JnK

Has anyone in the Uk had experience of selling their house without an agent?
ie internet sites. And if so can you let us have feedback,good or bad.?
We are now on with our second agent and though we are getting a few viewings (after 5 months without)the offers coming in are still well below our asking price (which is already almost 20k below the price we started with in May this year).We are finding the agents are bullying and intimidating and seem to be acting for the purchasers rather than for us(obviously they are not selling so many houses and need their commission. We thought if we could save on their fee we could take a lower price but would we actually be widely advertised enough to get any viewings without an agent?
Any help greatly appreciated.

Mitzyboy

Well we sold ours two years ago and I used an agent and also registered on several internet sales sites.
I got very little response from the internet sites I'm afraid, but the agent did manage to find a buyer.
I think you'll find its just the financial climate there at the moment .... I think changin agents is pointless, for the only way you'll probably be able to sell is to give it away at a silly price. Even when we sold ours people were coming and making silly offers, and the flat we bought in the UK in the summer was reduced by over £20k!

spain

there are lots of free sites you can advertise on - my view is, its worth a shot if you´ve got the time to do it and I think these days people do look at buying privately more than they did a few years back

Mitzyboy

Yep, thats the way I looked at it .... its certainly worth doing, you never know your luck
Dont expect lots of enquiries though

Justlookin

I am afraid that if you want to sell at the moment you have to expect to take 15% off what you were asking in May, at least.

We have dropped 30k from May and haven't had any new viewings. You have to forget what you thought/the agents thought was right in May. It's what the asking price is now. What are other owners in you area asking for similar property?

Trouble is that it's going to get worse!

On the bright side however, if you are going to buy in Spain or UK you can negotiate similar reductions on the property you buy and will not be as much out of pocket as you think.

jdr

We sold ours on the tinternet about 6 years ago, cost us 80 quid.

JnK

Hi,
Thanks for your replies.
As you say worth a try I suppose.
We started off at 150k in May,
Now we are asking 133k but hoping for an offer of 130k(which the agent is aware of). We have had 3 offers but not close enough to 130k that we need to be able to pay off debts here ,plus agents and solicitor, make the move and be able to buy in Spain with the pound so weak at the moment. Our property is now cheaper than other 2 beds in town(with advantage of extended kitchen plus utility and the option of all furniture included in the price if required.)But the agent is always pushing us to reduce further.....no wonder prices are falling.!!
Looks like we will have to sit it out till things pick up here.
Hope you get some viewings and offers soon,Justlookin!

bigglesworth

I am not sure prices are that bad in all areas. As always Location Location Location and it depends WHAT you are selling.

Most price series are suggesting a 15 percent drop since the peak last summer. Inner city flats have been a large percentage of new build, as developers were forced to meet Government affordability targets. (Of course that meant they had to ratchet up the price of open market properties to recoup the loss on all the "affordable" -i.e. Social- properties).
The effect was a HUGE surplus of flats that no one wanted except Buy to Let Investors speculating on a further increase. Now that particular sector has absolutely crashed. Barratt for example have reduced prices by 45 percent, some of the blocks have cut values by SEVENTY percent.
Putting those figures into the mix must as a matter of arithmetic demonstrate a much lower loss of value in the traditional three bed semis etc in reasonable areas. Here in mid to North Kent, agents report 7 or 8 percent drops. Now there may be another leg down next year,(I think there will) but two consecutive drop 15 or 20 percent and a biennial inflation rate of around 10 percent (I know - much higher if you are in work, and not on benefits, and higher still if you are on a fixed income, but these two last income groups do not typically buy property) would give a gross loss in value of close to 50 percent. Somehow I don't see that happening.

scampicat

Two things you might consider as an alternative to selling in the UK:

1. A straight swap with a returning expat (plenty of these around and they can't sell their houses either).

2. Renting out your UK house and then using some of the proceeds to rent in Spain (afaik Spanish rents are cheaper than UK). Put the balance of the rent in an account for repairs/maintenance/Gas Certificate etc.

The second would be my personal choice as you would still then have a place in the UK if it all went pear-shaped in Spain (as often happens).

Hope this helps.

Lionda

Just a thought.....the house we are renting was advertised at 138,000 euros but we were told that if we want to buy it we can have it for 100,000 euros..I think possibly a lot less so whatever you sell for in the uk you will match on the buying cost in Spain. Then again though I strongly advise...RENT FIRST, take you time to buy