How to negotiate with estate agents

Whether you’re buying or selling, dealing with estate agents can be testing, to say the least!

In this new article for The Times, we share our tip tips for negotiating with estate agents, drawing on our 20+ years expertise as a top London buying agency.

“Rather than pay a multiple fee of 3% shared between them, no matter who finds the buyer, we adopt a winner-takes-all approach,” our Founder, Camilla Dell said. “Saying up front that you’ll pay 2% or 2.5% to the agent who comes up trumps with a purchaser — and nothing to the ones who fail.”

Read the full article here.

Construction of central London new-build flats fell by a quarter in 2017

Apartments in new developments have been dubbed ‘posh ghost towers’ as they struggle to sell, a new article in The Guardian reveals.

Sharing her insight as a top buying agent for London’s premium property, Black Brick Founder Camilla Dell featured in the article, commenting:

“We are seeing continued interest from Middle Eastern buyers, with Saudi clients particularly active. Brexit notwithstanding, the UK offers political, economic and legal stability. Saudi buyers tend to value confidentiality and favour trophy properties. In the current market, few of those are marketed publicly. Around a third of the properties we bought for clients last year were sold off-market.”

Read the full article here.

Black Brick buying agency sets up divorce division aimed at wealthy splitters

We are delighted to have announced the launch of our new, specialised service for high-profile divorcees in The Telegraph this week!

As an top agency for buying premium homes in London and the wider UK, we have established a new team this year dedicated solely to offering well-informed advice to clients going through a divorce and in need of an estimated new home cost; which can then be presenting to courts for settlement purposes.

Read all about it in the article here.

How beliefs and superstition can make or break a property sale

In a new piece for The Telegraph this week, Black Brick Founder Camilla Dell shares some of the quirkiest and peculiar requirements given by some of London’s richest property buyers.

“These days in London, feng shui requirements compete with another Eastern system of beliefs, vastu shastra, which is important to some Indian buyers”, she said. “One of the main requirements of vastu is that the front door should face south, which, in theory, sounds relatively simple but in London it can rule out whole parts of the city where the streets simply face the wrong way.”

She continued: “With off-plan developments, we can try and find a way around these problems. But with some Indian clients, it’s likely that their vastu consultant will be the first to see the floor plans. If something’s not right, the property is simply ruled out before anyone has been to take a look.”

Read more in the full article here.

Chelsea mansion’s £16.5m price cut does the trick

With a well-known Chelsea mansion recently selling for £16.5m price reduction, we’ve shared our thoughts into the current UK prime property market in Prime Resi.

In the piece, Black Brick’s Founder and Managing Partner, Camilla Dell said:

“Sellers at every price point, including super-prime, are becoming more realistic. Understanding who you are buying from and their motivation for selling is crucial in order to get the best outcome on price. We have noticed an increase in the number of newly developed properties that were on the market for over inflated prices back in 2015/16/17 and which are now in receivership – in other words developers that got their timings wrong and are now suffering the consequences. Now could be an excellent time for buyers at the top end of the market to take advantage of sellers looking to close a deal and receivers looking to get their money back on un-sold properties.”

Read the full article here.

Will redevelopment blunt Kentish Town’s edgy appeal?

With regeneration in north west London’s Kentish Town on the rise, will it still be seen as edgy in five years time?

Black Brick’s Founder, Camilla Dell joined a host of fellow London estate agents this week in The Financial Times to discuss Kentish Town’s prospects as a desirable place for families and top buyers to live.

Reacting to its rising house prices, which have nearly doubled since 2007, Camilla shared her perspective that the area was “up and coming”.

Read more in the full article here.

Market stalls in London’s Covent Garden

In a new piece for The Financial Times this week, Black Brick buying agent Camilla Dell shares her thoughts on why prime property prices have fallen in Covent Garden recently.

“One of the reasons people were buying four or five years ago is it looked great value compared to Mayfair or Kensington,” Camilla said. “But now the price per square foot is the same as Kensington on new-builds. To buy in Covent Garden you have to love Covent Garden”.

Read more in the full article here.

The price is right: a guide to valuation

How should vendors decide who to listen to? In a new article for The Times, we share our perspective as a top London buying agency.

“The key is research,” our Partner, Caspar Harvard Walls said. “There are some estate agents who are desperate for stock, and so will value a property high so that they can get it on their books. All too often the overpriced property is then used as a ‘lever’, whereby agents will show it alongside more accurately priced alternatives in a bid to make them look cheap. This does not help the owner, and they will have to bring their price down.”

A Knightsbridge flat for £10?

In a new piece for The Financial Times this week, Black Brick Founder Camilla Dell shares how some buying agents are trying to overcome the slowing London prime property market.

“Knightsbridge is not the desirable postcode it once was,” she shared. “A lot of my clients say Knightsbridge has lost a lot of its gloss. Even Middle Eastern buyers — so established in the area that Harrods is now an asset of the Qatari state — are venturing to the garden squares of Belgravia and Mayfair”.

Read more in the full article here.

Bag a bargain in Belgravia

Is now the perfect time to buy property in Belgravia?

In a new piece for The Financial Times, Black Brick Founder and top London buying agent for over 20 years, Camilla Dell shares her advice for buying prime property in Belgravia.

“Now might be a good time to put in a cheeky offer,” she said. “Christmas can be a great time to buy because a lot of sellers who’ve had their houses on the market [for a while] want to get it done, and start the year afresh.”

Read more in the full article here.