Estate agents have long been sceptical of the fast-moving drama-laden methods of Phil Spencer and Kirstie Allsopp when it comes to negotiating deals for their house-buying TV victims. But now the Location, Location, Location couple are cosying up to agents.
Take half a day off midweek, dress up in your Sunday best and visit all the agents in the area you want to move to advise the pair in a soon-to-be-reissued version of their book How To Buy A House.
Phil and Kirstie then advise would-be buyers to make a list of their top 10 agents (perhaps unaware that much of the country outside cities does not enjoy the competition of 10 agents selling in the same area).
Then call the agents on the list twice a week. Don't call at lunchtime (you may not think they are human but they have to eat, or after 4pm say the TV pundits.
The book was originally published in 2004 and of course is aimed at the wider public, not the industry. Although the new edition is described as fully updated - and no doubt its reissue this month is to coincide with the booming sales market, until recent weeks anyway - it no longer reads like a modern guide.
There is no mention of online agents - for, against or simply acknowledging their existence - and very little about portals. There's a nod to using a smartphone for finding homes but the main advice is to use an A-Z, while there is advice to get three sets of details of a property you like - hard-copy paper details, that is.
How To Buy A House, by Phil Spencer and Kirstie Allsopp, Hodder & Stoughton, £14.99.
Comments
Book sounds pointless but nice to be appreciated for a change!