All the help you need to prepare, search, evaluate, bid, secure and get moved into your next home.
We are buying agents. We search for homes and seek to acquire them on behalf of our clients. As far as the law is concerned, we are estate agents – we just happen to act for buyers, not sellers. We buy properties between £500,000 and £50m. Some clients just want help looking for a new home, some want help to evaluate a property and to negotiate the best deal. Spending a six figure sum is something most people do on average every ten years.
We act for 30 – 40 clients a year. Despite rocketing prices & endless ‘best & final offers’ our clients typically paid 5% less than the quoted asking price for the homes they bought although some pay more – for a variety of reasons. Our biggest saving last year was 11% of the asking price.
According to Rightmove sellers typically accepted around 5% (£11,000) less than their final asking price. Zoopla says that it’s just 3.86% and figures published by Hometrack suggest that an average buyer pays 97% of the asking price.
Over the past decade, on average our clients paid 11% (or £100,000) less!
One third of what we buy is ‘off-market’, not on websites or in estate agents’ windows.
We are not the only buying agents and it’s more important that you have the right advisor than that it necessarily be us. For a brief period of time your buying agent will have a detailed and personal knowledge of your affairs so you must trust them and have confidence in what they are doing and they in you. We are confident that we are at least as good as most firms but are not arrogant enough to think that we can be everyone’s cup of tea. Our aim is that you have the right advisor for you even if that means you are represented by someone else. These are some of the best that we recommend you speak to.
A buying agent can;-
- Source off-market properties – those available but not advertised on websites or in agent’s windows.
- Advise on areas, compare and contrast different places.
- Research a street, village or town looking at crime, natural threats such as flooding and over-flights by planes.
- Assess relative value.
- Research the motivations of the sellers and look for pressure points like death, debt or divorce.
- Comment on yield and the potential for capital growth.
- Negotiate with the seller and their agent. (Not all selling agents are slippery but some certainly are!).
- Introduce the best mortgage brokers, accountants and wealth managers along with advisors, tradesmen & lawyers.
- Liaise with solicitors, valuers, surveyors, architects, builders and contractors.
- Help to make your next move the smoothest and most painless experience possible.
Sometimes the best advice we give is “don’t!”. Having seen hundreds of homes over the years we can often spot a problem that would be easy to overlook.
Buying agents are still estate agents in the eyes of the law and as such each must sign up to a redress scheme. Confusingly there are two, we were members of The Property Ombudsman for many years but this is the one that we are currently signed up to.
It’s important to stress that we are good but we’re not magicians. We can help shorten the process, help to ensure that you don’t buy the wrong thing and buy as aggressively as possible but we can’t dream up a property if one doesn’t exist. We can help to decide what might be worth compromising on and what isn’t.
Henry and Kate steered me through a very tricky time moving back into the London property market and helping me buy the house I finally chose.
Worth every penny… don’t think about it, retain them at once! You won’t regret it.
In a competitive market having a buying agent helps you to stand out as a serious buyer as you have already invested money into your property search.
Buying agents source properties from agents which may not yet be on the market, and properties you wouldn’t necessarily have access to yourself.
Henry has been absolutely fantastic in managing each and every sale, taking any stress away from the purchasers and dealing with any problems which arise himself. His relationship with his recommended solicitors most definitely help to make the transaction as easy and smooth as possible. I look forward to working on many more transactions together.
Working with Henry on the recent sale in W6 was a great experience. He helped his lovely buyer find a fantastic family home, and due to his experience the conveyancing process was incredibly smooth, resulting in very happy clients on both sides.
Henry was a pleasure to work with on a recent sale through us in Barnes. His knowledge, advice and guidance for the buyers made the transaction progress smoothly and quickly, achieving a successful result for both the buyer and seller.
Chris Carney Sales Director – Chestertons Barnes office.
Henry was a true pleasure to work with throughout my transaction. He is professional with a great communication line and quick responses. I would happily work with Henry every time over many other buying agents. He always puts his clients needs first.
We were referred to Henry by another highly respected buying agent who our friends used to secure their high end property. However since this buying agency didn’t cover the region we were looking at in their portfolio, they recommended that we contact Henry Pryor, who had expertise in this region and believed Henry would be a good resource for our needs. We are very grateful for this recommendation.
Henry is extremely knowledgeable about the markets, the areas, and the local resources. He was an oasis of calm in our rising state of frustration that we would never find the ‘one’ especially as the country house market has been and continues to be frenetic. He continually walked us through the process and through this process we learnt more about what we needed and what we were willing to compromise on in our list of ‘wants’. He was always gracious even when husband and wife were not on the same page. When we did find the ‘one’ – Henry deftly took charge and was the key to negotiating a successful price between buyer and seller. For us, that was one of the key advantages of using Henry. He was able to take the emotion out of negotiating between a buyer and a seller, which often craters a deal.
Unless a transaction is very straightforward, if the seller has an agent, the buyer needs an agent to be on an equal footing. Henry is top notch, he works hard on behalf of his clients and will tell you, in his opinion, where the boundaries of a negotiation are. We would not have been able to buy our house without him. Henry is not only recommended and thought of highly amongst his professional peers but also amongst his clientele.
We cannot recommend Henry highly enough and if we have the need, we would use him again in a heart-beat. Thank you Henry!
Henry Pryor is probably one of the most well known buying agents. When he calls you as a selling agent you know his client means business. During the course of the transaction it was easy to communicate with Henry and my clients concerns were sympathetically handled.. Glad to say we are working together again!
Henry was always communicative and prompt with everything required for a smooth and successful sale! It’s so important in any transaction for all parties to be fully aware of the process and to be available at all times on the end of a phone to discuss any issues or problems that will inevitably arise . Having a buying agent definitely facilitates the above requirements and Henry’s clear, concise and no nonsense approach made the whole process much easier. I would definitely recommend his services to anyone looking to buy!
From a selling agents perspective Henry added hugely to the speed at which his clients exchanged contacts. With Henry working closely with his clients lawyers and survivors he guided his clients team with charm and years of experience allowing a swift purchase in a strong sellers market that was a great result for both buyer and seller.
David Henderson Head of Office Savills Stow on the Wold.
Henry was a pleasure to work with throughout the transaction, I’ve got multiple buying agents on my radar and no one comes close to the work of the Pryor’s
I’ve recently started working with Rosie and Kate too, they are great with communication (at any time of the day) and although we are yet to find a suitable property for the new buyers, I have every confidence we’ll be doing many more deals in the future with the Pryor’s