jana1

Has anyone tried to sell their house themselves? - I just had an estage agent round and he is trying to charge almost £3k !!, so I am looking for alternatives - any ideas? - house valued at £150k

Thanks very much
Jana

lucyb

YES!

Someone posted this last night and we have decided to give it a go!

Have a look at
www.thelittlehousecompany.co.uk

You have nothing to lose!

Lucy

moneypenny20

There was a thread a while ago that gave a long list of sites for internet house selling Have a search. Definitely the way to go. I have no intention of giving my much needs funds to a sharp suit who does very little (apologies to any estate agents on here - you are obviously different.) LOL

Larissa

We have had some interest from advertising in shops locally, plus we have ads in the newspapers and a link to our own website. We are also going with two agents (start Thursday) so we need to make notes (proof) or keep e-mails, so we have a record of who came to us. We are actually having an Oz-style open day on Thursday, this was advertised and it will mean less tidying up etc.
Watch this space!

peppi

Put in a search for thread called "Having trouble selling house"...thats the thread with the internet sites for selling links on it....

peppi

www.houseweb.co.uk is one of them...the thread was started by Pauline

Al H

You should be able to negotiate down the percentage that you pay. The last time we talked to an estate agent we were offered either 1-1.25% of price. Play one off against another. They do want your business after all.

Alastair

walla

3k on 150k, that's outragous, shop around, you'll get a better deal than that I'm sure. Look for an agent that charges a flat rate plus VAT or negotiate with them.

Can't comment on DIY as we've gone thru an agent

Walla

65 million

I agree. we also have a 150k house to sell. The first agent offered 1.75% (about 2k I reckon). The second offerd £800, the third one I told him my offer, he then offered to sell for £500. The previous agent then found out and also offered to do it for £500. So i now have two agents selling for a single £500 fee!.

Quite happy with that.

jana1

Thanks for all your advice - I think I will get another estate agent out... If that fails then will go with the web-sites..

Thanks again
Jana

parkhigh

Hi
I havent put my house on the market yet, intend to do so at the weekend. However have had 3 agents around. 1 a small company that advertises on the net and local paper and charges .75% which is great. Had a flyer through the door from a very large chain and they agreed to match the price so may go with them. i figure thats a fair price to pay if they get me a sell.
good luck
irene

peppi

I dont know what kind of a rush you are in...but my plan is to try the web sites first and use higher cost agent as plan B...Lynseyden sold her house on the net in 2 weeks apparently saying that mind..anyway its just a thought....

Larissa

Don't give up on advertising locally. We have been getting people ringing for appointments from ads in our local paper. In the ad we put a link to our website, which has thumbnails of all the rooms, which you can click on etc. I would put a link in, but I don't want everyone on the site to see my rabbit hutch (oops, I meant house). The website means that people can have a good nose, if they don't like it, they can decide not to come around. If they do like it, they can show their hubby etc!
We also have a viewing today, with a young couple. The wife saw the add in a newsagents then e-mailed me. You can advertise in Supermarkets for free. Must admit that hubby has done a great job with the ads. They are full colour and the one for the newsagents is a bit smaller, but still good quality.
If anyone wants to see the website link, pm me and I will give it you, if I think you're serious lol!
Larissa
PS Our mates were a great help with the pics for the website. We got the house really tidy and staged the photos. It was a sunny day, so the light was streaming through the windows. When we gave it to show our agents, I think they were put to shame, as they have been useless. Anyway, we finish with them tomorrow.
BTW We have also advertised on about 8 websites. We haven't had any interest off these sites, just a begging e-mail from some weird woman on the Ivory Coast We have had lots of website hits since we advertised though.

queenie

Hi Jana,

We sold our house privately before we left the UK and decided never to again. The advertising was fine, the showing around was also fine but the price negotiation and haggling over survey points were a bit horrible. The ringing around to see who liked it was totally yuk too. I felt like a street beggar. Feedback may not have been very honest either.

Never one to learn from past experience, we have just sold our Qld house privately. Sales commission is roughly 2.5 percent here so even more dosh.

I aliken it to childbirth, painful, but when all is said and done, rewarding.

My brother is a web designer and did us up excellent websites and hooked into all the search engines and house sale sites for us. The web didn't even play a minor part in getting us viewings in the UK; all interest was from the local newspaper. In Qld, 95% of viewings were from the paper, but the buyer was from the web.

The other problem with private sales is you have no thinking time and it was very hard for me to think of an excuse why someone can't come around straight away. The truth "sorry, the kitchen is a huge mess and my son has just vomitted all over the carpet" does not paint the nicest of pictures for the potential buyers.

I wonder if I have put you off by now? Hey maybe I am really your local estate agent?

Wish you the best
Queenie

darkless

We were in the same position - exactly same house price etc.

I think lucyb is referring to me - i used www.thelittlehousecompany.co.uk very successfully, although I also had an agent finding m buyers as well. For about £130 the little house company has to be worth a go because they submit your details to all the main house buying sites (fish4, rightmove, etc). You cannot submit your house to these independantly - only estage agents can do it. TLHC do this for you, but as they are not a full agent, your actual estate agent cannot stop you using TLHC as well, and cannot charge you extra.

However I do agree with some of the other comments - it is much simplr and less stressful to use an agent, but if you end up saving £2000-£3000 then for us it was worth it

Dave