Selling a house without an estate agent.

Mrs Seabiscuit · 3 Jun 2014 at 12:03

Afternoon all,
Asking this question on behalf someone.
Has anyone had any experience selling a house independent from an estate agent? How would they go about it?
Tips help and advice?
cheers people.

panthro · 3 Jun 2014 at 12:08

I can only assume you'd have to market/advertise it yourself which is the hard part, unless you have a buyer arranged already and once an offer has been accepted you hand everything over to your respective solicitors.

covenantuk · 3 Jun 2014 at 12:21

There's a few of websites you can put your house onto - Rightmove etc.

Obviously you can do your own literature/spec sheets etc.

The main issue is that even in this age, people tend to look at estate agent websites or visit the agents to pick up details. Places like Rightmove etc are generally only an afterthought except with people who are looking for a bargain.

Without an agent plugging for you full time you'll need to really be on the ball with marketing and carry out all your own price negotiations. You may find that a buyer will try to push for a better price, knowing that you have no estate agent fees.

Basher · 3 Jun 2014 at 12:22

Pretty sure you can't put your house on Rightmove yourself. You need to go through an agent ...

Maybe look at something like emoov?

We've just sold and thought about it, but going through no agent at all was far, far more hassle that it was worth. In the grand scheme of things the EA fee's weren't horrific and they have done a lot of leg work for us.

Firestar_3x · 3 Jun 2014 at 12:25

Might be worth a read:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18601161

Mrs Seabiscuit · 3 Jun 2014 at 12:33

Why thank you lovely people.

OhEsEcks · 3 Jun 2014 at 12:34

My mum did it a few years back. Bought her house from her landlord when the housing market crashed. Everything was done through solicitors. Beyond that, I haven't a clue.

bazzabear · 3 Jun 2014 at 12:43

covenantuk said:
There's a few of websites you can put your house onto - Rightmove etc.

Obviously you can do your own literature/spec sheets etc.

The main issue is that even in this age, people tend to look at estate agent websites or visit the agents to pick up details. Places like Rightmove etc are generally only an afterthought except with people who are looking for a bargain.

Without an agent plugging for you full time you'll need to really be on the ball with marketing and carry out all your own price negotiations. You may find that a buyer will try to push for a better price, knowing that you have no estate agent fees.

You're definitely wrong on using Rightmove - they will only accept adverts from estate agents.

My expectation these days would also be that the majority of people spot a house first on Rightmove before they see it at an agents shop, but I admit I have nothing to back that up except gut feeling.

Adam · 3 Jun 2014 at 12:48

I bought my house privately bypassing the estate agent. We kind of knew the people and they were up for not paying the fees so we reached a deal.

You can look at online estate agents who will list your house on rightmove, zoopla etc at a fraction of the highstreet cost.

See here for my thoughts: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=24007034&postcount=10

dowie · 3 Jun 2014 at 13:07

Basher said:
Pretty sure you can't put your house on Rightmove yourself. You need to go through an agent ...

Maybe look at something like emoov?

Interesting - though you can't go direct to rightmove you seemingly can via emoov:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=24007034&postcount=10

I guess the portal type sites do have to look after their main customers (the agents) but its good they allow an online agent to list on there too.

I guess you could also set up a website yourself with a few pics, floor plan etc.. and take out your own advert in the property section of the local newspaper in order to target the older customers.

I pretty sure that for my London flat - I would prob only need the online agency to target my likely buyers (young professionals)

Sirrel Squirrel · 3 Jun 2014 at 13:07

From personal experience I've found that the cheap do it yourself type online only estate agents such as Mouse Sale just don't work. I had my house up on Right Move, Zoopla etc through Mouse Sale but I had about 5 people through the door over a 3 month period and they were all time wasters.

I then switched to a normal high street estate agent and had about 20 genuine buyers through the door in a few weeks and had several offers, one of which I accepted.

The advantage of the high street agent is that they can also put the pressure on and negotiate quite hard on the price with the buyer, especially handy if you aren't a good negotiator yourself!

You can negotiate on the agents cut as too, I got mine down to 1% inc VAT.

Duke · 3 Jun 2014 at 13:16

bazzabear said:
You're definitely wrong on using Rightmove - they will only accept adverts from estate agents.

My expectation these days would also be that the majority of people spot a house first on Rightmove before they see it at an agents shop, but I admit I have nothing to back that up except gut feeling.

Correct on both.

Basher · 3 Jun 2014 at 13:50

Duke said:
Correct on both.

Not completely.

It depends entirely on the target market. Most younger people would look on RM first, but most older people would not.

It's not quite as simple as pop it up on RM and it will be sold in a few weeks.

Vanilla · 3 Jun 2014 at 13:52

Apparently there are a few companies you can pay to advertise on rightmove.

Friend just sold his place without any estate agent.

BDEE · 3 Jun 2014 at 14:14

I had my house for sale for a year with two different agents back in the boom years. Neither did a very good job because they were so complacent.

I ditched them and put my house on www.houseladder.co.uk and sold it in a week.