Selling a House

PinMan

Hi Everyone

Just wanted to ask your opinions on selling a house privately on Ebay

I've already created a website for our house (a 4/5 bedroom semi in Mid-Wales) and have started putting up posters, etc in local supermarkets advertising it, but was thinking of maybe advertising it on Ebay.

I'd appreciate any tips or guidance with this - listing costs, pro's/con's, etc or even if you could take a look at my website and give me some feedback on that it would be a great help ;D

Any serious offers greatly appreciated btw

VH

The EBay fees would be ridiculous if you sold it!

Also I imagine the postage costs would be on the high side as well. ;D

It would cost around the same to sell it via an estate agent rather than EBay, and EBay won't handle thw paperwork and show people around yourself.

Plus you would be limiting yourself as the auction would only attract local people. And anyone who wanted to buy a house probably wouldn't think to look on EBay in the first place.

Marketing the house yourself is a great idea and you seem to be doing the right things to save on the cost of estate agents, I would stick with the approach you are using.

You could always flog a link to your website on EBay for 99p or something. ;D

Website looks OK but if I was viewing to buy, I would like to see some more pictures, in particular of the bathroom, which is one of the more important rooms. Obviously take care with what you put on, as you don't want to attract burglars!

lisyloo

The EBay fees would be ridiculous if you sold it!

It would cost around the same to sell it via an estate agent rather than EBay

Utter rubbish.
Insertion fee is £35. No final value fee.

Tell me where you can get an estate agent at that price !

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/fees.html

VH

I stand corrected (very corrected). I wasn't aware there was a cap on selling houses.

You certainly can't get an estate agent for £35! But then I doubt that EBay will do your paperwork and show buyers around the house.

I still think you'd have to be a bit mad to pay a quarter of a mil for something you can only see on a website. Like I said it's a bit pointless but it may generate extra interest if locals spotted it and could actually come to view the house.

But who would really use EBay to buy a house?

PinMan

I suppose what I should have said in my original post was that I wasn't looking for a buyer via Ebay - rather looking to 'advertise' the house on a more national/global scale

Lets face it, nobody in their right mind would buy a house on Ebay - without having seen it for 'real'.

I suppose its worth a gamble at £35 - at least I'll get it back when the auction doesn't have a winning bidder ;D

Thanks for your replies though - and for looking at the site, much appreciated 8)

lisyloo

I wouldn't buy a house on ebay, the same as I wouldn't buy one straight from the paper.
However I would go and look at one if I saw something I was interested in advertised.

I think you are doing really well to advertise it privately.

However you should be aware that you will be missing out on a number of services that estate agents offer.
Like getting you a good deal.
Have you thought about how you will handle the negotiation directly with the seller.
Do you know the prices of similar properties in the area? will you recognise a good deal? do you know how far to push a buyer?

Seems to me that this could potentially cost you big time if you don't get it right although I admire your guts to go it alone.

PinMan

I must admit to being a bit wary of 'going it alone' but with the possible savings involved, I just had to give it a go ;D

I've done as much homework as I can with regards to other houses for sale in the neighbourhood and getting a few estate agents to look around and 'value' the property - so I'm not totally in the wilderness with regards to the financial aspects.

Ultimately though, I'm likely to have to use an estate agent - as the web (at the moment) just doesn't have the same pulling power as an Estate agents flyer/shop window

I'll keep you all posted if I get anywhere and thanks for all your feedback and tips ;D

Hintza

What are your sums pinman?

I think in the UK the costs are pretty reasonable!

Last house I sold was in South Afric a and the agents took 6%...ouch

PinMan

Well I've met with 3 different agents and they each wanted between 2% - 3% on a property asking price of between £215K and £230K

It soon mounts up - which is why I wanted to try the 'go it along' method ;D