More and more house sellers are cutting out the middleman, the estate agent,
and saving money. They are selling their houses privately, often using one of the growing numbers of web sites that sell houses online. The
reasons: firstly, the cost of using an agent and secondly, the perceived lack of service.
In the past sellers had little choice but to use an agent in order to put their house in front of a large
number of buyers, making use of the estate agent's shop window and local newspaper advertising. Nowadays the internet provides an alternative way
to let the house-buying public know about houses that are for sale.
Many sellers have become increasing angry about the size of estate agents fees especially as house prices
have increased greatly and agents charge up to 3% of the selling price. An estate agent fee on a £250,000 house would be £7500 at a 3% commission
rate and £5000 at the average commission rate of 2%. In contrast, a sale by a typical private sale web site would cost less than £200.
Some house sellers simply consider their estate agent to be useless because they fail to arrange even a
single viewing. This after having the house on the market for weeks or even months. They seem to do little to actually sell the property and earn
their money.
Planning to sell your house privately and save £1000's in estate agent
fees?
To begin with, do you have a present contract with an estate agent to sell your property? If your contract gives your estate agent
‘sole selling rights’, which is very unlikely, the estate agent is the only one with the right to sell your house. In
this case if you find a buyer you will still have to pay the agent. Otherwise you are free to market the property yourself - even
where you have appointed a sole agent.
‘Sole agency’ means the estate agent is the only agent with the
right to sell your house but if you find a buyer you will not have to pay the agent. Equally, if you use a private sale web site that does not
carry out estate agent tasks, and they find a buyer, the agent is not entitled to commission. Similarly, ‘multi agency’
means you pay commission only to the agent who sells it and again you are free to sell it yourself.
Check with your estate agent before you begin to market you property yourself. If the agent has sole selling rights terminate the
present contract you have with your agent or wait for it to expire before you market the house yourself.
How To Sell Your House Privately In 5 Simple Stages
It is very important that the potential buyer’s first impression of your house is a good one.
Put yourself in the place of a potential buyer and attend to the state of the fences or walls, the lawn and garden, and the front entrance
to the home. Look out for any work that should be done on the roof and windows to bring your property up to standard. Inside,
preparation means removing clutter and cleaning everything really thoroughly; in addition to carrying out any minor repairs or redecoration
that is necessary.
If your house is in poor condition, improvements can increase the sales price.
The more remedial work you leave for your buyer the fewer the offers and the lower the price. And you are not likely to sell your house quickly.
However, if it is already in good condition you are unlikely to get back the money you will spend on
improvements
Set Your
Selling Price When selling your house
setting the right asking price is critical. The single biggest reason homes fail to sell is setting a price above what similar homes
are selling for in the same neighbourhood.
Advertise And Market Your
Property Your
alternative to selling your house through an estate agent is to sell online. To do this you should choose one of the large and established
private sales property web sites
to advertise your property. But do not simply rely on the Internet to sell your property. A common mistake made
by people selling their home privately is sitting back and waiting for the ad on the property internet site to sell their house. An internet web
page is one way of selling your home privately. But to reach the highest number of buyers and sell your house fast you should use all means
available including adverts in local and maybe national newspapers, and possibly flyers delivered locally if you think there is strong local
demand.
It is very important to put up a ‘House for Sale’ board since these attract a
high percentage of possible buyers. The major property sales web sites provide these either as part of a package or as an
extra.
Handling Viewings
And Offers You need to
manage inquiries, arrange accompanied viewings and negotiate a sale once you receive offers. So before you go down the private sale route you
need to consider how you can fit these tasks into your diary especially if you work full time.
Sell Your House Privately... and Use An Estate Agent
For many people selling privately is a way of cutting out the estate agent and saving money but it does not have to be seen as an
alternative – it can be considered as an additional method that gives you the best chance of selling your home quickly. You can
have your house on the market with an estate agent at the same time as marketing it yourself privately. The estate agency has its
chance to sell your home and earn its commission, but you have the opportunity to save these costs if your methods of selling
your house privately are successful first.
Why not save money by selling your house privately and spend a bit of it on doing something exciting like going on a
whitewater rafting trip?
