After being recommended to us by a colleague, our client contacted us from his home in San Francisco for help to find a property in London, large enough for his son and daughter to live in and for him to stay in when travelling to the UK on business. Both children worked in central London so the property needed to be conveniently situated for easy access to their places of work. Working with a buying agent can be particularly valuable if you are looking to buy in the UK from overseas, as the time we invest in helping you navigate the entire purchase process, along with the strength of our network and experience, mitigates the problems of trying to buy from afar.
Our client required a three bedroom property, in a side street location away from busy main roads. If the property was a flat, first floor or above would be preferred.
An open plan style of accommodation was favoured, with the requirement of a high quality kitchen, as our client’s son was a chef at a Michelin star restaurant in central London. A maximum of a five minute walk to commuter links and quick and easy access to Heathrow Terminal 3 were also essential requirements.
How we helped
The start point was to fine tune the geography of the search and pinpoint a target area which fitted all location requirements. After exploring a number of options, we settled on Bayswater, W2 as a preferred location.
We previewed approximately 40 properties and arranged for our client to visit ten potentially suitable options over the course of a weekend visit to London. Sometimes, we have to challenge a client’s brief to help them find the perfect property, and in this instance, we were keen to show him a particular ground and lower ground floor duplex apartment in a tucked away location, with a share of freehold, its own private courtyard garden and within a few minutes walk of Paddington station.
Despite this being a departure from the preference of first floor or above our client felt the property would be ideal. We proceeded to successfully negotiate a significant saving off the listed price. Drawing on our extensive professional network, we introduced our client to a solicitor and surveyor, as well as numerous specialists to deal with issues highlighted in the survey. We managed both communications and expectations throughout the process, culminating in exchange of contracts and completion which we attended on behalf of our client as he was out of the country at the time.
What our client said
“We used Stephen to help us find a home in London while we lived in San Francisco, and are very happy with our purchase and the service we received. I could not imagine going through the process from the United States without Stephen’s help. He first helped us refine our property requirements and then conducted extensive research to find properties that matched those requirements. He then helped us through the rest of the process, arranging viewings and liaising with service providers, really keeping our work to a minimum. I would gladly use Stephen’s services again and would highly recommend him to anyone looking to purchase a home in the London area.”
If you’re interested in moving to London and would like to access the fantastic service Bradbourne provides, get in touch with us today.