Mr & Mrs Barnes
We commissioned Donald and Conor to find our "Forever Home" after they successfully found and helped us buy an investment house for rental. Donald is an expert negotiator and successfully got us over the line despite protracted issues with the mortgage offer for the investment house.
He was able to soothe and reassure the vendor. They saved us more than their fees, and completely took all the hassle out of looking for properties, filtering through to short-list, and arranging viewings. Through their network of partnered Estate Agents, we often got "first look".
They were really helpful understanding our needs and providing support to make decisions. Donald's expertise, contacts and advice successfully enabled us to submit the winning bid for the "Forever Home", despite bidding going to "full and final blind bids", for which we will be forever grateful.
Donald, who supported and guided us with our onward move, was always professional and understanding, not pressurising us in any way. This made the whole experience for us less stressful.
He listened carefully to our requirements for a new home and paid attention to detail about the property and the location. He led us through the purchase process, working with us right up to the time of the successful completion.
Trying to find a home in a new City after 42 years of living in the same house is daunting.
After looking for too long, I was ready to give up the search, even though my family had all moved to Oxford and I greatly missed my grandchildren.
Donald and Conor then came into our lives and at first, I didn’t see the value of the service they were offering; we could see everything on Rightmove so how could they help? They listened very carefully to what we wanted and they forged alliances with the local Estate Agents who would tip them off about upcoming properties. After a few viewings of various houses, they came up with our new home and it ticked every box.
Getting our offer accepted wasn’t easy as others buyers were interested and might have offered more.
We are very excited about our new life and without Donald and Conor I believe we would still be looking for a home – meanwhile living in a very expensive rented house.
Many times Donald had to “talk me down from the edge” when things got tricky. He reassured me as necessary that “this is normal” when I didn’t understand things and generally acted as mentor, adviser and friend. I would thoroughly recommend these guys.
I was first introduced to Donald near the tail end of a property negotiation, which was very much about to fall apart. Due to my naive negotiating skills I was backed into a corner and the sellers were about to walk away.
Donald Collins has been my sounding board for over a decade on all matters property related.
He has in-depth knowledge of market fundamentals matched with a pragmatic approach that helps get to the heart of the matter. He is an expert negotiator and calmly explains the state of play and advice for overcoming any obstacles.
In a complex transaction with limited comparables and plenty of unknowns, Donald Collins helped focus our minds and keep our nerve to secure the outcome we needed. His experience and market knowledge should benefit anyone approaching a significant real estate transaction.
