Finding your dream home is both an exciting and highly stressful task. Many people take on the responsibility themselves, but it can be a very demanding endeavour, particularly if you are moving to a new area and need to travel back and forth to look at properties.

With this in mind, it may be wise to enlist an expert property finder who can take your preferences into account and, at the very least, narrow down the list of available properties in your target region and save you from any wasted house viewings. But what should you look for in the ideal property finder?

Accreditation

As with any professional service, it is important to work with accredited professionals who are qualified in the services they are offering. When it comes to selecting your property finder, you should be able to see details of our quotations on their website, but if not then you can ask directly and then look into the relevant bodies that they are accredited with by searching their names online.

Experience

Once you get past the initial requirements with regards to accreditation, it is helpful to work with a property finder who has a good level of experience in sourcing properties for clients of your type. You can ask them about the range of experience, both of us regards to the locations they have worked with and the types of properties they have sourced, especially if you're looking for a particularly niche property with regards to size or particular requirements, for example the need for stables.

Local Area Knowledge

You should always look to involve a property find out who has a decent awareness and network connections in this specific area you are seeking a property. This does not mean that you necessarily have to go with a local property finder firm, but should you end up selecting a national property finder company, you should definitely quiz them on the depth of their local area connections in their specific location you're interested in.

It may well be that they have a local agent that works on behalf of them in the specific area you request, but it is vital that you find this out before entrusting them with finding your property shortlist.

Price

We didn't want to mention cost first, as you should necessarily just go for the cheapest option and that is usually a reason why they are so cheap, but it's certainly a fact that you should consider once you've you been satisfied by my feature such as accreditation, experience and local knowledge.

Whether your property finder charges a set fee for the search they carry out, or whether it is dependent on the number of properties they find, or whether they even look to charge some percentage scale depending on the value of the properties you're looking at, it is vital to find a finder who fits within your budget.