Madison Oakley Estate Agents

We recently sold a property in Oldfield Park using Madison Oakley. From start to finish they were fantastic. Nothing was too much trouble and they were always available when we needed there input or advice. I really think knowledge of the local area and market are the key things when choosing an estate agent and these guys are absolutely the best in both these departments. To sum up, if your in Bath and you need to sell your property go with these guys!

One of Madison Oakley’s advertisements reads “. We do what all the other estate agents do. ” No, they don’t – they do much more! Whether you are a buyer or a seller, do not waste either your time or your money dealing with any other estate agent. We had a need for Bath housing several years ago, and first met Carey during the one week we had available to search for a flat. He was then manager of one of the Bath offices of a ‘national’ estate agent, and of the seven estate agents with whom we looked at flats that week, only he and one other agent (at a ‘local’ firm) listened to, AND ACTED WITHIN, our location, size, features, and budget requirements. Carey did not waste our time showing us anything which did not meet ALL our requirements – agents at five other firms wasted our time with additional viewings of properties ‘not exactly where you’d like to be, but extremely close,’ or ‘just barely above your price range, but an incredible value, and you can offer low,’ or ‘it has everything you want, except [just one thing. ’So when we elected to sell our flat in a Grade II Listed building in the second half of 2011, we called Carey’s former firm and were told he was no longer there. We contracted with that firm, anyway, though, on the advice of a local property manager who believed a ‘national’ estate agent would have greater marketing clout: multiple Bath offices, multiple London offices, other nationwide offices, and their ‘national’ website. The first six weeks we had about a half dozen showings, then none for the next six weeks. By then we’d tracked Carey down at Madison Oakley, and switched agencies. We had more viewings in the first two weeks with Madison Oakley than in the entire 3 months with the ‘national’ agency, plus, a qualified and acceptable offer!Differences.?1) The ‘national’ agency placed an ad on their website, plus four print ads during their twelve weeks as our agent. Madison Oakley placed electronic ads in four separate business and social ‘search’ media, plus print ads every week until we had an accepted purchase offer. Additionally, Madison Oakley’s ads included interesting property history, and much better photos.2) The ‘national’ firm’s local office manager assured us that at least two of their four Bath area offices would show our property. We later found out that each local office maintained its own list of ‘registered buyers’ and only after the office where we listed our flat had run through its own list of potential buyers did they attempt to involve any other office. Madison Oakley contacted all their entire firm’s registered buyers right from the outset, and used all staff to market our flat.3) The head of the ‘national’ firm’s local office nearest our flat was ostensibly managing our sale, but he was absent during two of the 12 weeks. Well into his absence we learned his e-mail system was set up such that none of the emails we sent during that time could be accessed by anyone else – including the two agents he’d said would be ‘monitoring’ our property in his absence! Madison Oakley’s partners have full access to all Madison Oakley business communications. [This was particularly critical for us, since we are US residents and were working on an 8-hour time zone difference from Bath, and emails were a much better for communication than trans-Atlantic phone calls.4) The ‘national’ agency proposed what turned out to be a ‘wishful’ sales price. Madison Oakley’s partners told us we were off the market, roughly 7-10% too high, and when we lowered our price to their suggested level we had eight showings and a qualified offer within two weeks.5) Not only did Madison Oakley manage our sale, but since we were ‘absentee owners,’ they coordinated all appointments with the removers shipping things to us, and the auctioneer putting certain items up at local auction; plus, cleared out what little remained after the removal/auction and personally packed and shipped 3 items we wanted sent to a relative living elsewhere in England. Carey essentially performed tasks we, as owners, would have been expected to do – well above and beyond any estate agent’s normal duties!6) Since we are US residents, and our Bath flat was our only British property, Madison Oakley’s partners also took it upon themselves to ‘translate’ specific words and phrases with different British/US meanings to make sure we understood all local selling procedures, norms, and protocols, and all buyer/seller requirements and expectations. Their ability to ‘buffer’ and prevent misperceptions of English usage between the two cultures was key to accomplishing our smooth sale.7) Last but not least, we know that neither the ‘national’ agency’s local office nor Madison Oakley expected us to bring them future business, nor did they have to concern themselves with us possibly ‘dropping in’ and/or ‘second guessing’ their efforts. While we suspect that may have influenced the behavior of the ‘national’ firm’s agents, Madison Oakley’s partners gave us and our flat their absolute professional and full attention throughout. We weren’t the ‘national’ estate agent’s nor Madison Oakley’s only clients, but Madison Oakley’s partners certainly made us feel as though we were.Again – as either a buyer or a seller, don’t waste your time or your money with a ‘national’ firm: use Madison Oakley!Moreexpand_more