Happy home hunting online (Foxtons)

Member Name: Nozz

Product:	Foxtons
Date:	03/04/02 (1639 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful properties, Detailed information

Disadvantages: Limited coverage, Site can be slow

This opinion may well be in the wrong place as my experience of Foxtons so far has largely been via their website rather than with the estate agents themselves, so if Dooyoo want to create a category for Property Websites then that would solve that problem. But here we go, anyway.

The Foxtons website describes itself as 'London's leading property website', and the quality of information found on the site certainly seems to back this up. Most estate agents approach this Internet malarkey a bit half-heartedly, they may have a flashy site with fancy graphics and logos, but the actual property listings are usually limited to one photo and a brief description, and are often out of date.

Foxtons, on the other hand, list just about everything you need to know about the property. First of all, there are floorplans, which enable you to see things like the total floor area, which direction the property faces in and size of rooms.

This is essential as you can see pretty much immediately if a property is right for you or not, (eg kitchen is too small, not enough storage space) and saves you a wasted viewing of an unsuitable property.

Then, instead of one measly grainy photo of the building exterior (taken on a dismal grey day), Foxtons offer 360 degree views of the interior (usually the living room or kitchen) and additional photos of bedrooms, exterior, garden etc.

Foxtons also offer maps and aerial views of the property, and unlike other estate agents sites, the maps load properly and show the correct street. (How many times have I clicked on a link to view a map, only for Multimap to open up in a new window and say 'This postcode could not be found'?)

Full details, including floor plans and maps, can be downloaded as Acrobat files and printed out.

They also offer a mortgage calculator, prices can be converted from pounds to euros or dollars, and you can save preferred properties or searches t
o an online notebook (if you register on the site).

Properties can be searched for by postcode, map or A-Z listings. The site was redesigned fairly recently, and I personally find the navigation a bit complicated, especially the search facility - it's almost like you are being given too many choices. The map search is probably the easiest option as you just click on a region (eg Pimlico) and then it lets you refine your search (eg Pimlico and Westminster but not Victoria) so you can exclude areas you're not interested in.

You can also search for properties by price, and then ask the results to be displayed in price ascending or descending order, depending on how rich you are!

A couple of other criticisms of the site would be that it is fairly slow to use, presumably because of all the photos that have to load every time you do a search, and also that it doesn't cover London comprehensively - there is little coverage of Docklands, or south-east London (eg Southwark, Rotherhithe, Greenwich).

Foxtons currently have 11 offices (Hampstead, Chiswick, St Johns Wood, Putney, Islington, Ealing, Fulham, Notting Hill, Battersea, Park Lane, Earls Court) but they are certainly missing out on a large audience in east London, I do hope they open an office there soon.

If anyone else has experiences of actually dealing with Foxtons offices, I would welcome an op from them, and I apologise if this op only covers a small part of the services they offer.

If you are a property junkie like me, but don't live in London, it is certainly worth taking a look at the Foxtons site as it shows just how good an estate agents website ought to be. And if you live in London and are looking to rent or buy a new flat, you should be looking on Foxtons already!

Their central phone number is 0800 138 6060

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