Rentons Countrywide is an estate agency located in Stokesley. They also have a branch in Yarm.
When we decided to sell our house last year, we asked three estate agents to come round and give us a valuation. Rentons were the first to come out. The man who came round was very friendly and very professional. He seemed really impressed with the property and gave me a really slick sales pitch. Since he was the first one who had come round I had nothing to compare it with, but I was very impressed.
He basically convinced me that he had a list of people on his books just waiting for a property like mine, and that we should have no trouble at all in selling. He also valued the property at more than I expected.
With the benefit of hindsight, I feel this was an unrealistic valuation, but I have to say he did come across as very professional, and I was very tempted to sign with him.
Their fees were 2%, which was double what all the other estate agencies were asking. Again, with the benefit of hindsight, I think they get away with the high fees because they convince people their properties are worth more than they are.
In the end we decided to use a different company, so I emailed the Rentons office to thank them for their time and explain that we had decided to use a different company. Despite this, I received a number of phonecalls from them over the next few months, repeatedly asking why we had decided to go with another company. This really annoyed me since I had already emailed them to explain, but the phonecalls kept coming! read more