couple of q's please....

gazza975526570

My house has been ont he market about 6 weeks and have been casually looking around at potential houses.

A friend of the family is selling theirs so we went for a look yesterday and its perfect so a couple of q's.

Is it possible to avouid going through the EA and making the deal direct with the vendor? When we looked at the house we didnt do this through the EA as its a friend of the family. Im thinking if i can potentially save the vendors a few £k this could help me?

Secondly i have yet to sell my house therefore is it worthwhile again still putting in an offer to them or for them to stop marketing it would i need to have a buyer for mine?

Finally the house is less than i was thinking of buying so i would be prepared to reduce mine in an effort to sell quicker - if i decide/offer to do this could this influence the vendor in stopping marketing the property?

alternatively is there anything else i can do to try to secure this property?

cheers

Bossyboots

Firstly, as the estate agent has not made the introduction your potential seller is perfectly entitled to sell direct to you without fees PROVIDED the agreement they have with the agent is not one that gives them sole selling rights. This would mean they get paid whoever finds the buyer. If it is just sole agency then they will be okay.

As a consequence of bypassing the estate agent, the seller will be saving a substantial amount of money. Therefore, I would suggest that you put your proposal to them and ask them whether they are prepared to wait while you find a buyer. If you are able to reduce the price of your property so much the better to get it sold. This should also be appealing to the seller. All you can do is put your offer and negotiate terms but you seem to have thought it through and are prepared to do what is necessary to get things moving. Unless they have a reason for not wanting to wait for you to find a buyer, I should think they will jump at what you are suggesting.

gazza975526570

Appreciate those comments - i think i will give it a go with them. Would you suggest they may stop marketing the property or as ive not sold mine is it likely they will continue to do so?

Also as this is the first time we will have not been FTB are there any disadvantages of not going through an EA? or is it a case that all they do is negotiate the price between the 2 people?

One more point is has just come back on the market after being sold STC due to the previous buyer not pursuing it. i happen to know what their offer was - taking this into account would you suggest i offer the same or slightly less due to them obviously feeling aggrieved that the last sale fell through?

cattie

I'm a bit puzzled by your post as you say the house is being sold by a friend of the family, yet you are unsure if you did make an offer if they would be willing to take the property off the market.

Really you need to ask them direct, nobody else can second guess what they will do. In the normal run of things a vendor with any sense wouldn't think of taking a house off the market if they received an offer from an unproceedable buyer.

Also ask yourself why the previous buyers pulled out, was it because of a dodgy survey & a lot of potential work needing doing to the house?

As you know what that offer was then you know the price that is acceptable to them & you've nothing to lose by offering a bit lower, you can always increase it if it's refused.

Bossyboots

Agree with cattie on everything posted.

I really cant see at this stage why you would even consider using an estate agent if you can negotiate directly with the seller.

Speak to the seller and make them an offer and discuss with them your own position and see what you can agree. They may be willing to take the property off the market straightaway or you might be able to agree a scenario where they will, which might be once you have an offer.

gazza975526570

cattie wrote:

I'm a bit puzzled by your post as you say the house is being sold by a friend of the family, yet you are unsure if you did make an offer if they would be willing to take the property off the market.

when i say "friend of the family" for ease of typing its more of an acquaintance of the family.

Im hoping not to use an EA but wondered if there are any disadvantages to not using an EA?

Doozergirl

If you are confident in communicating with the vendors directly and can find a solicitor who is amenable and you feel comfortable talking to, then I think you are better off without the EA. Things can often get lost in translation with the sheer number of people involved when a sale goes through an EA so if they're not great, they can often create situations out of nothing.

Of course, they hold their place but your vendor is saving more money which may get passed to you or certainly make them more motivated towards accepting your offer and keeping your sale on track.

With regards to offer, if you're happy with the price you know they had already accepted, you can either match it or go 1% down as they'll still be bettter off than they were with the EA fees. I probably wouldn't go any lower if you know them on a persoanl basis.