What to check for when instructing a Homefinder

Homefinders fall into three main categories:

Lone player:
This will be someone who often works from home and takes on clients as a part-time additional income. They can be ex-estate agents or ex-relocation agents or just people with an interest in property.

Caution:
Lone players often have a very restricted geographical stretch which means that if, as often happens you want to cover a quite large area or you change your mind on area, they will not be able to help. Check the number of clients they are searching for. More than two clients per property search agent means they CANNOT do the job properly for you. If the person is not an ex-estate agent, are they really qualified to provide you with in-depth property investment advice? What is their industry knowledge based on?

Large Agency / bank owned companies
These are quite corporate entities with fees to match. The personal touch is not their strong point.

Caution:
If the company is owned by an estate agency chain - can you really be sure that they will not preference their own company? Check how many clients they have per consultant. Our mystery shopping shows that they will generally have 5 clients per consultant in the country and 12 in London. With this being the case - your property search will be slow!

Franchises
There are a couple of big homefinder franchises which sell on a geographic basis. There seems to be no great emphasis on property experience with the franchisees, more salesmanship.

Caution:
Experience and geographic spread is the key to look for here. Do you really want to be restricted to a small part of one county? Do check that your ‘adviser’ really is in the position and has the experience to advise you.

BDI Homefinders

At BDI Home Finders UK we are an independent property search service that’s operated by former Estate Agents. None of our property search consultants handle more than two clients at any one time, we know from experience that we cannot do the job properly and deliver the best quality service with more clients.

Our homefinder services cover London and the whole of the South-east of England, so if your remit changes, or if you want to sanity check different areas, we are agile and knowledgeable enough to roll with it.

For more information please call BDI Home Finders UK on 0845 603 6110 or contact us by e-mail.