Possible to sell your own house these days without an estate agent?

UberTiger · 20 Apr 2011 at 12:39

So I've got a friend whose planning to sell shortly and I'm wondering whether it's worth giving it a shot trying to market it and attract a buyer online before listing with an estate agent?

If so can anyone recommend some good sites to check out in regards to this?

Could possibly be a good excuse to practice some photography and put together a website for the place - good idea or not? And if so has anyone seen any before that people have done and got links?

Vonhelmet · 20 Apr 2011 at 12:44

Are you sure you know all the legal ins and outs necessary to do this?

britboy4321 · 20 Apr 2011 at 12:45

er, I did read somewhere that 40% of house sales are made by the person seeing the 'FOR SALE' sign outside the house in question.

In other words, you've got a chance of getting a buyer despite your place not being on rightmove, or in the local rag ..

I would get a professional looking 'FOR SALE' sign made up though -- not a peice of cardboard with 'for sale' scribbled on it in felt-tip pen!!

UberTiger · 20 Apr 2011 at 12:47

vonhelmet said:
Are you sure you know all the legal ins and outs necessary to do this?

That's one thing I'm trying to figure out. I'm pretty sure there are companies you can pay to list your property on all the different sites like Rightmove etc. who aren't estate agents, so I'm pretty sure that's something I could do to (what I'm hoping to figure out), and I assume that once you get someone interested and they make a serious offer you instruct your laywers to get in touch with eachother and they take it from there?

bsoltan · 20 Apr 2011 at 12:50

Doing it without the estate agent is ok, all they do is advertise and get you custom.

I wouldn't recommend doing it without a solicitor.

[FnG]magnolia · 20 Apr 2011 at 12:51

vonhelmet said:
Are you sure you know all the legal ins and outs necessary to do this?

A lawyer conversant with property law is all that's needed.

OP, yes it is possible and yes, you can save a bundle of cash IF you have a nice house with many potential buyers and are prepared to put in a little effort. The guy over from us sold his place by himself and saved, he estimated, about $80k of the $840k selling price. Full disclosure : he is a builder and has many contacts and a pretty large network of people to draw on for help so I'm not sure how easy it is for a lay person to do.

80 grand though, eh? Worth looking into I'd have thought.

MikeHunt79 · 20 Apr 2011 at 12:53

Just stick in ebay, no reserve...

Vonhelmet · 20 Apr 2011 at 12:53

[FnG]magnolia;18945886 said:
A lawyer conversant with property law is all that's needed.

I figured it was probably do-able, given that it's the lawyer that does the real work anyway, but I wanted to put it out there to be sure.

[FnG]magnolia · 20 Apr 2011 at 12:57

vonhelmet said:
I figured it was probably do-able, given that it's the lawyer that does the real work anyway, but I wanted to put it out there to be sure.

It's far more than just do-able, it's what actually makes the sale go through. Estate Agents are little more than walking, talking adverts for your property. That's it. The proper stuff is done by your and your buyer's lawyer/solicitor.

Pestilence · 20 Apr 2011 at 13:10

I see quite a few signs for, I think it's called, "MOVE SAVE" or "MOVE&SAVE" which is one of the free websites (no agents fees etc.).

However, our next door neighbour about 5 years ago had their house on the market for almost 2 years with one of the free "no agents/fees" type self-promotion services and couldn't sell it. Finally, they went with an actual estate agent and sold it in 3 months.

SeatIbiza · 20 Apr 2011 at 13:14

[FnG]magnolia;18945886 said:
A lawyer conversant with property law is all that's needed.

OP, yes it is possible and yes, you can save a bundle of cash IF you have a nice house with many potential buyers and are prepared to put in a little effort. The guy over from us sold his place by himself and saved, he estimated, about $80k of the $840k selling price. Full disclosure : he is a builder and has many contacts and a pretty large network of people to draw on for help so I'm not sure how easy it is for a lay person to do.

80 grand though, eh? Worth looking into I'd have thought.

What the hell - you're saying in Aus an agent charges 9% or so???

Here you are likely to be paying somewhere between 1-1.5%....

uvarvu · 20 Apr 2011 at 13:16

It's quite good in the way that you can ask your friend to officially sell you the house at say £10,000 less than the agreed price. Later you can then give him £10,000 in cash as a bank hander to avoid paying as much stamp duty....

UberTiger · 20 Apr 2011 at 13:20

MikeHunt79 said:
Just stick in ebay, no reserve...

lawl

Pestilence said:
I see quite a few signs for, I think it's called, "MOVE SAVE" or "MOVE&SAVE" which is one of the free websites (no agents fees etc.).

However, our next door neighbour about 5 years ago had their house on the market for almost 2 years with one of the free "no agents/fees" type self-promotion services and couldn't sell it. Finally, they went with an actual estate agent and sold it in 3 months.

Cheers mate, will check that out.

It's quite a desirable property (IMO), nothing big or fancy, in fact it's an apartment, yet in a nice location and has a lot going for it, so I think if it's reflected well online it could generate a fair bit of interest.

cm1179 · 20 Apr 2011 at 13:23

i would certainly try and avoid estate agents if/when i come to sell. i dealt with a right bunch of tossers.

BennyC · 20 Apr 2011 at 13:27

uvarvu said:
It's quite good in the way that you can ask your friend to officially sell you the house at say £10,000 less than the agreed price. Later you can then give him £10,000 in cash as a bank hander to avoid paying as much stamp duty....

You can also bend over and spread them should HMRC ever clock on the property is sold for £10,000 less than what it is valued without any reason on the surveys/reports. You could try and pass it off as gazundering.

Though the hastle that a £10,000 less would save you on a property over the SD threshold is minimal. £300 to be precise on a £300,000 property. Unless you're on about if it was sitting just over the threshold at say £258,000 then HMRC, so I've read, aren't as stupid as most people hope.

starfighter · 20 Apr 2011 at 13:29

Yes.

No idea about how or anything other than it saved several grand for my parents.

sanaxe1 · 20 Apr 2011 at 22:31

Opps.

Fuzz · 20 Apr 2011 at 22:40

Sarah Beeny that does the house renovations has a website devoted exactly to this.

Tepilo or something

Edit*
Memory serves me correctly

but then I do follow her on twitter and she's always banging on about it

http://www.tepilo.com/

Vonhelmet · 20 Apr 2011 at 23:24

[FnG]magnolia;18945931 said:
It's far more than just do-able, it's what actually makes the sale go through. Estate Agents are little more than walking, talking adverts for your property. That's it. The proper stuff is done by your and your buyer's lawyer/solicitor.

Well, indeed, hence the title "agent".

Raumarik · 20 Apr 2011 at 23:26

If in Scotland then yes - feel free to go through a solicitor only, not sure I'd be so keen to do so in England or Wales though, it's a lot easier to back out of a sale than in Scotland.