 |
| Q. Are you estate agents? |
| A. No. Estate
agents work for the seller to achieve the highest price
for their client. Property Vision works for the buyer
only and is trying to get the right property for the
lowest possible price. |
|
| Q. So are you in competition with
estate agents? |
| A. No. Competition
implies that we are fighting for the same fee. Estate
agents are paid by the seller. Property Vision is paid
by the buyer. Estate agents know that Property Vision
represents the best buyers and give us advance notice
of properties that are coming onto the market. |
|
| Q. Don't estate agents do this
as well? |
| A. Over the last
few years, many have copied Property Vision's success
and started up buying departments but they have problems
with conflicts of interest between their buying and
selling departments – this is cultural as much
as anything. They are 99% selling and 1% buying. Property
Vision is 100% buying. |
|
| Q. Where do you operate? |
A. The London
side of the business operates in prime Central, South-West
and North London. (London Coverage)
The country operation is based in 2 offices near Newbury
and Ascot and covers Southern England from Kent to Cornwall
and up to Northamptonshire. (Country Coverage)
From our office in Nice, our South of France Team cover
the
Côte d'Azur from St.Tropez to Menton and in the
prime areas inland. (South of France Coverage) |
|
| Q. Aren't I looking for what everyone
else is looking for? |
| A. No. There
is inevitably some overlap but given the size of the
market and clients' hugely varied needs conflicts are,
surprisingly, rarely a problem. |
|
| Q. Do you only buy grand houses? |
A. Not at all
– though we are always buying 'best of breed' in
whatever price range. Much of our business is buying
investment properties and farmhouses. In London we start at about £750,000, which is the minimum price of a decent 1-bed flat, and in the country-house market at about £1 million, which is the starting price of a good house in the counties we cover.
In the South of France, we work for buyers with budgets
from €1.5 million which is the starting price for prime
properties in the area we cover. |
|
| Q. Do you find rental properties? |
| A. Yes. We are
not letting agents but work for the tenant to find them
the best property. This is primarily for individuals
but also for corporate clients. |
|
| Q. Do you find property abroad? |
| A. Yes, we now
operate in the South of France covering the
Côte d'Azur and prime inland areas. |
|
| Q. Do you also look after international
clients? |
| A. While the
majority of the property we buy is within the UK, many
of our clients are based
elsewhere - and, in order to give
the highest levels of service, we have national specialists
familiar with the culture and language of our clients.
Our experienced team in the South of France have opened
up what we hope will be the first of several markets
overseas. |
|
| Q. How many clients do you look
after? |
| A. Each executive
looks after a maximum of eight clients at any one time.
|
|
| Q. I do not know specifically where
I wish to buy; is this a problem? |
| A. While some
buyers are very specific, many are looking across a
wide area. This is where size really does matter as
we are able to cover large geographical areas with individual
specialists linked into a cohesive team. |
|
| Q. Are you able to offer any advice
with regards to schools? |
| A. Yes. We have
an exclusive association with an educational consultant
who has had years of experience in helping parents with
these decisions. |
|
| Q. How can you be part of the HSBC
Group and independent? |
| A. We have been
owned by HSBC Private Bank since 2001. We are part of
their armoury of advisory services operating independently
from our own offices with our own board and the same
management that started the business. We are under no
pressure to sell HSBC or its services but enjoy the
backing and reputation of the second largest financial
institution in the world that is known for its probity. |
|
