I had a chance to meet Duncan Fretter of Pure Acquisitions last week. He acts as a buying agent for real estate buyers. This is a familiar service in the US and in other markets, but somehow has never caught on here. I suppose the reason is down to the opaqueness of charging: a selling agent never has to ask for his client for a cheque, even though he charges, typically, many thousands of pounds for his service. A buyer's agent has no choice but to disclose a cash sum, and probably has to ask for some kind of bond or deposit. Although this is irrational: it's all money, it probably does scare off a lot of buyers.
Apart from finding the right property, filtering out obvious duds, Duncan can negotiate a realistic price. I am sure that even now, in street-smart Britain, there must be buyers who pay the asking price for properties. Even a five percent discount would easily save several times Duncan's fees.
You can find out more about the service here.
