Bairstow Eves

Author's product rating:   

Staff courtesy	Excellent
Value for money - of service	Average
Comprehensiveness of service	Excellent
Speed of sale	Average
Range of property available	Good

Advantages:	They sold my house, their marketing capacity, they're very friendly
Disadvantages:	Their costs

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

~~*~~*~~ Bairstow Eves ~~*~~*~~

Being in the midst of a real move (the last one only involved buying a house and moving all my stuff in the back of me dad's extra large Volvo) whereby I've had to market the ghetto property, comply with all the ridiculous rules and plan my 'Moving Weekend', I feel that although I may be jinxing the entire sale by writing this review, I've experienced just about enough of the estate agent world to write my ever-so-exciting review.

~*~ I want to move ~*~

Oh, what a mistake. For anyone about to purchase a property, let me impart one piece of advice - buy one you'll want to stay in, Forever. The land of estate agents is a scary one for a first-time seller - I had no idea what I was doing so I simply went to the place I bought the house from, notably just one year before. These were not Bairstow Eves but some other estate agents and they were efficient, but bless them, fairly rubbish - In three months, I had two viewings and one of them was a bloke who turned up and announced that he wasn't interested as he didn't like the area - excellent work: not only was Doughnut (rather exuberant chocolate lab) crammed in the car for over 40 mins whilst we waited for the idiot to turn up, but I'd also tidied up which required a phenomenal amount of effort as me and Doughnut live like tramps. So, unimpressed with their attempts at house selling, I went looking elsewhere.

~*~ Bairstow Eves ~*~

I chose the aforementioned as their placards were all over my street (the other estate agent was more interested in expensive properties, which was probably why I'd had such crap viewings) and they had shoved one of their leaflets through the door to try and steal me away from the rivals anyway. I was greeted warmly like an old friend and quickly booked a valuation appointment for later that day. So I tidied, hoovered everywhere (including Doughnut) and put out the best rug (one that the little tramp wasn't allowed to lie on). The lovely lady arrived on time armed with her clipboard, tape-measure and flip-chart and even let Doughnut out of the car whilst she was there (although I'm not sure she was quite prepared for the licking and dribbling that ensued (from D, not me (I'm house-trained (vaguely)))). Anyway, I'll now list Bairstow Eves' pros and cons under pretty little sub-headings:

~ The Flipchart ~

I'd dealt with B.E quite extensively when looking for a house - originally I'd plumped for another property with B.E but the because the seller pissed about so much, I found a much better house for less pennies with someone else. Anyway, B.E were lovely; they'd always been pretty honest when showing me and my bizarre mother around the properties - like the one where she announced with aplomb that it stank of cats which was ironic as there wasn't enough room to swing one, to which Barbara had agreed that it did have an aroma and it wasn't worth the money either which was probably why it had been on the market since the 80s and why the fat inhabitant hadn't even got out of his chair (actually, in retrospect, he was probably hiding the cats under his rolls of flab). Thanks Barbara for your honesty.

So, when the flipchart came out and the lady, let's call her Jane, started to tell me all about B.E and its workings, I felt relaxed in her company. Jane went through each page explaining how many shops B.E has, their percentage of sales within so many months, the price grid (good god, they are not cheap) and other bits and bats that, to be honest, I didn't really listen too. I agreed to everything and signed. The flipchart would have been a pro had I paid attention and it would benefit normal people as it's better to have pictures and diagrams rather than someone witter on and send you to sleep.

~ The House Details ~

Let's face it, Kirstie & Phil would not be showing anyone round this ghetto property in a hurry, however, I was pleasantly surprised to see how good the house sounded in their details. Their pictures looked very nice (although she did say come back and take a picture of the front room when the light wasn't blasting through it but she never did, the little porky-pie teller). Definitely a pro - if they can make my hovel seem like a good buy, then they can definitely achieve miracles - I hasten to add that there were no lies involved either.

~ House Marketing ~

The traditional sign went up outside announcing to all and sundry that I hated the area and wanted out. Consequently it was smacked down (presumably by the little hooligan that broke my window with a golf-club and is known for his well-aimed swing) and although it took a while to replace it I don't think it really mattered. They were a lot faster in putting up the SOLD sign which bugged me as now it's just asking for squatters to move in. Anyway…
B.E have their own lovely website whereby you can search for a property within a certain price range and certain area - nice and easy to find a bargain or even to nosy at what the neighbours are selling their own house for. They're also in cohorts with Rightmove so that all their properties appear on there too - this is a big bonus as you're then on show to loads of potential buyers and not just those expressing interest in a particular estate agent.
Their shop fronts display a multitude of properties in price order so it's easy to see a property that's right for you - all helps in the selling of a hovel me thinks.
They also send the details to all their interested buyers who've yet to purchase and each time you reduce it (which in my case was many, many times) they re-send the details.
In addition, you're featured in the local paper and in their own magazine which gets sent to prospective buyers every fortnight.
Overall, their marketing policy was a billion times better than the original agents I had it on with, however it's because of this that their fees were a billion times more (slight exaggeration but nearly true).

~ Fees ~

Obviously, this isn't going to be a good thing - I know they charge a ruddy fortune, indeed it was 5x more than the original agents and that didn't include their solicitor (but they only wanted 1% - probably why they only have interest in highly priced properties and couldn't be arsed with mine). The total for selling is around £3,500 and still going up but that's because I've had a few problems due to the original solicitors I bought the house from but I believe the actual selling fee was £1,800 which is related to the sale bracket that your property falls into and not how long it's marketed for - I can't remember the exact figure, it was a year ago and my memory isn't what it used to be now that I've hit the big 3 0. I had my HIP done with the original agents because they were a lot cheaper and it only cost £25 to then transfer this to B.E.

~ All Under One Roof ~

When I bought the house I just went with the estate agent solicitors and this time I did the same - Bairstow Eves have a sister company, Countrywide Property Lawyers. I've mixed feelings about this lot - they're very expensive but then they appear to do their job well; I've not a lot of experience to base this on but they have rung me on many occasions to check certain queries and they do send every piece of paperwork connected in any way to me - this is sometimes unnecessary as anyone with an ounce of sense could have answered the enquiry for me and not wasted a good number of days waiting for my reply, although due to their thoroughness I've found out that my original solicitors had an invalid Indemnity Leasehold Policy thing on my house and because of that I've to purchase the right one for my buyer. My original solicitors also lost the boiler logbook whereas these appear to be on the ball and chasing the buyer's solicitors whenever they can. The problem is that they're based in Manchester so I've never met them and whenever I ring, someone random answers the phone but so long as you have a name, you can usually get through. They were told about my change of address a number of times but failed to correct it so the post kept going to an empty property and probably delayed the sale somewhat which was really annoying but Irene sent me an email and even made a very apologetic phone call so I've let her off. I can't comment on their ability to handle a sale from a buyer's point of view but they're ok as far as I can tell.

~~*~~ A Concise Summary ~~*~~

They're alright really. I know that they're hungry for a sale and there are stories of viewers being shown round for no reason other than to boost numbers, or that they'll tell porkies to get the sale at reduced prices, but my agents - Melissa in particular, was great - I told her the very least I could go down to and she tried, bless her, but in this complex social climate I had to take the sale regardless. They were also very understanding when answering my ridiculous questions - how the hell am I supposed to know when to get the meter readings and what the difference is between 'Completion Date' and 'Exchange of Contracts', but they seemed to be patient with me. They kept a key and rang me whenever they had a viewing to see if I was in or whether they should do it; after I'd moved away but the house was still on the market, Melissa still rang to confirm who she was showing round and afterwards to tell me why they hated the house (once she even sent on some post as it looked important!). Bottom line is: They're pricey but they're ok.

Here's some facts you probably don't care about but I'm going to tell you regardless:

They were founded in 1899
There are over 1100 group offices nationwide
They advertise in colour - ooooooh, how exciting
No sale, no fee - hurrah!
Their website is www.bairstoweves.co.uk - my house is no longer on it because it's SOLD! (Touch wood, it's finally all over this coming Friday, just 8 months after putting it on the market with B.E).

Caroline & Doughnut.

Both currently packing.

PS: I would add Top Tips for Successful Selling (B.E sent me a letter on it!) but all I did was hoover, tidy and keep the dog in the car - worked for me.

PPS: I put 'average' for selling time because although it sold quickly given the current economic crisis, I did reduce it by £25000, yes that's right - £7000 less than I bought it for and not including the fees for getting rid of it but at least it's not costing me £400 a month for an empty shell.