Our lovely clients were relocation from the USA, largely driven by careers. They knew London quite well and were flexible on location as long as it offered a very fast commute to King Cross, and a vibrant neighbourhood with good access to green spaces, restaurants and shops. Andrew’s sister lived near Walthamstow, and they’d spend time in this part of town and really liked it.

They wanted a 3+ bedroom Freehold house, in good condition with a garden and the space to be able to incorporate a studio/gym. They had a budget of between £900K-£1.1M.

Given our clients were located abroad in a different time zone and had no experience of purchasing a property in the UK, it made even more important to engage with an experienced London Buying Agent. Anything, they had found online was going to competitive sealed bids following open house weekends, making it very hard for motivated buyers to secure a new home.

Once instructed, we spent time in Walthamstow to get a real feel for market conditions and to re-connect with all the key local agents and private developers. We had time to prepare for when our clients next visited London, and wanted to make sure we had unearthed every suitable house for them to see when they were over.

Thankfully this work and due diligence paid off and we managed to find them a number of great properties, including a lovely house which was being renovated by a well-known local developer. The property was still 2 months from being finished and wasn’t on the market, however with some persuasion, we managed to gain one-off access for our clients and even though it was still a building site, they were knew it was the right home for them.

This led to protracted negotiations with the seller, including some changes to the planned specification, however we were able to secure a discount vs the market guide price and ensure this house never came to the open market. We exchanged and completed over the summer and have assisted out clients with some additional interior design works prior to them moving in.

‘We decided that we would move to London from California. Being both remote, and unfamiliar with the property market in London, we decided to engage a Buying Agent. We found Alex at Ridgestone Property and he was very quick to set up a preliminary interview. First thing that really stood out was how specific his questions were about our situation, what we were looking for, our “must haves”, and “must nots”. He presented an initial few rounds of example listings that we made feedback on, and he clearly took them to heart. We made a trip to London, and he arranged a number of viewings which he also attended with us, including an off-market house in Walthamstow, which ultimately we ended up purchasing.

When we were ready to make an offer, Alex was able to make introductions for mortgage brokers and solicitors. Whenever difficulties arose, Alex was on top of it, in many cases having had conversations with the seller’s agent, broker, solicitors, or contractors before we had even woken up to the messages. Throughout the entire process, he was able to give us good, consistent advice and feedback, making sure that we had a successful completion and lining us up for a good landing in our new home in London.’

Andew P