When you are looking to buy a place on the Isle of Wight, it can prove very tricky to view properties if you live on the mainland.
CREDIT: Ann Tarazevich
The estate agent calls regarding a new Island property they are about to put on the market. It sounds perfect, but due to work or personal commitments you can’t just drop everything and travel over here. By the time you find the window in your diary, the property has gone.
Or you rush over here but the property isn’t quite what you envisaged. It’s on a main road. The garden is in shade for most of the day. The sea view is a sea glimpse. The garden backs onto a static caravan park. You’ve wasted a whole day, not to mention the ferry cost.
Frustratingly this was the often case for us in 2019, when we were looking to move from Surrey to Ventnor.
Get an honest view of a property without having to leave your home or travel to the Island from the mainland.
We can go two ways with this.
Either you can brief the estate agent(s) and when you are offered a property that you are not able to view yourself, you would then ask me to conduct that viewing on your behalf.
Or, armed with your brief, I can contact all the agents on the Island and liaise with them on your behalf. Again, I would view the property on your behalf, notifying you in advance of when and where.
CREDIT: shkrabaanthony
CREDIT: Pexels shkrabaanthony
After each viewing, I will email you a detailed report, complete with photos and a short video of every room. I’ll also include images of the exterior and the surrounding area, so you can get a full sense of the property’s context.
If you like, I can provide suggested furniture layouts to help you visualise how the space could work for you.
With 30 years of experience designing show homes, I’m highly skilled at interpreting house plans and architect’s drawings, giving you insights that go beyond what you’d see at a standard viewing.
Either way, you would always remain in control of any detailed negotiations with the estate agent on a specific property, including discussions about price.
My role is to view and appraise the properties for you in the first instance, giving you all the information you need to make confident decisions and cut down on wasted time.
However, if you would like someone to handle the negotiation on your behalf, I can put you in touch with a highly experienced Independent Buyers Agent based in Ventnor. Unlike a traditional estate agent, a buyers agent works for you the buyer, not the vendor, ensuring your interests are fully represented throughout the process.
CREDIT:Alena Darmel
CREDIT: RDNE Stock project
If you are serious about buying a place here, then you need to be registered with as many Island estate agents as you can. It’s no good waiting for properties to come up on the likes of Rightmove or Zoopla, as you will miss out.
Estate agents will always contact buyers already on their books first, before listing them online. Often, the really desirable properties never appear online.
Cheeky as this might sound, but if the property sounds perfect after my appraisal, and you’re in a position to proceed quickly, then you can always put in an offer before you even view it in person.
You are not committed to buying it at that stage, but this gets you ahead of the rest and will increase your chances of securing the property. Then view it in the flesh at your earliest opportunity. Obviously you'd need to be in a buying position that an estate agent will take seriously.
