Haybrook estate agents - who's dealt with them?

[GrapeApe 10]

Whilst there's been some previous threads about this estate agency before on SF, these all seem to be over a few years old hence this post...

 

I'd like to ask SF members if they've recently had any dealings with Haybrook and how they've found the service.

 

Chatting to friends of mine about their experience of selling their house seems to be a real nightmare with a lot of money in fees being *potentially* paid for not much in the way of pro-activity on their behalf.

 

I know we're not in a good climate for selling houses and that estate agents can only sell property to interested buyers but to my mind, its the level of service the vendor receives that is the central issue here.

 

Coming from a Customer Service background myself, I've been listening to these stories with dismay!

 

If you've had a bad experience, please let me know. Would just like to know my friends aren't a one-off occurence...

 

Thanks

 

Albert

 

As a buyer I've had a great service from them. Very proactive and some very good staff in Crookes branch at least

[Northside 10]

Hi GrapeApe,

 

when you say proactive, do you mean once you were committed to buying a property with them they were good throughout that process etc? Or were they proactive when you were actually looking for a property to buy, ie calling you with new properties to view..?

 

struggling to get any testimonials from sellers as opposed to buyers, about them.

[GrapeApe 10]

Hi GrapeApe,

 

when you say proactive, do you mean once you were committed to buying a property with them they were good throughout that process etc? Or were they proactive when you were actually looking for a property to buy, ie calling you with new properties to view..?

 

struggling to get any testimonials from sellers as opposed to buyers, about them.

 

Calling me for feedback on viewings and any offers and suggesting other places

[Marx 10]

Any updates on Haybrooks anyone would care to share?

[MissEllie 10]

As someone who has their house up for sale with a different estate agent, I've been keeping an eye on them. They bombarded me with "we can sell your house" calls/letters and then when they came to value the house they told me that basically they couldn't sell it.

 

My neighbour has just sold with Haybrook and not only do they send round viewers who clearly can't afford (or don't want to pay) the asking price and haven't looked at the property brochure, they are driving prices down. Let me explain ... they list your house at a certain price range, say £150,000-£160,000 (please, now who is going to come along and offer you £160K, anybody?). Then when it hasn't sold for about a month, they come along and tell you that houses like yours are selling in your area at X amount and you'll have to drop the price to sell. This is fine if you have a lot of equity in your property and can afford to come down a little bit, but if you haven't then you are stuck. There are a lot selling in our area through Haybrook and property prices are falling - the only ones selling are those that can afford to take a cut, which is driving down house prices generally. I'm not happy with them and I'm not even a customer!

[Danny_Boy 10]

If you know the full address of a property that's on the market, is it possible to contact the seller directly to arrange a viewing, and even close the deal, thus cutting out the estate agents/middleman from the process? (particularly if you are a FTB with available funds?) Or is this a big no no?

 

Yes you can but then the Estate agent would chase the vendor for the fee, as the EA would argue that it was their marketing (forsale sign, newspaper advertising etc) that sold the property even if you didn't arrange the viewing through the estate agent.

[DaFoot 10]

.... There are a lot selling in our area through Haybrook and property prices are falling - the only ones selling are those that can afford to take a cut, which is driving down house prices generally. I'm not happy with them and I'm not even a customer!

 

Are you trying to blame Haybrook for falling prices? If so, that seems a little unfair. You could just as well blame folks who desperately paid over the odds to push prices up in the first place.