Selling house privately

[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

[Sapphire]

I didn't have much luck with any of those online sites. I think their time will come but at the moment estate agents seem to a better option

[fredmila]

yes I think so. Buyers are still lazy and want the estate agent to tell them what to see & what to buy

[JamesM]

Hi Fredmila, I would say the little house company are one of the leading private sales sites - as are houseladder and mypropertyforsale, however the major failing with all these sites is that they don't attarct enough potential buyers and cant put your property on the 'estate agent only' portals like Rightmove which is where most buyers are looking.

There is now a halfway house in online estate agents - they are cheaper than the traditional agents (because they have no high st. office) yet can put your advert on rightmove and provide an amount of support (depending on the package you choose - accompanied viewings, provide particulars, measure up and draw floorplan, negotiate on your behalf, etc...) The best I know of is House-network but halfapercent are quite well known too.

The are lots of other sources of useful advice on selling your property privately online and it can't hurt to do both at the same time, you might spend £40 with the private site but you stand to save thousands. If nothing else erect your own private for sale board (like those at blog.thebigpropertylist - sorry for the plug) as anecdotally 30% of buyers find their house by seeing a board.

If you want any more advice on this subject feel free to PM me.

[crazymonkeyb]

Hi I have a 1 bed apartment for sale in the Intercontinental area in Hurghada. It is 65 square metres, has a balcony and seaview. I have finished all of the inside in white and white ceramics from floor to ceiling in the open kitchen and bathroom, I have also added a small breakfast bar and it is on the 3rd floor. It has electric and water. The pool and lift are not yet finished. It would be a great buy for an investor. I have been offered £15000 but have not yet advertised it. Any ideas how I go about advertising it and how much it will cost me? Thank you in advance for any information! 0102952271.

[starlitegaize]

Hi Crazymonkeyb,
When my mother decided to sell her house, I suggested we place a semi-display ad in the Saturday and Sunday Telegraph.
For the two days it was advertised, I received more response than the agent had done in 2 months!
I created my own set of details, taken loads of photographs, and drawn a floor plan. I also (boring though it may seem) included everything the village and local area offered (such as local shops, nearest supermarket, big town, taxis to and from station, time to Liverpool Street, etc). All really useful info for someone who might be moving to the area.
From the 12 sets of details sent out (from the phone calls received from the ad), 9 people actually came to view. Couldn't believe it when 2 of the viewers put offers in (one under the asking price, the other on the asking price). Naturally, I did let the under offer know first, as they had been the first to view the property... Just in case they wanted to increase their offer...
The negotiations were great fun, along with having to remember what exactly it is estate agents do, it was all sorted out in 7 weeks.
Sold for the cost of a 2 day weekend ad in the Telegraph (ok not cheap, but well worth it!)
Oh, and I made sure that there was no sole agency clause in the contract, meaning the agents could claim a fee even if I sold it privately.

[faircloughspeed]

I could not agree more with you. Firstly realise that most of the traffic for property sales now comes from portal like rightmove.co.uk and local press. However the age of web involvement advertising really is key.

You email rightmove direct and ask them for a costing to list your property. Make sure the property is nice and tidy (as needed) and take picture of all external aspects and rooms. Then look on the web site rightmove, look at how other adverts "descriptions" are listed. Use this format.....
Then write your listing, rightmove will edit it as needed, place your contact details and provide your home number (not advertised as a link on rightmove page), you will then be able to manage your won sale.

Local Press can be very expensive, so best place on rightmove for few weeks and see how you get on. You only pay a listing fee I think with rightmove, and not the Estage Agents 1-2% fee based on the Nett Val of the property.

Go to a local sign company, most places have them and ask for a sign, with a bit of colour and asking price on a separate sticky so you can change that and not the whole sign (as needed).

Solicitors: As you know you will need a property solicitor, keep it local with good reputation, should not be more than £550 all in for properties up to £250k, you may get it cheaper than that. Use someone with a good reputation.

Remember when you sell yourself, you are your own agent. Call the solicitors (both parties) often and ask for Sales Progress Updates. If you are in a related chain ie your buyers have a property to sell, remember they have to see first!!!.

If you can communicate with the Chain (your buyers, related sale purchasers) then even better. Remember your all key in this action, it only takes one to fall and the chain is at jeopardy and can break.

Sounds complex but you know its EASY really. Good look, if you need any advice just say hi.

I am new so cant put my details here yet but put these words together and you will see my site. Come say hello, ask question and I will give advise if you self manage.

[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.

[Richard Webster]

Estate agents only usually get paid after contracts have been exchanged so they are keen to make sure that happens and will push things along.

If you find your own private buyer through one of these websites you don't know about any chain beneath them nor whether they can get a mortgage so you may wait around for ages while there is a complete chain above you getting very cross because your buyer isn't ready and you cannot find out what the issue is.

[Dan_Manchester]

Originally Posted by JamesM

Hi Fredmila, I would say the little house company are one of the leading private sales sites - as are houseladder and mypropertyforsale, however the major failing with all these sites is that they don't attarct enough potential buyers and cant put your property on the 'estate agent only' portals like Rightmove which is where most buyers are looking.

There is now a halfway house in online estate agents - they are cheaper than the traditional agents (because they have no high st. office) yet can put your advert on rightmove and provide an amount of support (depending on the package you choose - accompanied viewings, provide particulars, measure up and draw floorplan, negotiate on your behalf, etc...) The best I know of is House-network but halfapercent are quite well known too.

The are lots of other sources of useful advice on selling your property privately online and it can't hurt to do both at the same time, you might spend £40 with the private site but you stand to save thousands. If nothing else erect your own private for sale board (like those at blog.thebigpropertylist - sorry for the plug) as anecdotally 30% of buyers find their house by seeing a board.

If you want any more advice on this subject feel free to PM me.

lol - this reads like a quote I read recently! James, you're not an Auther are you?