PROPERTY
Property issues with Richard Dickson of Hose Rhodes & Dickson
Caveat Emptor!
Before you all turn the page, thinking
this is another boring estate agent
labouring a point that you have heard
about a hundred times or more, let
me ask you to stop and read a while
longer, for this is not any ordinary
“buyer beware” article.
What I would like all prospective
buyers to beware is, perhaps, one of
the most useful tools of the modern
estate agents’ trade – the internet.
This invaluable resource allows us to
show our properties to prospective
purchasers both locally and globally at
the click of a mouse. Applicants from
far and wide can, in an instant, view
high quality photographs, detailed
floor plans, street scenes and more,
without leaving the comfort of their
armchairs.
I am grateful for all these reasons and
more that estate agency has moved
on from the heady days of the 1960s
when I first started in the business and
our office didn’t even have a camera!
Now you’re wondering why I
want you to beware of the internet
when so far I’ve been singing its
praises? The answer is an easy one;
in the same way that we could never
replace human beings with robots, it is
impossible to substitute the enormous
importance of a property viewing in
person with a cursory glance online.
So often we meet applicants who
have ruled out visiting specific
properties after having seen them
online, but then go on to buy those
very properties once an experienced
'While the internet can show you every nook and cranny of a
house, it cannot give you that 'wow' im pression'
estate agent has convinced them to put
aside their misconceptions.
While the internet can show you
every nook and cranny of a house, it
cannot give you that ‘wow’ impression,
or that feeling of being at home that
strikes so many people when they
find the ‘the one’. If I sound like I’m
being an old romantic then maybe
that’s true, as house buying and love
have more in common than you would
think. After all, you wouldn’t settle
down for the rest of your life with
someone who you’d met online but
never seen face to face, so why should
buying a property be any different?
The internet is a fantastic source of
information but please remember it’s
not the only route to finding your
new home. Nothing can beat the
knowledge of an experienced local
estate agent, so once you’ve looked
online pick up the telephone or come
in to our offices.
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