Search & find companies are not estate agents and do not have a portfolio of properties to sell (with the odd exception). Instead they search, on behalf of their clients the properties offered by local estate agents. They arrange a shortlist of properties for their clients to view, and if a sale is made they receive a part of the estate agent’s commission in return, which is how they earn a living. They will usually charge their clients an upfront fee to start a search and to cover the costs of unsuccessful searches. However they normally refund this fee to clients who end up buying through them.
Search & find agents have to reach a commission-sharing agreement with local estate agents, as without this they cannot earn a living. Most agents value the fact that they introduce serious clients (only serious clients will be prepared to pay the upfront fee) and will be prepared to share commissions with them. However some agents may not cooperate, which can limit the range of properties that search & find companies can offer to their clients. It is important that search & find companies work with many different local estate agents if they are to be of value to their clients. Otherwise they become no more than an extension of the sales department of a few local agents, but under the pretence of offering clients a wide choice of properties from many agents. There is also a risk that estate agents will simply increase the commission in order to pay the search & find company, driving up the cost for buyers.
A search & find company should take a detailed brief from a client and then search all the local estate agents they have agreements with to produce a shortlist of properties for the client to view. This should save the client time and money that would otherwise be spent dealing with many different agents and visiting inappropriate properties. However these advantages will only be realised if the brief is clear and the search & find consultant is competent. Consultants can fail to understand their clients requirements and tastes, and do too little to search the market, neither of which benefit the client. It is very easy to set up as a self-styled search & find consultant so buyers should always ask for references and find out a bit about these companies before using them. Many British people with no relevant experience have set up as search & find agents but in reality do little more than introduce buyers to estate agents. The likely result is higher commissions and greater costs for buyers with no real advantage. One should also bear in mind that, unlike buyer’s agents who are paid by and work exclusively for the client, search & find companies earn their money from estate agent’s commissions, which can give them incentives that don’t coincide with those of their clients.
