As anybody looking for a new home in London will know, the property market has become a confusing landscape. Conflicting reports and political uncertainty have shaken buyer confidence, meaning it’s difficult to value a property accurately. All of this can make compiling your new-home wish list feel stressful enough to send you home empty handed and frustrated.
Fortunately, there is a solution. We sat down with Camilla Dell, Managing Partner at London’s premier buying agent, Black Brick, showcasing their ability to source your dream home, with minimal fuss.
Who are Black Brick?
We are an award-winning buying agency based in London’s Mayfair, offering a service designed to work for the buyer, not the vendor.
What lead you to set up Black Brick?
I set up Black Brick over ten years ago, after I identified a key gap in the market; now, my team of cherry-picked elite property professionals work tirelessly to pinpoint perfect properties for our clients.
How are you able to find properties—can’t this be done online, or via a normal estate agent?
Our network and experience means that we have excellent local knowledge of areas across London, a level of understanding you really can’t get from browsing online or even walking around a high street. For example, we recently assisted a client who wanted a family home and space for three dogs. Privacy and outdoor space were key. She knew what she wanted, but her own search had failed. We educated her on the pros and cons of various desirable South West London areas, meaning she could settle on Putney with confidence.
We then set about finding the property, using our extensive network of contacts. The property we found ticked all our clients’ boxes. It has views across a cricket pitch, a large west-facing garden, and is located within a stone’s throw of Putney Heath. This property was off-market, however; she wouldn’t have been able to find this by searching online.
So how does Black Brick add value for its clients?
“The market at present is very uncertain, so quite rightly, buyers feel quite nervous about committing to a purchase. It’s not as simple as buying a house, realising you’ve made a mistake and selling it again—with stamp duty and fees, the transactional costs of making a mistake are huge. People feel they can’t afford to get it wrong.
Taking the right advice has therefore never been more important. This is where Black Brick adds value—estate agents are there for the seller, their aim is ultimately to get the highest price. Our role is to ensure our clients enter a transaction with their eyes open and get the best result. And of course, we take immense pleasure in sourcing properties that are a perfect match.
As an additional bonus for this client, we negotiated a price £300,000 below the asking price, for a final purchase price of £5.5million. This was an excellent result, and our client has just exchanged.”
So, you can add a tangible financial benefit, as well as removing the hassle of a search?
From a numbers perspective, we’re often able to secure a better price for our clients. Having a professional negotiate for you, who understands the market is hugely valuable. So far this year, we have been saving our clients an average of 8% off asking prices – far more than our fee. Meanwhile, 15% of the properties we’ve found have been off market. The truly excellent properties sell before they ever hit the open market, so access to off-market stock is essential.
So ultimately, we add value in more ways that simply finding a client’s dream property. We source, we advise, we educate—but on the bottom line, we can add a quantifiable value by securing off-market properties at desirable prices. On the case study above, my client was able to spend £1million less than she had originally intended, which is quite phenomenal.
Head to Black Brick’s website to find out more about Camilla and her team. Black Brick also offers services including but not limited to a property investment service, property management, and a vacant care service.
