Costs of buying a property in the South East

What are the risks, if any, of buying a property in the South East — a prime residential area — as an unrepresented property buyer?

A common faux pas amongst many willing and able buyers is to assume there are few, if any, other buyers in such a position as themselves. There are however, always people making money irrespective of general economic conditions and therefore looking at buying a property in the South East.

When buying a property in the South East, values can fluctuate noticeably from one area to the next, from one end of the road to the other or in some cases from one side of the street to the other, and this is just one area where the benefit of using an experienced property finder comes into play. They understand the varying price differentials and through expert negotiation skills ensure properties are secured for the best possible price. At this point it is important to note that an estate agents role is to achieve the highest price possible for each property and are always acting in the best interest of their client – the vendor, not you. Whereas property buying agents — such as Garrington Property Finders — work solely for you, the buyer, and ensure that any purchasing decision is a well-informed one. This gives you peace of mind regardless of whether you are buying a property in the South East or elsewhere.

But what are the risks of looking for a property in a prime residential area as an unrepresented buyer? Firstly, there is a significant chance of you not being the first through the front door. Secondly, you increase the risk of seeing the property on any one of the many property search engines or inadvertently hearing about it through word of mouth and lastly, there is a chance of third party interest being shown and therefore the risk of competitive bidding developing, which may lead to a higher price having to be paid.

As a result of this misjudgement, there are an increasing number of instances whereby unrepresented buyers who are actively looking at buying a property in the South East in prime residential areas such as; Fryerning, Warley, Stock in Essex or Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks in Kent, have identified a suitable property they would like to purchase and more often than not come up against competitive bidding or negotiations going to best and final offers and as a result paid in excess of the guide price. This is as a result of reacting to a property coming available after it has been launched. If such buyers were in the position of being represented by a property finder such as Garrington, there would more often than not, be a stronger chance of them being able to either purchase the property off market or pre market, or if the property has to come to the market a Property Finders client could be made aware of the property prior to its launch and be in a position to act quickly.

Furthermore, no longer is it the case when you only needed to register with a handful of quality agents who dominated the top end of the property market. Nowadays a buyer may need to register with 10, 15 or maybe more estate agents to go about buying a property in the South East. So how is it possible to keep on top of such a vast number of agents and ensure you are always their first port of contact for that dream property that is about to come available? This is where using a property finder can add real value to your search. They search the market more thoroughly than you could on your own, and have a larger network of contacts including private individuals, property developers, private bankers, lawyers as well as knowing each estate agent, even the specialist companies who no longer have a high street profile. An experienced property finder will proactively and regularly speak to every single agent about your interest in buying a property in the South East and not just rely on the internet which is often out of date. They also use trade databases which are not available to the general public, giving you confidence that you’re gaining access to the best opportunities, on or off the market.

The main influencing factors to the current market are that while there has been a small increase in available stock, there is still a severe shortage of high quality properties in the most sought after areas. This is good news for those looking at buying a property in the South East but things are still far from easy. Simply put, competition remains fierce for the best properties whatever the economic conditions, and trying to acquire a property could cost more money and time without the right professional representation.