Work starts on the eagerly awaited new Foxtons office on Brixton Road

[jamieo]

I have lived in Brixton for 12 years and finally bought my own flat in Brixton nearly 3 years ago, from Foxtons who were based outside Brixton at the time, I found them very good too deal with, the agent was decent, and before that I had spent a lot of time dealing mostly with Haart and Eden Harper. And had been messed around with a bit; especially from Haart.

Do people on here think they should have decor more in line with traditional agents such as Keating etc? Is neon frowned upon?

 

[CH1]

The whole Foxtons baiting is very tiresome.
Some of you guys need to be more tolerant.
They have had a Foxtons in Streatham for many years without people getting their knickers in a twist.
Do they charge too much commission or is their decor too dazzling?

Foxtons are driving up property prices unreasonably - much to the disadvantage of purchasers (or even for those already homeowners needing to move).
Foxtons sales staff don't care about ripping people off as long as they get their commission.

 

[CH1]

I have lived in Brixton for 12 years and finally bought my own flat in Brixton nearly 3 years ago, from Foxtons who were based outside Brixton at the time, I found them very good too deal with, the agent was decent, and before that I had spent a lot of time dealing mostly with Haart and Eden Harper. And had been messed around with a bit; especially from Haart.

Do people on here think they should have decor more in line with traditional agents such as Keating etc? Is neon frowned upon?

Your experience was before property prices in Brixton doubled. If you were buying now it would be a different story I think.

 

[sleaterkinney]

I have lived in Brixton for 12 years and finally bought my own flat in Brixton nearly 3 years ago, from Foxtons who were based outside Brixton at the time, I found them very good too deal with, the agent was decent, and before that I had spent a lot of time dealing mostly with Haart and Eden Harper. And had been messed around with a bit; especially from Haart.

Do people on here think they should have decor more in line with traditional agents such as Keating etc? Is neon frowned upon?

It's not their decor it's their sales practices.

 

[Manter]

I have lived in Brixton for 12 years and finally bought my own flat in Brixton nearly 3 years ago, from Foxtons who were based outside Brixton at the time, I found them very good too deal with, the agent was decent, and before that I had spent a lot of time dealing mostly with Haart and Eden Harper. And had been messed around with a bit; especially from Haart.

Do people on here think they should have decor more in line with traditional agents such as Keating etc? Is neon frowned upon?

Oh yeah, it's the neon, it's all about the neon.....

 

[snowy_again]

I have lived in Brixton for 12 years and finally bought my own flat in Brixton nearly 3 years ago, from Foxtons who were based outside Brixton at the time, I found them very good too deal with, the agent was decent, and before that I had spent a lot of time dealing mostly with Haart and Eden Harper. And had been messed around with a bit; especially from Haart.

Do people on here think they should have decor more in line with traditional agents such as Keating etc? Is neon frowned upon?

Plonker.

 

[colacubes]

I have lived in Brixton for 12 years and finally bought my own flat in Brixton nearly 3 years ago, from Foxtons who were based outside Brixton at the time, I found them very good too deal with, the agent was decent, and before that I had spent a lot of time dealing mostly with Haart and Eden Harper. And had been messed around with a bit; especially from Haart.

Do people on here think they should have decor more in line with traditional agents such as Keating etc? Is neon frowned upon?

Cool story bro.

 

[gabi]

I have lived in Brixton for 12 years and finally bought my own flat in Brixton nearly 3 years ago, from Foxtons who were based outside Brixton at the time, I found them very good too deal with, the agent was decent, and before that I had spent a lot of time dealing mostly with Haart and Eden Harper. And had been messed around with a bit; especially from Haart.

Do people on here think they should have decor more in line with traditional agents such as Keating etc? Is neon frowned upon?

They're something along the lines of a pantomime villian. I think it's more what they represent than what they actually do. A bit like when the Starbucks opened.

I've dealt with both them and Keatings in the past. They are no worse. Both are vile tbh.

 

[jwfone]

I have lived in Brixton for 12 years and finally bought my own flat in Brixton nearly 3 years ago, from Foxtons who were based outside Brixton at the time, I found them very good too deal with, the agent was decent, and before that I had spent a lot of time dealing mostly with Haart and Eden Harper. And had been messed around with a bit; especially from Haart.

Do people on here think they should have decor more in line with traditional agents such as Keating etc? Is neon frowned upon?

I can see that my feelings about Foxtons might appear to be prejudice. However, when we bought our Gresham Road flat via them 6 years ago
- They thought it was a good idea to take us round flats that were significantly outside our stated price range - one was 60K over our budget. The agent seemed genuinely surprised when I said that our budget was actually the money we could afford and not just a negotiating tactic. So in my view encourage people to spend more than they can afford.
- They initially priced the flat at 25% more than any flat had ever sold in the road before (on a road with a couple of sales each year). So in my view have form for driving prices up.
- Lied to us about the reason why the seller had decided to drop the price (we know this because our solicitor and the seller's solicitor got on well). It's not a mortal sin, but it's unpleasant when you talk to someone you know is lying.

I don't have much experience of estate agents so don't know how typical the above is of other firms, or indeed of Foxtons. But I took a strong dislike to them, even though they did have an awesome website.

 

[jamieo]

Foxtons are driving up property prices unreasonably - much to the disadvantage of purchasers (or even for those already homeowners needing to move).
Foxtons sales staff don't care about ripping people off as long as they get their commission.

It's a free market.

They will only sell property for what people are prepared to pay. In that regard they are no different from Keatings, Haart, Eden Harper, Martin Barry Partnership etc etc.

Martin Barry Partnership also had properties for sale in my region recently for circa 500k, crazy stuff.

All estate agents are there to get a sale between between the seller and the buyer. And usually estate agents get their commission off the seller so their first obligation is to get the best sale price possible. All estate agents are the same in that regard.

I found my dealings with Foxtons in 2010 to be brilliant, there was a couple of issues in the purchase (bank valuations w****** etc) which could have derailed things, but the Foxtons guy was helpful as regards the buyer end and things worked out. It could be said that since then with the whole 'Brixton Village' thing and Starbucks etc that I am "quids in", but that is the same for all estate agents.

I would like an anti-Haart's thread please.

I found them unhelpful, horrendous, and some properties ended up becoming an auction rather than a sale.

You often read in recent years that prices in Brixton have been rising by about 15% year on year. Thereby bucking the London and national trend. That is an across the market trend and not just Foxtons. It's a free market, and a free world, people just need to be more tolerant of that.

Like I said, if Streatham can survive many years with having a Foxtons, then I'm sure Brixton will survive.

 

[Rushy]

I can see that my feelings about Foxtons might appear to be prejudice. However, when we bought our Gresham Road flat via them 6 years ago
- They thought it was a good idea to take us round flats that were significantly outside our stated price range - one was 60K over our budget. The agent seemed genuinely surprised when I said that our budget was actually the money we could afford and not just a negotiating tactic. So in my view encourage people to spend more than they can afford.
- They initially priced the flat at 25% more than any flat had ever sold in the road before (on a road with a couple of sales each year). So in my view have form for driving prices up.
- Lied to us about the reason why the seller had decided to drop the price (we know this because our solicitor and the seller's solicitor got on well). It's not a mortal sin, but it's unpleasant when you talk to someone you know is lying.

I don't have much experience of estate agents so don't know how typical the above is of other firms, or indeed of Foxtons. But I took a strong dislike to them, even though they did have an awesome website.

Fair enough. But if Foxtons was overvaluing compared to what was available with other agents, why did you buy through them in the end? Back then, Foxtons had not yet made inroads into Brixton as a main player.

Sometimes people have unrealistic expectations of what they can get for their money and many do find extra cash to stretch their budget to buy something a little nicer when they have seen what is available - I guess agents don't know up front who that will be. They also take people to overpriced shitty flats beforehand to make the last one they take you to look like better value. You have to remember they are not acting for you. They are acting for the vendor. It is their job to get the best price they can. They are salespeople and although they should not lie it would be naive to expect that any agent will hold your hand through the process. There is no obligation on a buyer to buy - if it is overpriced, walk away.

 

[jamieo]

I can see that my feelings about Foxtons might appear to be prejudice. However, when we bought our Gresham Road flat via them 6 years ago
- They thought it was a good idea to take us round flats that were significantly outside our stated price range - one was 60K over our budget. The agent seemed genuinely surprised when I said that our budget was actually the money we could afford and not just a negotiating tactic. So in my view encourage people to spend more than they can afford.
- They initially priced the flat at 25% more than any flat had ever sold in the road before (on a road with a couple of sales each year). So in my view have form for driving prices up.
- Lied to us about the reason why the seller had decided to drop the price (we know this because our solicitor and the seller's solicitor got on well). It's not a mortal sin, but it's unpleasant when you talk to someone you know is lying.

I don't have much experience of estate agents so don't know how typical the above is of other firms, or indeed of Foxtons. But I took a strong dislike to them, even though they did have an awesome website.

That's fair enough.

Estate agents generally have the the worst rep of almost any trade going. From my many years of renting from them all the way back to my student days, they are almost globally disliked (add Bushells to my list of bad estate agents for those days). They are generally unqualified as an industry and little more than a chimp in a suit.

But from my experience, I found them (Foxtons) a lot better than other local Brixton estate agents to deal with.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

YUPPIES OUT

 

[Brixton Hatter]

That's the short version.

The longer version is: jamieo read the whole thread before assuming we don't like Foxtons cos they have a neon office.

 

[ViolentPanda]

The whole Foxtons baiting is very tiresome.

You're entitled to your opinion. I'm entitled to mine that Foxtons need baiting at every opportunity.

Some of you guys need to be more tolerant.

We don't need to be anything, Adolf.

They have had a Foxtons in Streatham for many years without people getting their knickers in a twist.

Really? Without people getting their knickers in a twist? How far back did you look to see if that was actually the case, if you checked at all?

I'm guessing a couple of years at most. Or you'd have known from the off that you were chatting shite.

Still, perhaps you're an estate agent, in which case you'd be well up on chatting shite, eh?

Do they charge too much commission or is their decor too dazzling?

"Dazzling"? Quotidian, corporate and invasive, perhaps. As for "too much", it's about shoddy business practices, as anyone who pays a modicum of attention to such things is well aware.

 

[mxh]

Noticed a few properties that have a Foxton's sold sign in the last few days, hope the vendors qualified for their 0% commission deal.

 

[jwfone]

But if Foxtons was overvaluing compared to what was available with other agents, why did you buy through them in the end?

No-one else put in an offer on the flat, so after some time the seller accepted our lower offer (which we felt was a reasonable one). Foxtons were the only agent for the property.

They are acting for the vendor. It is their job to get the best price they can.

I agree that one shouldn't forget the vendor, in the case mentioned initially, it appears they think it reasonable to make a £200K profit over 2 years with no apparent material improvements to the property. In my view that's greed, and ignoring the negative consequences of such huge prices increases e.g. I assume it encourages property speculation. The agent facilitates this and possibly encourages it, but I think the vendor bears responsibility.

There is no obligation on a buyer to buy - if it is overpriced, walk away.

True that if someone's willing to pay then there's no robbery. But I wonder if property isn't an unusual case as
1. Most buyers will be using a mortgage and so the extra cost doesn't seem as real - it just adds to the years you'll be paying off the debt. Maybe the rise in house prices in relation to earnings http://monevator.com/house-price-to-earnings-ratio-2012/ reflects an increased willingness of a) lenders to lend higher multiples of earnings, b) buyers to take on more debt, rather than lenders & buyers having to adapt to rising prices?
2. Many buyers are likely to be unfamiliar with buying property and so not able to accurately judge what is a fair price, especially in a situation like Brixton over the last few years.

I.e. with 1 & 2 it's easier for vendors & agents to get away with overpricing than it would be if they were selling fruit & vegetables?

 

[leanderman]

Maybe the rise in house prices in relation to earnings http://monevator.com/house-price-to-earnings-ratio-2012/ reflects an increased willingness of a) lenders to lend higher multiples of earnings, b) buyers to take on more debt, rather than lenders & buyers having to adapt to rising prices??

very good article

Many buyers are likely to be unfamiliar with buying property and so not able to accurately judge what is a fair price, especially in a situation like Brixton over the last few years.?

Exactly. And whenever you buy, the market is crazy with little choice.

 

[Rushy]

No-one else put in an offer on the flat, so after some time the seller accepted our lower offer (which we felt was a reasonable one). Foxtons were the only agent for the property.

So they thought it was worth more and the market proved them wrong. That's ok, isn't it? Property pricing is not an exact science.

I agree that one shouldn't forget the vendor, in the case mentioned initially, it appears they think it reasonable to make a £200K profit over 2 years with no apparent material improvements to the property. In my view that's greed, and ignoring the negative consequences of such huge prices increases e.g. I assume it encourages property speculation. The agent facilitates this and possibly encourages it, but I think the vendor bears responsibility.

If the market has moved on spectacularly then what is greedy about the vendor selling at the new market price? If they are asking too much, then it won't sell (see above).

If it is greedy, how much return can you make per year without it being greedy?

True that if someone's willing to pay then there's no robbery. But I wonder if property isn't an unusual case as
1. Most buyers will be using a mortgage and so the extra cost doesn't seem as real - it just adds to the years you'll be paying off the debt. Maybe the rise in house prices in relation to earnings http://monevator.com/house-price-to-earnings-ratio-2012/ reflects an increased willingness of a) lenders to lend higher multiples of earnings, b) buyers to take on more debt, rather than lenders & buyers having to adapt to rising prices?
2. Many buyers are likely to be unfamiliar with buying property and so not able to accurately judge what is a fair price, especially in a situation like Brixton over the last few years.


I.e. with 1 & 2 it's easier for vendors & agents to get away with overpricing than it would be if they were selling fruit & vegetables?

[/QUOTE]


I agree that people often don't think of mortgages as real money but the banks who lend the money don't look at it like that. If a mortgage is involved, so is a professional valuer and often a surveyor. They are acting for the bank to make sure a buyer they are lending to is paying a reasonable market price and that the building is generally sound. Again, pricing is not an exact science. Surveyors look for recent comparables and make a judgement on whether prices are currently on an upward or downward trend. Inexperienced buyers should probably engage the services of a surveyor themselves but most see this as an unnecessary cost, particularly when they are already paying for the bank to use one.

To be fair - no one is able to judge Brixton's frothy prices accurately at the moment which is why people are trying their luck to some extent. It will settle over the next couple of months as we start to see what prices have been achieved rather than what was advertised. Nevertheless, the increases will have been large.

 

[shakespearegirl]

http://www.proviser.com/regional/postcodes/se24/property-prices/compare-last-12-months/

This shows se24 increased by 9.7 percent last year, not nearly 50 percent as Foxtons seem to believe.

 

[T & P]

As discussed much earlier in the thread, Foxtons appear to be notorious for stitching up other estate agents by offering ludicrously high sale prices to sellers and securing them as clients. Then after many months without a sale, Foxtons will recommend lowering the asking price to a sensible level- probably to what all the other agents had estimated in the first place. They don't care much about this, as the main objective was to steal customers from other agents.

They are also as bad as god-botherers when it comes to unsolicited knocks on the door. When my boss, who was selling a nice house in the leafiest part of Putney- basically estate agent porn- put the house on the market, he got so many knocks on the door by the parasitic tossers he eventually had to start to tell them to fuck off in no uncertain terms.

They deserve all the contempt they get IMO.

 

[CH1]

http://www.proviser.com/regional/postcodes/se24/property-prices/compare-last-12-months/

This shows se24 increased by 9.7 percent last year, not nearly 50 percent as Foxtons seem to believe.

Surely this pre-dates Foxtons Brixton office's efforts? They opened on March 9th - and surely those stats are based on prices registered at the Land Registry up to 31st March for actual purchases.
Doesn't it take at least a month between putting in an offer, doing searches, exchanging contracts and completion? Always used to in my day.

 

[Rushy]

Surely this pre-dates Foxtons Brixton office's efforts? They opened on March 9th - and surely those stats are based on prices registered at the Land Registry up to 31st March for actual purchases.
Doesn't it take at least a month between putting in an offer, doing searches, exchanging contracts and completion? Always used to in my day.

Quite often 2-3months - 5 weeks is fast. Prices in Jan-March will be sales from October-Dec. There has been a marked increase since then.

 

[leanderman]

Quite often 2-3months - 5 weeks is fast. Prices in Jan-March will be sales from October-Dec. There has been a marked increase since then.

Certainly in asking prices: friend with 3-bed house on Appach was told to
list at £630,000 nine months ago - but £790,000 now. Same agent.

 

[Peanut Monkey]

Foxton's are selling the place near to us. They initially put it on for £425,000, which is ridiculous.
They've now dropped it by £45,000 and it's under offer but that's still crazy money for where we are.

http://www.foxtons.co.uk/search?key...word&search_type=SS&sold=1&submit_type=search

 

[CH1]

Foxton's are selling the place near to us. They initially put it on for £425,000, which is ridiculous.
They've now dropped it by £45,000 and it's under offer but that's still crazy money for where we are.

Price seems incredible but surely this is driven by comparison with Barratts a few yards up the road.
Barratts will no doubt have all the en-suite crap, and state of the art thermal insulation with low fuel bills. And tiny rooms. It's a trade off between living somewhere "traditional" looking and paying big fuel bills or paying big service charges and maybe big council tax in a bland gated development.
Nice to see Loughborough Park Conservation Area getting it's place in the sun at last. I remember my partner of the time being asked in 1986 "why did he move to the ass-hole of Brixton?"
[Another near neighbour]

 

[uk benzo]

Foxton's are selling the place near to us. They initially put it on for £425,000, which is ridiculous.
They've now dropped it by £45,000 and it's under offer but that's still crazy money for where we are.

http://www.foxtons.co.uk/search?key...word&search_type=SS&sold=1&submit_type=search

Who the fuck can afford to buy a 2 bed flat for 380k?

 

[Badgers]

Who the fuck can afford to buy a 2 bed flat for 380k?

Wealthy folk.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Who the fuck can afford to buy a 2 bed flat for 380k?

With one room for the kitchen and lounge. On Coldharbour Lane.

 

[Badgers]

Who the fuck can afford to buy a 2 bed flat for 380k?

Who the fuck can afford to rent this type of flat (for £350-400pw + bills and fees) in a similar location? That would be roughly £20k a year just on rent. They are selling and being let though?