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The day of the property buying agent

It seems that we may be experiencing the ‘worst shortage of property on the market since the 1970s’ (RICS 2015). Buyers in a competitive market need to ensure that they have an advantage over others when it comes to getting early and dependable notice of the right property becoming available to buy.

Now more than ever, there is real value in engaging a credible buying agent who has the kind of insider knowledge even the most serious and local buyer can never hope to hold.

Just stop and consider this:

How many potential buyers does a regular estate agent have on their books? Tens? Hundreds? Thousands? How do these agents decide on which potential buyers to notify first when a property comes on the market?

Now, aside from what you would like to think, the reality is that agents will have lists. These lists will hopefully, but not certainly, profile buyers with property types and prices. If you are lucky enough to be the top of the list, you will probably receive the first phone call. If you do not take the call, the agent will call the person next on the list and you will already have lost any advantage you may have had; and if you are 49th on the list….

A property buying agent will actually badger selling agents daily to ensure that they are the ones to get the first telephone call about properties that match their clients’ requirements. Without fail, buying agents always answer the phone and are never off duty, ensuring that their client has an immediate advantage. On top of which, the buying agent acts as a filter, drilling down on detail with the selling agent to decide which properties are genuinely contenders and suitable for their clients. It’s a tricky business buying a house and involves much kissing of frogs; so in reality it makes good sense to pay an expert to save you precious time and hassle and to secure your most expensive asset and live happily ever after.

by Simon Barnes

Why do investors need the services of a buying agent?

The answer is actually very simple; investors need the services of a buying agent in order to get informed, and to receive expert advice in what is an increasingly complicated market.

It is actually no different to the world of wine, art, cars and watches – buyers and investors will always seek the advice of the professionals so they can be guided through the process to ensure they make the right acquisition and crucially at the right price. In fact if anything, buying a property is trickier than any of these, because the world of prime property is such a minefield with so many factors to consider and without solid, expert advice throughout the entire process, an investor could easily make the wrong decision.

A good buying agent will have access to information that is not readily available on the open market and this is what makes his service so invaluable. He will know what else has sold in the area and for what price, he will know what is planned in the area that may impact longterm investment potential, he will be clear about the different kind of investment opportunities in any given post code. Without the advice and guidance of a buying agent, the investor is reliant on the selling agent whose job it is to get the best price for his client, the vendor.

It therefore makes sound commercial and common sense to ensure that the buyer has someone acting solely in his best interests and as such, he will negotiate hard to ensure the correct price is paid.

by Simon Barnes

The importance of the London postcode

A third of my clients in recent years have been looking to acquire property in London for investment purposes, and as such, knowledge of the intricacies involved in finding the right property, in the right location, at the right price, has never been more important.

Traditionally in a buoyant market, investors have taken all kinds of risks, buying unseen property in secondary locations and previously untested markets. Since the beginning of the recession, the London market has become incredibly challenging, and it is now crucial that investors ‘buy right’ and resist the temptation to take risks.

Central London postcode areas

The choice of the London postcode is arguably the single most important consideration in the buying process. If budget allows, the appeal of fringe areas pegged as ‘up and coming’ should be resisted in favour of the more established addresses such as Mayfair, Belgravia, Knightsbridge, Notting Hill and Kensington. Although it is true that these prime locations come with a higher price tag than their lesser-known neighbours, it will always be money well spent.

In a strong market, properties in fringe locations will sell, but may take longer to do so than their counterparts in established addresses. However, in a weaker market these kinds of property will quickly become less appealing as serious buyers are inclined to wait for something with a stronger investment guarantee. [Read more…]

by Simon Barnes

Buying the Best Properties in the Best Streets

Simon Barnes explains why settling for second best is not an option when it comes to locating the best properties

When people are considering buying a property in Prime Central London I’m frequently asked ‘EXACTLY where is the best place to buy?’

The simple truth is there is no point in having the best house in the worst street.

Similarly, once you have chosen your street, you certainly do not wish to invest in a lesser house when, with a little insider knowledge and research, you could have a much better one.

One thing potential buyers find very surprising is that the key areas of Prime Central London – even Mayfair, are all incredibly small, but the property range is quite diverse. So being armed with the knowledge of exactly where and where not to buy is essential.

Mayfair

I would say that there are only ten streets you should be looking at in Mayfair; these include Charles Street, Upper Grosvenor Street, Mount Street and Green Street.

However, do look at Charles Street in Google Earth or Street View and you will see that some sections are much narrower than others, and that the houses contrast in style and architectural features. At the rear, you will see that others back closely onto houses in Hay’s Mews to the north and Clarges Mews to the south. You can imagine that, in these houses, very little natural light comes in and the gardens may lack privacy, although many do have the adjoining mews houses, which provide much needed parking, added accommodation and security.

In reality, even in the prestigious location Green Street, Mayfair there are perhaps only four or five houses, that I would recommend buyers view.

Belgravia

Take a Google Street view ‘drive’ around Belgrave Square and at first glance, you will see that all the houses appear to be identical. Therefore, you would assume that they all have the same inside layout. However, there is a massive difference between houses and their immediate neighbours. Seemingly irrelevant details, for example, where the staircase is , can dramatically change the house and will define the houses appeal.

Similarly in one of the great Belgravia streets, Cadogan Place, at the eastern part of the street, you will notice that the houses all have gleaming white stucco fronts while at the south end the houses have plain brick frontages. While the white facades may seem attractive, all these houses back closely onto their mews houses. The brick fronted houses are much better; more space at the rear, quieter and altogether a better location.

Kensington

It’s the same story in Kensington. In the popular Holland Villas Road, houses on one side back on to the noisy Holland Road, while houses on the other side back onto the very much quieter large houses of Addison Road.

Some years ago a client came to me wanting to buy a property in Holland Park and was comparing it in size, amenities and price to another across the road which had recently been on the market. I told him that he should consider only one which actually backed on to the park. While there are very few which do, I found one which he subsequently purchased.

by Simon Barnes

Big isn’t always best when it come to buying property in Prime Central London

Simon Barnes explains why big isn’t always best when it come to buying property in Prime Central London

The obsession with digging deeper or adding extra floors to create more space and assuming that this will add value, is a current trend in Prime Central London. In the past, buyers would enquire about properties based on the number of bedrooms, reception rooms and how the space flowed, the property’s overall layout and number of floors.

The shift to the emphasis of ‘square footage’ dates back to the mid ’90s. In the Far East during this period, developers were pre-selling developments off-plan, primarily to investors, where all the flats were identical in layout. In Hong Kong a typical new build two bedroom flat would be around 200 sq.ft, whereas in London it would be double that. That’s when the trend for basing value on the amount of square feet first emerged in London. Over recent years, the growth in the UK new build residential market has certainly influenced the focus on square footage because flats are getting smaller, so square footage becomes more important.

However, in Prime Central London the restrictions applied to listed buildings, or properties within a conservation area, mean that there is a limit to the increase in size permitted for a traditional layout in a town house. Most buyers prefer a normal layout with accommodation over two or three floors, offering decent sized reception space on the ground floor and four bedrooms on the first floor, with a master suite on the top floor. Adding an additional 800 square feet of space won’t add value, unless there’s a workable means of extending the ground floor to enhance the existing layout.

A few years ago, I was acting for a developer client. I showed him a really quirky studio house in Little Venice, that was unmodernised with a practical arrangement of space in a great location, perfectly suited to a young professional or couple. On viewing, my client’s immediate reaction was to plan to extend and make the space bigger with the intention of increasing value and profit. I advised against this because firstly, it was unnecessary and secondly, in making it more expensive, it would price out the buyers most likely to snap it up. Ultimately, on taking my advice, the developer focused on modernising the existing house, and the property was sold straightaway to a young professional couple, as predicted at the outset. The moral of the tale is that it is possible to stay smaller and yet enhance the value and importantly ‘buyer appeal’.

Most London houses follow a fairly similar pattern when it comes to required accommodation; rarely will a buyer insist on a basement casino two floors below the pool already located in the basement; or a further six bedrooms over three extra floors. For example, in Belgravia, there are houses in certain streets, which are narrower and have two extra floors, being arranged in all over five floors. The value of such properties will be different from those with more lateral and useable space laid out over fewer floors. Likewise a mews house comprising of around 3,000 square feet over two floors might seem to a developer an opportunity to double the square footage, create two extra floors and include a cinema in the dug-out basement. However, on doing this, the mews house once appealing with a practical layout, period charm and quiet location, is morphed into a large overdeveloped space, out of place and uneasy alongside its natural neighbours.

Taking the formula of each square foot of building in Prime Central London being worth between £3,000 – £4,000 can be a costly mistake when developing or extending a property.

Personally, I believe that it is a crude way of arriving at a value, when so many other factors need to be taken into account. How space is configured, and how space really works inside the home for those living there, should never be underestimated or undervalued. Remember bigger isn’t always better.

Just stop and consider this:

Central London postcode areas

Contact H. Barnes & Co – Tel: 020 7499 3434