Any tips for selling privately?

crob83

My husband and I are selling our 1 bed but i refuse to pay EA fees as flat isn't worth very much. So we have put a sign up in our window and also stuck it in local papers and on a popular website.

Do you think it would help to also stick a post up outside our flat?

Any other tips?

Thank you.

pawpurrs

Why not try housenetwork? At least it will get on Rightmove, and you really need to be on there if you can.

mlz1413

Have a look at UpMyStreet they have lots of tips for selling privately.

Re a sign outside do you have much passing traffic that will see the sign on a post that wouldn't see the sign in the window?

Also I would ensure any sign you do is well presented, I always think a badly painted name and mobile give the wrong impression, ie naff sign naff flat.

Good Luck and it would be good to know the end result.

Pee

I saw a sign that said if you lived here, you'd be home by now. I wouldn't like to live there - in the middle of the town - but for a moment, it did cross my mind. I thought that was good advertising.

Agree with the idea of a professional sign.

Can you set up a website with photos, or could the sign refer people to the website?

crob83

Yes, I have the property advertised on a popular website, I guess I could put that on the sign! I think I will see if I can get a professional one made too. Thanks.

chickmug

Regularly I came across people who had tried to sell privately and come unstuck for a number of reasons but the most common was that the so called buyer just was not able to raise the money and had dropped out. People used to say they had tried to find out the financial position but felt it was nigh on impossible for a layman.

The next most common reason the sale had fell apart is that despite being under offer for months and months with repeated reassurance from the buyer the sale was going nowhere fast. So the seller felt they had to withdraw, from selling to that buyer, or that they were being taken for a ride. It can be hard for a layman to know what should happen, and when, and the reasonable time scales for each of the stages.

Other reasons were issues arising from the buyer usually structural survey, or down valuations, or despite them having said they had ‘no need to sell’ a chain mysteriously emerged and one that was going nowhere fast.

Etc, etc, etc I'm afraid

Jowo_2

chickmug wrote: »

Regularly I came across people who had tried to sell privately and come unstuck for a number of reasons but the most common was that the so called buyer just was not able to raise the money and had dropped out.

If its anything like letting a property, in which I have experience, despite agencies seeming to do little for the money, they at least have the ability and knack to deter time-wasters through their registration process and can filter out those who just fancy a browse, who haven't really thought seriously about moving house.

If you stick a poster up outside your property and its clear its being privately marketed, I feel that you invite the curious rather than the serious. I expect the advice sites on private selling must give information on how to screen out the time-wasters who aren't even in the position to proceed but don't realise the burden they cause.

Private landlords who let property are regularly targetted by bargain hunters, tenants who are perpetually viewing properties but don't actually have the stomach to move and there is just simply huge time-wasting. The worst time-wasters are often those that seem the most enthusiastic and keen to view and move in!!

I just wonder whether there are parallels with the buying process to be aware of - the moment you don't have a professional acting for you and you are doing it in an amateur capacity, it seems to promote a casual approach where the buyer/tenant expects informal favours.