Selling house privately

[forumlord]

I think it's fair to say that the property market online has move don a lot in five years! Whilst I appreciate many people feel more "comfortable" using an agent, what exactly do they do to sell your property?

In most cases they will value it, take photos, advertise it in newspapers, magazines and online on numerous websites and place a for sale sign outside the premises... all things that you could do yourself and save a packet.

The thing is, most folks just put their property on one website with a few lines of text which has little of no effect. With some effort, ingenuity and creative thinking, you could easily sell a property privately by spending some time researching the internet for good websites and posting your property online, buying a for sale board from Amazon and placing a private advert in the paper.

Instead, people make the mistake of parting with a few grand rather than make the effort needed to get a sale just by spending a few hours doing exactly what your agent would do, only to charge you far more.

[Richard Webster]

I think it's fair to say that the property market online has move don a lot in five years! Whilst I appreciate many people feel more "comfortable" using an agent, what exactly do they do to sell your property?

Although there are arguments about the extent of internet coverage etc that a private seller can obtain, finding a buyer isn't the real issue.

Even if you negotiate a deal over the price that you are happy with etc, how do you know he will go ahead?

Do you know what questions to ask about his ability to obtain a mortgage and about any chain of transactions below him? If you do, fine, but most first time sellers don't have this knowledge.

[Wiltshire Property]

Is Google Properties a network exclusively catering to registered Estate Agents?

[googler]

'registered' with whom...?

[wayne]

Originally Posted by fredmila

Has anybody managed to sell a property privately recently? In particular using those websites that claim all kinds of successes. I tried with a property some 5 years ago and the business was in its infancy. It was of no use. I ended up selling the property with the 3rd Estate Agent I hired.

I would try to sell a house privately, as well as using an agent, in order to increase the chances of success. I just do not want to waste my money on the site that calls itself the leading UK private sales site: www-thelittlehousecompany-co-uk

Ta

It's really helpful article about this topic. I'm also so much excited because few years ago I want to purchase a private property. But that time i cant purchase it because of 3rd party. There charge is so high. So I just refuse them. However, thanks for sharing this.

[daniel tsb]

Originally Posted by brian

As mentioned above - while the internet provides a sea of online communications and traffic people can easily access - it's all about targeting.

There is no easy way to reach people online except therough marketing in one way or another, so unless you're prepared to do some personal marketing, or join with a private sales site with a healthy marketing budget, then do not expect to get the same service as you would through a reputable EA.

Frankly, unless you're faced with % commission EA's only, I can't see why anyone would want to put the biggest sale they would ever be expected to confuct through inexperienced or unprofessional hands!

Just my personal thinking.

Either way, at present, no private sale site I'm aware of has enough of a market share to be considered a serious player among the larger EA's.

The only caveat is Google Property - if you can find a way to get listed on that, this may help significantly.

I fully agree with your viewpoint at thsi stage. I would also say that online marketing is a good back, but not enough to ensure enough sales to make the business as good as an EA. Online marketing needs offline marketing and offline sales.

[clarcombe]

I have been trying to sell a property recently online. There is very little that is moving at present and you have to be prepared to discount considerably as a lot of people will have difficulty raising a 25% mortgage.

One thing a lot of people ignore is the quality of their photos. To really stand out amongst all the other properties, you have to ensure your photos are very professional otherwise people will just ignore you.

And make sure its a beautiful day when you take the photos, or you know how to use Photoshop !!

Colin - LibertyIgloo.co.uk

[Sonya]

I thought of selling my house privately to save costs, but to be honest the thought of doing my own marketing for the house was very off-putting as it's time-consuming plus all of the negotiations in prior to exchange and completion. I guess that's what your'e paying for with EA fees, not just marketing the property, but vetting potential buyers, negotiating with the legal eagles, answering all the queries during the process from all the parties, chasing solicitors. The more I thought about it the more I didn't mind paying the EA fees! Also the point above about whether buyers can afford to pay for the house in the first place is vital, because EAs will sound out potential buyers on their finances.

[amh]

Selling your property independently? Want to generate more interest in your home and get more viewings? Create your own floor plans for use in your advertisements!

[glen_jai]

I think that it's a really slow time for property at the moment, so it's probably got nothing to do with whether you're trying sell your property privately or through an Estate Agent.

Personally I always find that things tend to pick up when the weather improves. Sunny weather tends to get people itching to look around more.