Using an expert saves time and money

For many years, I have had pride in being an ‘independent traveler’ researching, negotiating and booking our family holidays. Truth be told that whilst this has earned me a good measure of satisfaction, coordinating it all is VERY time-consuming and really rather stressful. Recently, having decided to book some last minute winter sun and failed to discover a suitable location, I swallowed my pride and turned to a local travel agent. Within a couple of days, our week in the sun was booked – on budget, at a resort endorsed by the agent and with extras such as airport parking all sorted out. Fantastic!

It struck me that using a travel agent is a bit like using a property finder. Of course, most people are perfectly able to find a property to buy and oversee the conveyancing but using an expert can save you an enormous amount of time, stress and often, money. Every working day (and some weekends) we are involved in the property market whether it is looking at properties, talking to agents, solicitors and surveyors or guiding clients through the property buying minefield. We know our patch and what is selling both on and off the market, we can quickly spot a shortcoming in a property and advise if this is surmountable and our independence and knowledge means that we have an excellent feel for properties’ true value leading to savings on asking prices.

With the pressures of everyday life mounting, my recommendation is that we should use our time wisely – focus your energy on the aspects you are good at (or particularly enjoy!) and bring in experts for the rest. For my part, I’ll never book a holiday independently again.