There is a well known phrase in the estate agency world known as “buyers and liars”. This isn’t some derogatory remark against potential purchasers. But a phrase that points out that people often don’t know what they are looking for when searching for property.
Potential buyers will often buy the exact opposite of what they say they want! They may start off looking for a modern house on a new development and end up buying a period apartment in a converted watermill. The point is when you are looking for property you will often have one main driver, something that won’t change but you will forgive all the offer things the property doesn’t have if you get the right feel for it.
A good estate agent will identify what your one main driver is and suggest other properties that you may thing are outside of your criteria but when you actually look at them they fit the bill perfectly. A good example of this is having a purchaser client who says they want a four bedroom house with a large garden. Upon further qualification you learn that they only want a large garden because they have teenage sons who like to kick a football and therefore the right house with a smaller garden but opposite a park would fit well into their criteria.
Unfortunately most agents will put the applicant on the mailing list looking for a four bedroom house with a large garden and that’s all the mailing list will ever send them. You may be missing out on your ideal property so our advice is to stay open minded when looking for property and consider properties that on the face of it don’t seem to fit your perceived criteria. One way to take control of your search is to visit Mutual Pre-Portal Property Platform where some agents list their properties before they are even listed on the agents own website.