any problems with them. I guess each person can have a different experience to the next though.

we sold through the crookes branch of saxton mee, and jodi (who we mostly dealt with) was absolutely fantastic....i know, i dont' quite believe it, either, but she was really nice, helpful, understanding, chased stuff up with us etc etc.

blundells are renowned for undervaluing, just to get people through the door of the property. saxton mee and elr are likely to value a house at about the same amount. haybrooks and winkworth will probably value about the same, and a bit higher than elr/sm, but therefore closer to the actual value you're likely to get for the house. what the agent values the house at isn't a reflection on what they think it'll sell for, so make sure you ask what they think the final price will be before you commit to an agent; be wary of any that think the final price will be hugely in excess of the others, as they might just be trying to reel you into a contract with them so that they can have a 'for sale' board up in your area.

private selling is unlikely to be in your favour, as the big estate agents obviously have a lot of visitors to their websites, which you are unlikely to achieve without them. a private sale is more likely to be favourable to whoever you sell to. personally i swore i'd sell privately, but i think it probably made upwards of 10k difference by selling through an agent, simply because of the volume of people who were bidding on our house. it sucks, but there we go.

good luck

BC - our experiences seem to be the mirror image of each other. We always intended to put our house on the market with Saxton Mee but they made such a mess of things from a purchaser point of view (failure to inform of bid progress, failure to arrange viewings, incorrect property details on the web site) that we went with Blundells despite thinking they were probably a bunch of cowboys.

Blundells and ELR sent round competent experienced valuers who both judged the sale price accurately. SM send round a lad who was wide of the mark by 20%. (All estate agents' valuations should include an estimate of what the property's worth and advice on the price to advertise at.)

So far (crosses fingers and touches wood) Blundells have done everything that could have been asked of them in a thoroughly professional manner.

I agree about not selling privately, the last two bidders on our property were both from outside Sheffield and bid considerably more than anyone local was prepared to.

Another thought is that if you're moving to somewhere else in Sheffield, go with the Estate Agent who has got the strongest presence in the area and price range you are looking for. Estate agents work harder for you if you're buying and selling through them as it's double commission for them in effect.