Selling your home! Advice please!!

[clarahenders]

I'm a few weeks away from putting my flat on the market and have received quotes from estate agents. 1.5% commission for what seems to be not very much work on their part!! They want paid extra to carry out appointment viewings if i cant always be around!! Its made me think about how you would go about selling on your own and attracting interest. I know i could come up with a schedule and a for sale sign, as i have friends who are graphic designers, but as for advertising in property pages and local newspapers, it seems that only estate agents can do this? Tips anyone?? I've delayed the estate agent for a couple of weeks to think about this.

[annie0000]

There is nothing to stop you advertising your property in the local papers - getting in property papers might be more difficult. There are also websites specifically for people selling their own home. You could stick a notice up at work or in local shops or offices. You can advertise on ebay. You could leaflet areas where you think your likely buyer will come from - i.e. smaller houses or flats locally. Personally, I would try all these avenues first before paying estate agents.

Things to think about:

1. Are you strong enough to do your own negotiation
2. Who will do viewings when you are not around - would you be happy doing them on your own - is there someone you can have around with you.
3. Have you done your research of the local market so you are sure that you have picked the right price to advertise at.
4. have you prepared your house thoroughly and are the photos you can take of sufficient quality.

What harm can it do to give it a try for a few weeks - a friend of mine sold his house with nothing more that a �35 ad in the papaer and a for sale board in his garden.

[rabbitygirl]

I sold last year so have recent knowledge of what selling a house involves. I am currently doing a refurb and I am going to have a go at selling it myself. Hopefully I will only use agents to get a guide on its value and pick their brains on the current local market situation.

Then I am going to start with a well publicised open day and see how I go. I aim to rent a bit of space outside a shop on the main road and catch the attention of queueing traffic with a board. Having an excellent solicitor, which I do, helps if you go it alone as they can deal with formal offer acceptances etc.

While most people think agents fees are excessive, and I did pay dearly, my house was constantly advertised in several papers, in colour, usually with 2 photos, full description, for many weeks, which doesn't come cheap.

[pastafreak]

I'm very surprised they want to charge extra for accompanied viewings..I've never heard of that,tho I suppose it may vary from region to region.

[Buenchico]

I sold my late father's house without paying anything to estate agents. I did pay for an ad in the property supplement of the local rag but nothing came of it. What worked was simply spending a couple of minutes designing a poster. (It was just black text on a white background). I then took it to a copy shop and got 2 copies blown up to A2 size on day-glo paper. I put those in the windows of the house.

A local estate agent spotted them and phoned me up to see if I wanted to use his services. I politely explained that I was probably already getting some of his services for free because I knew that he'd got two neighbouring properties for sale and anyone going to view them would see my signs. He congratulated me on my enterprise (!) and I sold the house within 2 weeks of putting the signs up.

Chris

PS: 1.5% might seem a lot but the UK has some of the cheapest estate agencies in the world. I've seen reliable reports that some New York agencies charge up to 8%!!!

[Buenchico]

PPS: Try to avoid using a solicitor. Licensed conveyancers are usually a lot cheaper and, in my limited experience, far better.

Chris

[clarahenders]

Thanks for your advice everyone, i feel encouraged and will see what unfolds over the next few weeks.

[smurfchops]

Estate agents shouldn't charge extra for showing people around, I would report them for that ... find an agent you like, if they say their fee is anything over 1%, tell them they can put your property on the market, as a sole agent, for 1% to include showing people round and any other extras they might think up, otherwise you will use another agent. That should do the trick. If it doesn't you haven't lost anything, just try the same with another agent. Don't feel guilty, they are all greedy b's.