Marianne Vale
Partner · 26 years · Thornbury and Kingsley
Valuations are free, and there is no tie-in
Your house is worth what somebody pays. Not what we tell you.
We are the only agency in Thornbury that publishes every sale it makes — what we said the house was worth, what it actually got, and how long it took. All of it, including the three this year that went for less than we hoped.
99.7%Of asking achieved
35Days to agreed
28Years trading
Aldrich & Vale have been selling houses across this county since 1998. Two offices, eleven people, one fee, and a rule that has not changed in twenty-eight years: we tell you what your house is worth, not what you would like to hear.
ThornburyMillbrookBellwoodAshgate
RowanKingsleyHartleyFairview
The ledger
Every house we sold this year, and what it really made
Ask any agent what percentage of asking price they achieve and you will get a number. Ask them to show you the list it came from and you will not. This is ours — every completed sale this year, in the order we sold them, with the three that went under asking left in where they belong.
| Property | Asking | Achieved | Of asking | Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ellery RoadThornbury · 4 bed | $432,000 | $441,000 | 102.1% | 18 |
| Coalpit LaneMillbrook · 2 bed | $289,500 | $289,500 | 100.0% | 24 |
| The RiseBellwood · 5 bed | $615,000 | $598,000 | 97.2% | 63 |
| Marlpit WayAshgate · 3 bed | $355,000 | $362,500 | 102.1% | 11 |
| Sowerby RowMillbrook · 2 bed | $248,000 | $241,000 | 97.2% | 52 |
| Fen StreetRowan · 3 bed | $520,000 | $520,000 | 100.0% | 29 |
| Alder CloseKingsley · 4 bed | $398,000 | $409,000 | 102.8% | 9 |
| Priory RowBellwood · 3 bed | $472,500 | $455,000 | 96.3% | 71 |
| Eight sales, average | — | — | 99.7% | 35 |
One fee, and you can leave whenever you like
1.15% plus tax when it completes, and nothing at all if it does not. No tie-in, no withdrawal fee, no charge for the photographs, the floorplan or the listing. Two weeks’ notice in writing and we take the board down without an argument.
Selling
Four steps, and the first one is the honest one
The valuation is where a sale is won or lost, and it is the only part of this job most agents treat as a pitch. We treat it as arithmetic.
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The valuation, with the comparables attached
An hour at the house, then a written figure with the five nearby sales it came from and the dates they completed. If another agent has told you more, bring their number and we will go through it with you line by line.
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Photographs, floorplan and the listing
Shot properly, in daylight, and never on a phone. All of it included in the fee, and yours to keep whether or not you sell with us.
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The register goes out before the board does
Every buyer we have on file for your street and your price gets a call the day before it goes public. Three of the eight sales above never reached a portal.
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We chase the chain, weekly, in writing
An agreed sale is halfway. You get a written update every Friday until the day you complete, whether or not there is anything to report — and "nothing has moved" is a perfectly good update.
The easiest way to win your business is to overvalue your house.
Everybody in this trade knows it. Tell the seller a bigger number than the agent before you, get the contract signed, and then let the house sit until the price reductions start. Five months later it sells for roughly what it was always worth, except now it has gone stale and every buyer in the county has watched it drop twice. We would rather lose the instruction in your front room than win it and spend the summer grinding you down. That is what the ledger above is for — it is the only version of this promise that can be checked.
Buying
The register gets rung before the board goes up
Most people find out about a house when everybody else does. That is not how the good ones get sold, and it never has been. Tell us what you are looking for and you go on the list for it.
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A person rings you, not an alert
Somebody who has actually walked round the house and can tell you whether it is worth your Saturday. If it is not right for you we will say so, because a wasted viewing costs us more than it costs you.
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You hear first, not fastest
Registered buyers get the call the day before a listing goes public. Three of the eight sales in the ledger were agreed before they ever reached a portal.
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We tell you what is wrong with it
The road noise, the north-facing garden, the boiler that is on its last legs. You will find out at the survey anyway, and we would rather you found out from us before you paid for one.
The team
Eleven of us, and four who will value your house
Whoever values it is who lists it, who does the viewings, and who rings you on a Friday. We do not hand you to a sales progressor you have never met once the contract is signed — the person in your front room is the person you keep.
Between them they have sold houses on almost every street in the county, which is the only qualification that matters when somebody asks what the road is like.
Peter Aldrich
Partner · 28 years · Bellwood and Hartley
Joss Kerrigan
Valuer · 12 years · Millbrook and Ashgate
Priya Anand
Valuer · 7 years · Rowan and Fairview
Reviews
What the county says
Two agents valued it at $640,000 and Marianne said $615,000 with a list of five sales to show me why. It went for $598,000 in the end and she had warned me it might. I would rather that than be told $640,000 and find out slowly.
We got the call about Alder Close on the Thursday and saw it on the Friday, before it was anywhere. Joss told us the garden backs onto the bypass and to come and listen for ourselves at five o’clock. We bought it anyway. That is not a normal thing for an agent to do.
Ours is the one on the ledger that took seventy-one days and went under asking. They published it anyway, which is why I am writing this. Every Friday for ten weeks somebody rang, even the weeks the answer was nothing has happened.
Questions
The ones we get asked
Another agent has valued it higher. What do I do?
Bring us their figure and ask both of us for the comparable sales it is based on — addresses, dates and completed prices, not asking prices. One of us will have them and one of us will change the subject. That is the whole test, and it costs you nothing to run it.
What do you charge?
1.15% plus tax on completion, and nothing if it does not sell. That covers the valuation, the photographs, the floorplan, the listing, the viewings and the chain-chasing. There is no withdrawal fee and no charge for taking the board down.
Am I tied in?
No. Two weeks’ notice in writing and we are done, with no argument and no invoice. Most agencies ask for twelve to twenty weeks, and the reason is not that it takes that long to sell a house.
Is the ledger really every sale?
Every completed sale this calendar year, in order, including the three that went under asking and the one that took seventy-one days. It is updated on the first of each month. A ledger with only the good ones in it would be an advertisement, and you would be right not to believe it.
Do you do lettings?
No. We sell houses, and a lettings book is a different business with different staff and different hours. If you need a letting agent we will give you two names and no fee for either.
How long does the whole thing take?
Thirty-five days to an agreed sale on average, then eight to twelve weeks to completion depending on the chain and the solicitors. The second half is not in our gift, which is precisely why we ring you every Friday during it.
Get in touch
The valuation is free, and so is the second opinion
An hour at the house and a written figure with the comparables attached. If you already have a number from somebody else, bring it — we are happy to be the second opinion, and we are just as happy to tell you they were right.
Both offices, one number(313) 555-0128
Answered the same dayhello@aldrichandvale.example
The Thornbury office2 Corn Exchange, Thornbury
Viewings until eight on weekdaysMon–Fri 9–6 · Sat 9–4
Book a valuation
Five fields, no obligation, and somebody rings you back the same day.
Got it — somebody rings you today.
If it is easier, ring (313) 555-0128 and ask for whoever covers your street.