Philip James Kennedy
Estate Agents
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0161 448 1234
679-681 Wilmslow Rd, Didsbury, Manchester M20 6RA, UK
Opening Hours:
Monday: 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM
Tuesday: 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM
Wednesday: 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM
Thursday: 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM
Friday: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Saturday: 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Sunday: Closed
Area Served:
Within 4 miles (6.4km) of 679-681 Wilmslow Rd, Didsbury, Manchester M20 6RA, UK
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Local Amenities
Didsbury is particularly popular with growing families offering reputable and sought-after local schools for its residents. For young children Beaver Road, Didsbury C.O.E are particularly popular with Parrswood High School and Didsbury High superb secondary schools. Within reach are some of the most attractive private schools such as Manchester Grammar; Manchester High as well as Withington High School for girls.
The village also boasts a big Marks and Spencer and an extensive cinema complex perfect for families. Luxury food outlets are aplenty with the Cheese Hamlet offering fine cheese and hams; two butchers namely The Three Pigs and Axons as well as Evans the famous fishmonger. The ever-changing food and bar scene in both villages is hard to keep up with but The Metropolitan towers over Burton Road as does fashionable Alberts restaurant with The Great Kathmandu curry house known nationwide. In the village, Hispi offers fine dining with many oriental offerings, and the classic pubs such as the Fletcher Moss and the Royal Oak still offer the famous ploughman’s lunch.
Anglo-Saxon Dyddi’s Burg a small hamlet since the 13th century lies at the top of the River Mersey floodplain creating the perfect backdrop for four championship golf courses.
To unwind there are river walks within the beautiful Fletcher Moss Gardens where the Royal Protection of Birds organisation was created as well as Didsbury Park, Marie Louise Gardens, Cavendish Park, and the expansive Fog Lane Park. Ideal for an early morning jog.
Properties
Didsbury and West Didsbury are arranged around two villages which were originally dominated by large country estates and Victorian and Edwardian mansion houses. Whilst some remain, many have been demolished such as Fordbank House and replaced by traditional estates in the 1930’s offering still extremely popular semi-detached accommodation with large gardens. Serving the large homes were a multitude of servants who lived in wonderful terraces which form the backbone of the village and are highly sought-after by affluent first-time buyers wanting a central position. Bomb damage created opportunities for newer properties on established Victorian Avenues further enhancing the variety of properties available. During the 50s and 60s many. Spare plots were built upon whilst the demise of the private tennis courts created space for some of Didsbury’s most well-known developments such as Sandiway Drive off Spath Road. Reflecting Didsbury’s draw developers such as PJLivesey have set about creating an alternative lifestyle for residents with mansion apartments; upside-down townhouses and grand-scale stately homes available for buyers.
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Google Rating: 3.9 out of 5 stars (300 total ratings)
1 Star
We have just sold our house and Philip James was one of the three agents who gave us valuations. Their valuer was the least prepared and his value was substantially lower than the other two we sought (and the price we achieved on sale). We were also concerned that they seemed to discourage above asking price offers from buyers and might be 'selective' in the offers they would put forward to you - and we have heard similar from friends who sold with them recently too. In short, wouldn't consider using them to sell a property in Didsbury if you want to achieve a fair price and want transparency about offers received.
Wednesday 26th July 2023
1 Star
Steer well clear of this Estate Agent If you want the best price when selling your house choose a different agent. PJK don't seem to want to achieve the best possible price for the vendor; just get it off their books as quickly as possible and pocket their fee. Selling through PJK was an upsetting and extremely stressful ordeal. Don't they realise that a house is most people's most valuable asset and they appeared not to care less. Communication was really poor and they came across as being really disorganised. Getting through by phone wasn't easy and this begs the question if it was a genuine buyer would they be put off by this or the PJK employees not bothering to call them back? All in all, dealing with PJK in our experience is an absolute nightmare.
Tuesday 29th August 2023
5 Star
I had a good experience with PJK selling my flat. Having previously listed with another agent in Didsbury, I felt that Sophie’s marketing material was of a much higher quality and I believe that this helped to get my flat sold quickly. Still STC, but overall I am happy with the communication. And how things are progressing. I would recommend over the other agents in Didsbury.
Tuesday 27th June 2023
1 Star
I sold my house with PJK & it was a stressful experience from (almost) start to finish so I'd discourage anyone making the same mistake as I did. I say almost because the valuation part was very good, Rob Kennedy comes round & sells it like that's the person you'll be dealing with... More on that later. I will also add that Molly who takes the pictures is very good & professional so the star I've given really belongs to her as the rest deserve zero accolades. Once you agree to PJK having the listing (after several follow up phone calls from Rob Kennedy) it's then pot luck which estate agent is handling the listing but after mine being changed 3 times without warning or explanation I can safely say all 3 displayed a fairly similar level of (in)competence. I don't know if this is because PJK hires people who are very early in their career and inexperienced or if it's because they're just overworked. I've given the benefit of the doubt & assumed the latter but these were the main issues that added unnecessary stress to selling my home; Poor communication - including but not limited to; agents not replying to emails/returning calls, having to chase up repeatedly. Often no forewarning of viewings - hit and miss whether I received notice that viewings had been booked so you don't know whether or what time you could be at home, needed to deep clean etc. Viewings booked on days that PJK had been told weren't available multiple times (I have to work from home 2 days a week). This continued over the entire period of viewings (August to October) so not a minor inconvenience. It was difficult for me to manage to get hold of them so I assume that some prospective buyers would have similar difficulty. Keep in mind a 10k reduction on your sale price is only a loss of £70 commission to them so they're quite happy to beat you down on price for a quick scale once you're listed with them (despite all the promising sales talk you get from Rob Kennedy at the valuation stage). Questionable practise - when I reluctantly accepted an offer (20k below what Rob himself valued it at) PJK took instruction from the buyer to cancel all future viewings including ones booked for the same day & following day. They did this without consulting me & when challenged, the agent admitted it was at the buyer's request. As far as I'm aware this breaches some kind of regulation in the industry as such decisions have to be agreed with the seller but weren't. I wanted to leave and go to a different agent, with hindsight I should have done as there were enough red flags. I was overwhelmed & naively optimistic things would change. In the end it was around 5-6 months of almost constant stress because of PJKs poor organisation. Also to add PJK wanted me to meet directly with the buyer, so I could answer all their questions in person and give more viewings (likely so that PJK wouldn't have to). Many people might be okay with this but if you're not for whatever reason then it's worth keeping in mind. Some people assume the point of the estate agent is to mediate between buyer and seller... The above list isn't exhaustive, I could write much more but I hope this is a cautionary tale to anyone researching which estate agent to choose when selling their home. I'd also like to add before anyone from PJK replies that issues were raised at the time and they were given multiple opportunities to resolve but didn't. I note their typical replies to bad reviews seem to deflect responsibility in a variety of ways which is fairly testament to their attitude in general. EDIT: In response to PJKs reply - It's quite telling that it took them 3 weeks to respond & the reply doesn't address the complaints raised. My review wasn't about the time taken to sell, that was due to the buyer's chain, but instead focused on their incompetence, poor communication & disregard for their customers. I don't dispute the buyer was happy with the process, they got a great deal on the house but I was the customer, the one who signed their contract & paid their bill.
Monday 26th June 2023
1 Star
I was pressured to speak to their in house mortgage advisor when making an offer on a property for sale. Their advisor never contacted me, and my offer was not put forward to the seller. An agent told me I hadn’t sent any documents their way but I’ve checked our email chain and I wasn’t asked for any. I’m gutted I missed out on the property. This breaches the Estate Agents Act 1979 and considering my experience with letting from a Philip James branch in the past, I’m not surprised the agents tried to pull this one on me.
Wednesday 22nd March 2023