“I recently sold my property through Fine & Country, dealing with ......”
5 Star Review
Aug 22,2015
By:
'Hazel'
Aug 22,2015
Branch: St Neots, 4-6 Market Square
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Sold price: £725000
Would you recommend?: Yes
Postcode: PE28
Branch: St Neots, 4-6 Market Square
Sales (as a Vendor)
Sold price: £725000
Postcode: PE28
1
people found
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I recently sold my property through Fine & Country, dealing with Sue Gipson at the St Neots branch.
To understand just how much effort Sue has put into this sale, just over 8 years ago I had to move to the North of England at short notice for work. I contacted Fine & Country and dealt with Sue who put my house on the market for me, but at the same time I advertised my property to rent with the local RAF Housing department as there are a lot of US Military Senior Personnel who prefer to rent rather than live on the base. As my property is large and situated in a lovely village, it was taken up for rent in just a matter of days and so my property was taken of the ¢â‚¬Å“For Sale¢â‚¬Â market.
Sue was aware that my overall goal was to sell the property but that I could not afford to keep it empty for an extended period of time while we found a buyer. This was also made more difficult because it was tenanted and because I live so far away. Sue kept a note of the end dates of theRental Agreements and would contact me toward the end of them to see what my situation was. Where tenants terminated their Agreement early because they had been posted abroad, I would contact Sue to see if she had any potential buyers and it would be placed on the market again to see if we could find a buyer or until I found another tenant. During these periods that the house was up for sale, Sue did find some potential buyers and I had 2 offers made, but the offers fell through by the time I had found new tenants.
More recently, I had a US family who were civilians working for the US Military and who originally signed a 3 year Rental Agreement. Several months before the end date of this contract, Sue again contacted me to find out what my plans were and told me she had the ideal buyer looking for a property in our village and that they had driven past my house and were extremely interested.
As it happens, I knew that these tenants wanted to extend their Rental Agreement for a further 2 years, but I was extremely keen to sell while keeping the house rented for as long as possible. It was down to Sue¢â‚¬â„¢s outstanding communication skills between me and the potential buyer that we were able to arrange for the buyer to visit the house for a viewing - with the tenant present and believing that I was getting a survey done for re-mortgaging purposes. We were able to arrange for a further visit from the buyer and his wife, and also the surveyor appointed by their mortgage company, all without the tenants suspecting a thing. Sue was brilliant at keeping me assured that the buyer was 100% wanting to buy, and keeping the buyer assured that I was 100% wanting to sell, and the 2 month notice period due was given to the tenants to move out of the property. Dates were very tight as the tenants were on holiday the whole of July and they were not due to move out till 3rd August and the buyer wanted to complete on 7th August at the latest.
To make matters more challenging, the tenants had not looked after the house particularly well nor looked after the half acre garden. The buyer had stipulated that certain things had to be done prior to completion and I agreed. I was worried that if on checking the tenants out on 3rd August the house and garden had not been left in good order that it would leave me only a few days to put things right as agreed with the buyer. I voiced my concerns with British personnel from RAF Housing and they suggested we do a pre-checkout inspection where everything could be agreed upfront as to what the tenants¢â‚¬â„¢ responsibilities would be. As I live in the North of England, Sue volunteered to pick me up from the station and to accompany me to this visit. This both gave me moral support and a second pair of eyes, and also meant that she could reassure the buyer that the house would be put into good order before completion. As it happens I was extremely grateful that she was there as the representative who came to the appointment was not the person I had been dealing with but was American and tried to argue each and every point contrary to what had been discussed with his UK colleagues, so it was great having Sue¢â‚¬â„¢s support.
On the day of check-out, Sue was there again to give me moral support as the British RAF Housing representative went back and forth between Sue and I, and the tenants and the American RAF Housing representative. Fortunately the tenants have now agreed to all of the actions have come to a successful close.
In my opinion, Sue Gipson is an outstanding agent in every sense. Sue definitely went the extra mile and then some! I cannot envisage anyone else taking the amount of time and making such sustained efforts over 8 years to find me a buyer for my home as Sue has done. That we should have completed on the sale in such a manner that the house was only without tenants for 3 days is astounding. Her commitment, professionalism, patience and her ability to maintain the right level of communication over these 8 years, and more recently the right level of communication and negotiation between my buyer and myself during the sale process is just amazing and a testament to Sue¢â‚¬â„¢s professionalism and abilities. If there were any award given for the Most Outstanding Agent in the UK, then without doubt it should be given to Sue Gipson.
Comment on agent fees
Worth every penny!
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That is just about the most detailed and flattering review we have ever received about one our Fine & Country team! I don't really know how to respond other than to say a very big THANK YOU for your incredible generosity of spirit and thoughtfulness in making your views so public on this website. You have certainly made Sue a very happy person too!