100% sales valuation accuracy
100% sales fee satisfaction
Jun 13,2016
Jun 13,2016
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Having lived abroad for 11 years in Spain, our family had decided to return to Bristol. Knowing the area well (having been to school and university in Bristol) we started our house hunt in August 2015, our aim was to be living in Bristol by August 2016 ready for the start of the September school term. The first few weeks seemed promising, there were several houses of interest, one was interesting enough to arrange a viewing in late Aug. Unfortunately it did not meet our expectations. Come Dec 2015 we were starting to get concerned as hardly anything was coming on the market and what was coming onto the market was of no interest. Rightmove was becoming our most frequently visited website. Just before Xmas of 2015 I was advised by several friends that sometimes property did not make it to the market let alone Rightmove, you needed to establish relationships with the Estate Agents to ensure you were informed of prospective property for sale. We had a trip planned to visit family in Bristol over Xmas so we targeted several Estate Agents in order to tell them our story, we also arranged viewings to see 2 further properties, again, they didn't meet our expectations. One of those Estate Agents was Roderick Thomas. Lloyd, whom I spoke to (30 mins before needing to drive to LHR for our return flight to Spain) listened to our story and became key to our successful home purchase.
Lloyd took it upon himself to write to approx. 180 homes in the Bristol area that might match our requirements telling them of our story. Many who received such a letter will no doubt have thought it was a ruse in order to establish contact, in this case it wasn't. Within a week of returning to Spain, Lloyd called me and said you need to get back to the UK to view 4 properties that I have found for you. We discussed them and decided that we would view 3 of them. Flights were booked for the trip back to the UK the following week and the viewings went well. One of the homes was exactly what we wanted. That same day I discussed the value of the properties with Lloyd. The following day I was back in Spain, I spoke to Lloyd and agreed the offer to put forward. After no more than two or three calls that same day we reached an agreement subject to the owner wanting the weekend to contemplate our offer. On Monday we had confirmation!
So began the process of organising the mortgage, solicitors, surveyors etc... In the early stages of Feb it dawned upon us that the changes in stamp duty laws were going to apply to us and 3% extra was going to be a substantial sum of money. All of a sudden we only had approx. 7 weeks to complete the transaction and we had just recently started the process. Those promised mortgages suddenly began to find issues, all of a sudden surveyors were not available or those who were felt they were not qualified to survey such a modern house. Neither solicitors nor tax advisors could knowledgably comment on the stamp duty position as the wording of the law had not as yet been published. Was it really going to affect us, was the deadline 31st March, 5th April… Panic ensued, how were we going to get this done in time? Anything that came into my inbox related to the house received my immediate attention and I did not focus on anything else until that had been batted back to the sender… My phone's battery was being put through it's paces, so were all the relationships with the various professionals, after all how many times a day can you call somebody asking them for progress… Omg, there was the Easter bank holiday!!!
Thanks to all the professionals involved, some who must have thought we were quite insistent, and to the owner of the house (an incredibly helpful and lovely lady) we did complete before 31st March. This would not have been possible without the help of Lloyd and his team who as far as we are concerned went above and beyond the call of duty. Many issues Lloyd was able to pre-empt and every single issue that we faced, Lloyd took it upon himself to either personally resolve or advise on or research and then advise on. It felt like I had a right hand man who I could share my burden with and know that it would be resolved quickly and efficiently.
We followed the same process with a few handpicked Estate Agents who we believed that by reputation or from their property portfolio would be able to help us, however, their service didn't come close, the end result was we were on their sporadic mailing lists. Now that we are off all the mailing lists and having continued to review Rightmove out of interest, we know that if it hadn't been for Lloyd and his team at Roderick Thomas, our relocation to Bristol would not have included moving into our dream home… Thank you so much.
Lloyd took it upon himself to write to approx. 180 homes in the Bristol area that might match our requirements telling them of our story. Many who received such a letter will no doubt have thought it was a ruse in order to establish contact, in this case it wasn't. Within a week of returning to Spain, Lloyd called me and said you need to get back to the UK to view 4 properties that I have found for you. We discussed them and decided that we would view 3 of them. Flights were booked for the trip back to the UK the following week and the viewings went well. One of the homes was exactly what we wanted. That same day I discussed the value of the properties with Lloyd. The following day I was back in Spain, I spoke to Lloyd and agreed the offer to put forward. After no more than two or three calls that same day we reached an agreement subject to the owner wanting the weekend to contemplate our offer. On Monday we had confirmation!
So began the process of organising the mortgage, solicitors, surveyors etc... In the early stages of Feb it dawned upon us that the changes in stamp duty laws were going to apply to us and 3% extra was going to be a substantial sum of money. All of a sudden we only had approx. 7 weeks to complete the transaction and we had just recently started the process. Those promised mortgages suddenly began to find issues, all of a sudden surveyors were not available or those who were felt they were not qualified to survey such a modern house. Neither solicitors nor tax advisors could knowledgably comment on the stamp duty position as the wording of the law had not as yet been published. Was it really going to affect us, was the deadline 31st March, 5th April… Panic ensued, how were we going to get this done in time? Anything that came into my inbox related to the house received my immediate attention and I did not focus on anything else until that had been batted back to the sender… My phone's battery was being put through it's paces, so were all the relationships with the various professionals, after all how many times a day can you call somebody asking them for progress… Omg, there was the Easter bank holiday!!!
Thanks to all the professionals involved, some who must have thought we were quite insistent, and to the owner of the house (an incredibly helpful and lovely lady) we did complete before 31st March. This would not have been possible without the help of Lloyd and his team who as far as we are concerned went above and beyond the call of duty. Many issues Lloyd was able to pre-empt and every single issue that we faced, Lloyd took it upon himself to either personally resolve or advise on or research and then advise on. It felt like I had a right hand man who I could share my burden with and know that it would be resolved quickly and efficiently.
We followed the same process with a few handpicked Estate Agents who we believed that by reputation or from their property portfolio would be able to help us, however, their service didn't come close, the end result was we were on their sporadic mailing lists. Now that we are off all the mailing lists and having continued to review Rightmove out of interest, we know that if it hadn't been for Lloyd and his team at Roderick Thomas, our relocation to Bristol would not have included moving into our dream home… Thank you so much.
Comment on agent fees
Fees seemed very reasonable for the quality of service.
Was this helpful?
Yes
Yes
Agent Response / Add a Comment
You can use this form to reply to the above review or a displayed comment on the above review.
Browse popular links for estate agents, letting agents and properties nearby
Latest Reviews
13th Jun 2016
reviewed by 'IanH'
Opening Hours
Address
Roderick Thomas
69 Princess Victoria Street
Clifton,Bristol
Somerset
BS8 4DD
01179 734464
Performance statistics
| Services | Valuation Accuracy | Fees Satisfaction | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 100% | 100% | £1,950,000 | £1,950,000 |
Review statistics
| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Areas covered
Services offered
- Sales
- Lettings
- Block Management
- Surveys
- Conveyancing
- Mortgage Advice
- Home Builder
Advertise on
Members of
Rankings
Overall
Overall
Latest Properties
No Properties
Jun 13,2016
Jun 13,2016
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Having lived abroad for 11 years in Spain, our family had decided to return to Bristol. Knowing the area well (having been to school and university in Bristol) we started our house hunt in August 2015, our aim was to be living in Bristol by August 2016 ready ...
read full review
read full review
Comment on agent fees
Fees seemed very reasonable for the quality of service.
Was this helpful?
Yes
Yes
No fees information available
Kindly note that legally, letting agents need to publish information about their tenancy fees, government-approved redress schemes and client money protection schemes on their website and on third party websites (on which agents are listed). For properties to lease/rent in England, agents need to keep this information up to date and precise on allAgents or specify within the property description.
Complaints Procedure
No procedure available.
