Selling Without an Estate Agent

[Bon Bon]

Amongst the confusion over the house market madness it seems more and more people are choosing to sell their house online without an estate agent. Now hopefully people won't think I am being thick asking this but I don't quite understand how this is possible.

From my understanding, when selling a house you need a hips pack, is there any nationwide HIP's providers who allow you to order a HIP's pack online?

With that in mind, all one would need in order to sell their house therefore is a HIP's pack and a solicitor to sign over the land ownership once a suitable buyer is found through some form of marketing. If somebody could run me through this from the very first step to the very last step, or provide me with a link to a resource online that explains the very question then I would be most grateful.

[googler]

Some people; usually those who have set up a new 'property sales' website; would have you believe that you can
"Sell your Home Privately and SAVE thousands in agents fees !!" and
"List YOUR property on the net with (name website here). Reach 3 MILLION buyers .... advertise with us privately and SAVE a fortune in (estate agents') fees."

Almost every property discussion forum such as this has a posting somewhere from someone who has set up one of these sites, and is touting for customers. I looked at the one that I copy/pasted the above text from, put in the first two characters of my postcode to see what they had, and there were TWO properties listed. I know that there's thousands listed in this area with the established agencies, so it has to be asked; where are people going to look when they want to find a home? Will it be the established places (aka estate agents) with their majority holding, or this place with two properties for sale?

Sometimes what you're paying for when you hire an estate agent is access to someone the agent spoke to the day before; that person who's looking for a house just like yours. Or the person who viewed a property like yours a month or two ago and who is still looking. How are you going to find these people?

If you put your house up on the internet yourself, whether with a site like the one above, or your own, how are you going to pull people in from the high street? The folks who come to your town, and look in the agents' windows? You could put postcards in the newsagents' windows, but will the property hunters be looking there, or in the estate agents' windows?

What are you going to do for print advertising? You could put an ad in the property section of your local paper, in the property section, but isn't it going to look a bit lost in amongst (I assume) your local agents' larger adverts....?

This isn't the guide you were after, I know.

[Bon Bon]

Your response sound very familiar, almost as if you work for an estate agent; maybe if I word my question differently it might help.

I live in an area where the only estate agents are in the town next door and they all want to spend their time helping those with the million pound mansions so that they can get a higher return.

I did not like the service I had off them so I chose to take matters into my own hands, effectively I don't want to be selling privately and I am not so bothered about a fast sale but I certainly want what I feel my property is worth.

What I want to do is buy a HIP's pack myself as the estate agent say that they own the HIP's pack already compiled. I need somebody who covers the whole country because of where I live.

Once I have got one I am clueless of what else I need to do. I was told that I need a solicitor to sign over the land ownership, if that is even the correct phrase to be using.

I have my own ideas on how I can advertise my house but when somebody gives me a call and says they want to know more then I will stumble on my feet.

Do I invite them to view the property?
How do I get my land ownership papers?
Do I need a solicitor, if so why?

To be honest, I have no clue what questions I am supposed to be asking, if anybody would like to help me out here I might actually sell my property.

[brian]

If you're not certain of what you are doing, then this is all the more reason to seek a reputable estate agency.

As googler points out, there are a lot of "private sales" websites out there - hundreds of them - but almost all of the property website traffic for sales and buying go to the few big estate agent sites such as Rightmove and fish4homes.

Also, with conditions in the property market in a downturn, then this is all the more reason to have a reputable agency to advise you - otherwise you really could end up losing a lot of money on a transaction.

[chris Jones]

Hi Matt, Selling privately really isn't any different from using an estate agent. I own my own IPR site (internet retail site) and we offer the same level of service that most agents offer for a fraction of the cost. Yes - all the work of describing your property and taking neccessary photos falls to you and dealing with postpective buyers is also dealt by you. However - you save yourself thousands of pounds in commission and we promote your property on the big affiliate sites such as Fish4homes and Nestoria. We are a new site and already building a good property portfolio from customers who are fed up with paying extortionate estate agent fees.

Selling privately is a worth while alternative service that may not suite everyone but is a worthy consideration to people who don't mind putting a little work in at the beginning. There are a lot of IPR sites which don't advertise elsewhere and expect to sell your home with little marketing. However sites such as myyorkshirehome, thelittlehousecompany and houseladder are worthy of a look if you want national exposure and a proffesional feel.

[googler]

" ... we offer the same level of service that most agents offer for a fraction of the cost. Yes - all the work of describing your property and taking neccessary photos falls to you and dealing with postpective buyers is also dealt by you"

So you don't offer the same level of service, then, do you? The tasks which would normally be within a standard estate agent's remit are left to the owner to take care of themselves....

Chris, you might have typed this in a hurry, but if your website shows the same grammatical level as this posting, then find a proof-reader..... quick.

How does myyorkshirehome, as 'Yorkshire's exclusive property website' give national exposure....?

thelittlehousecompany - I searched for property with the first four chars of my postcode, which is one of their options; this is a WIDE area, and they have NO properties listed. Widened it to the first two alphabetic chars of my postcode, and there's TWO properties. This can hardly be classed as 'national exposure', can it..... ?

houseladder - again, with the first four chars of the postcode, NO property. Just using the two alphabetics isn't an option here, so couldn't try that. Typed in the nearest city, and there's FIVE properties show up.

National exposure?

[andyswinton]

Hi matt I just thought that I would let you know that if you sale your property privately to a cash buyer ie someone buying with out a mortgage you will not need a hip pack, because you are not actively selling your property

[chris Jones]

Hi googler.. Yes I admit I may have typed my previous email in a hurry but that's only due to the fact that -you - seem to be an estate agent stuck in the dark ages who's now spitting the dummy because you now have competition in your area and you can't have things your own way anymore.

If you did your research correctly you would find that IPR sites such as my site use portals such as Fish4 and Nestoria to market each property nationally. The base sites are merely a begining stage by which to market your prospective property.

I currently have my property on the market and I'm using both an estate agent and my site and I can report that I have had more interest through my site than my agent has managed to muster. I can also gauge how well my property is performing through added addtional features built into the site whereby I can see 'daily' the amount of interest my property is attracting. Get this sort of service from an estate agent.... I don't think so!!

I, like many people are sick and tired of estate agents doing the bare minumum to sell a property and then claim a large commission of around 2% based on their supossed success. I, like other companies, have come up with a viable solution to the consumers ongoing frustration. Just look at what has happened in the travel industry. Most people wouldn't dream of booking their holiday online 5 years ago.. now look at what has happened - a complete reversal. The same trend is now happening with estate agents. Gone are the days where you have the monopoly over the consumer!

[chris Jones]

following on from my previous email. How exactly do you think a sterotypical village estate agent is able to market a property nationally? If you think about this one.. its exactly the same way we do... by use of a wonderful piece of technology called the internet and large portals such as Fish4. If I were to visit a local estate agents website over in somewhere like Kent and searched a postcode for the North of England I'm pretty sure it wouldn't retrieve many results! However - if I searched rightmove or Fish4 for a certain area - guess what, I have every property for sale in that region and more importantly every property on every IPR and agents portfolio.

All we're doing, by providing a service - such as mine - is showing the true cost and simplicity to selling a property by not grossly overcharging for a service that is essentially quite simple and does not require a professional qualification.

[googler]

Chris wrote "Yes I admit I may have typed my previous email in a hurry but that's only due to the fact that -you - seem to be an estate agent ..."

Wot? You type faster and more carelessly when you think you're addressing an estate agent? OK, if you say so....