BDI Home Finders UK provides house hunter services and property buying expertise for people who are looking to buy a home in London, the Home Counties or in the South of England.
We are pleased to present these case studies of results that our homefinders have achieved for our clients:
- First London home
- River Thames property
- Relocating to West London
- Relocation to Cookham Dean
- UK Property search agent
- Property search services in Berkshire
- Relocation agent in Berkhamstead
Buying a home in London
BDI Home Finders saves over 15 percent on Georgian town house in Islington
A busy mergers and acquisitions lawyer was looking to buy for her first home in London. Our client was fearful of going it alone and potentially making the wrong decision - especially in this difficult market.
Time-poor is an understatement for this high-flier. Working 8am to midnight and spending most weekends away, her time was at a premium. A limited knowledge of London also meant that employing homefinders was essential in searching out her dream property.
Our homefinders quickly narrowed the search down to properties for sale in Islington and Marylebone - fantastic areas that were convenient for her work and for making a sharp exit out of the capital at weekends.
Within just three weeks, BDI Home Finders located a stunning five-storey Georgian townhouse, backing onto the Regent's Canal. Buying an historic listed property is not without its stresses for anyone, never mind for a first time buyer, but we were able to successfully guide our client through the buying process.
As part of our services, we recommended and managed a team of conservation specialists as well as interior designers, builders and architects.
On the market at £2.25m, credit crunch panic worked in our favour and we were able to negotiate the price of the property down to £1.9m - a huge 15.5% saving.
Buying a property on the River Thames
Professional golfer buys house on the river in Royal Berkshire
Our golfer client wanted a pied á terre with one stipulation - it absolutely had to be on the River Thames.
The American pro had just a four-hour window for house hunting during a flying visit, so we had our work cut out, but we were able to quickly find six properties for him to view.
The last one we showed him was perfect - a sweet little gated boathouse with its own mooring and a garden onto the river. The interior was dated and we used this to negotiate the asking price down from £1.5m to £1.25m. We also recommended and then managed a design team of interior designers, architects and builders to completely revamp the house from the ground up.
One of the risks for celebrities is that they pay celebrity prices. As a trusted partner, we were asked to project manage this team to ensure that they come in on budget, that the work was timely and the quality was celebrity standard, not at celebrity cost.
Relocating to West London
£150,000 saved on asking price
Two GPs wanted to move from west London and were seeking a very special house: a period property with enough land to create a wildlife garden and grow their own organic vegetables. Their ideal property would be Georgian, with well proportioned rooms. No low beams and no pokey, dark cottages were the instructions at the top of their brief. Finding their dream property in the Wokingham area was a challenge as our house hunters were seeking a period property in a desert of suburban semis. However, we located a Queen Anne Rectory in perfect commuting distance from both their surgeries and set in an acre of stunning grounds. The property was £150,000 over our clients' budget, but with careful negotiation, we did the deal within budget and won our clients a huge 15 percent discount.
Relocation to Cookham Dean
Love at first sight in Cookham Dean
This was a challenging relocation from west London to a village community. The clients required a character property with easy London access - plus home office space for up to five. Within two weeks our homefinders highlighted six properties to our clients and on their first accompanied viewing they declared it was love at first sight. And who could blame them? The Cookham Dean property was nicely positioned in its own grounds with a swimming pool and dated back in parts to the 18th century. The detached double garage, previously a stable block, gave excellent potential for a self-contained office facility. However, as with most dream houses, we were not the only interested party. In fact a deal was due to be closed the same day so we had to act fast. We were able to ascertain the top price that the other buyer was willing to go to and made the decision to offer a slightly higher price. We agreed the purchase the same day.
UK Property search agent
Dream Marlow property found for Australian family
A senior executive was relocating from Australia to Marlow and needed to get his family settled in a new home as quickly as possible. With two young sons, finding a school was also a key part of the brief.
On the first day of viewings, BDI took the CEO to see a fantastic Victorian rectory that was not due to come on the market for another six weeks.
The four-bed property was in the heart of Marlow and had a veritable football pitch of a garden. A glass-roofed kitchen/living area and a professional interior design job were the icing on the cake.
First through the door, the exec fell in love with the house and by the end of that day, we made an offer on his behalf for £2 million and had it accepted.
BDI Home Finders then sorted out a rental property across the road from the boys' new school until the rectory's vendors had vacated.d.
We are now advising the family on how to convert the garage into a granny flat.
Finding residential property is just one of our property search services.
Property search services in Berkshire
Property insider status secures dream property for family
Finding a property with the perfect room in which to home-school their two daughters was the challenge set to us by a telecoms marketing director and his wife. They came to us for some home search help.
A new job had precipitated a move from one side of Berkshire to the other and couple was adamant that the property needed to offer an attached school room rather than a summer house at the end of the garden.
Our house hunters found their perfect property - a five-bed 1930s detached with a lovely garden and an attached granny annexe at £2 million - but there were already seven bids at full asking price.
Fortunately, our relationship with the estate agent meant that we were able to put the family forward as ideal vendors and within the week, the offer was accepted.
Relocation agent in Berkhamsted
BDI Home Finders first through the door
Our clients wanted to move from Gloucestershire to historic Berkhamsted, Herts.
With around £2 million to spend, the brief was a period property, central, and as close as possible to Berkhamstead School, as one of the sons was a county-level swimmer and would often have out of hours practice sessions.
Knowing the area, our homefinders were well aware that such a property was likely to be snapped up the second it came on the market. But through a strategy of continuous contact with the local estate agents, we managed to get our family first through the door of a very desirable property.
With five bedrooms and in a perfect central location, our clients snapped up this three storey Victorian town house and hope to move in very soon.
