Ourpropertymove.co.uk

Claire_Dean

I'm not sure about all these private selling companies. I would say that an estate agent is probably better as you have peace of mind knowing that the agent is a well known official company. How do you know if these private companies are for real?

In an ideal world, it would be great if we could avoid estate agents fees, as it does appear that with the current state of the housing market, these agents are getting a lot of money for doing practically nothing.

If somebody could prove to me that these private companies do actually work, I may just try it.

hardtimes

I put an ad for my property in the local newspaper which cost £5.00.I got a call that evening and got the full asking price.Big savings on EA fees

courtjester

Claire_Dean wrote:

I'm not sure about all these private selling companies. I would say that an estate agent is probably better as you have peace of mind knowing that the agent is a well known official company. How do you know if these private companies are for real?

In an ideal world, it would be great if we could avoid estate agents fees, as it does appear that with the current state of the housing market, these agents are getting a lot of money for doing practically nothing.

If somebody could prove to me that these private companies do actually work, I may just try it.

Claire, what have you got to lose? £100-£150 or so?, the price of a decent meal out for 4? - even if such services didn't work, are you really gambling that much? I don't know about 'peace of mind' with an estate agent - 8000 malpractice complaints a year ....

Obviously, do a bit of research and look around to find out who are the better established companies, but it's little different in principle to placing ads in a local newspaper. There are no professional risks in the way that you have with agents acting for you - private services do not act as your agent, they merely provide an advertising service, otherwise you have complete control over the sale and negotiations so you always know what's going on and there is no prospect of a middle-man misleading you or your buyer.

Equally, you are also responsible for making sure the advertising works, that your property is well-presented and priced competitively adn for monitoring and adapting your advertising to generate positive response. Clearly, if you advertise privately, you are replacing the agents work with your own, so don't expect it to work for no effort on your part (it's not for everybody as a result), but if you are confident and happy that you can prepare details, take photographs, research pricing and deal with buyers, you really have a lot to gain - average savings of £3-4,000 on commission is certainly worth looking at.

Some people spend more on the lottery or a horserace, with little likelihood of winning that sort of money.

Bear in mind that it may be a new concept to you and many people, but companies that have been trading successfully in this market for 5 years or more are clearly doing something right.

Sellamyhouse

court jester you say "Equally, you are also responsible for making sure the advertising works, that your property is well-presented and priced competitively adn for monitoring and adapting your advertising to generate positive response"
Do you think this is enough detail http://www.ourpropertymove.co.uk/item/?property_id=110# or should I provide my exact house number? Not sure how safe this would be?

courtjester

Concise is what it's about online - people don't want to browse through endless mindless details of no importance - the point is to generate enquiries and viewings - full particulars (if you want to provide more) can be made available at the time of viewing. I think your pics and description are fine.

There's no need to insert your house number. Although a lot of agents give out the full address on particulars they pass out to all and sundry, I think it's best to give you a bit of privacy and encourages buyers to contact you first so that you can obtain their details before providing your full address (admittedly a determined buyer will be able to discover the actual address with a bit of effort, but really any security implication is non-existent).

When speaking to buyers for the first time, you want to get their full name & address and land-line (preferably not just a mobile), so that if you feel it necessary you can check that they do live at the location given. Also, details of their status - property to sell /under offer /on market /mortgage required /applied for /certificate of "Approval in Principle" - this discussion will give you an insight into the nature of their interest and how serious or far along the track they are in the event that they make an offer.

Buyers are used to providing details so will not be unfamiliar with such questions - it is ultimately relevant to the sale and expected.

You may also be able to detect if they are wasting your time, so consider if you wish to offer all enquirers a viewing or only those that have made some progress with their own property - I would say start with pretty flexible viewing arrangements and restrict if it looks like you are getting too many non-serious viewers.

I'd get yourself onto one of the better bigger (paid-for) websites though if you really want to get your property seen by anyone (other than by MSE members on this forum).

Good luck.

Sellamyhouse

I'm going to keep it listed with our property move for now as its free for the first month. I've got a couple coming over this weekend so its got to be worth showing them around first before I spend out any money.

Claire_Dean

Although you can restrict what details you give out on these private sites - what about when it comes to a viewing??? These people will have your full-address and will know exactly where you live. I am not sure how I would feel about letting strangers into my home - who knows what kind of people they could be. At least with an estate agent there is that element of security, plus they can carry out the viewings themselves if you feel uncomfortable doing so.

We are thinking about putting our house on the market hence why this thread is so interesting to us. Our eyes have been opened. We may consider placing our property on one of these web sites where they give you a free trial. It would be good to see how much interest is generated even if we don't arrange any viewings.

Claire

courtjester

claire - so what do you do when the agent phones up and says, sorry can't make it today, can you do the viewing and meet the buyers yourself? - a highly common practice after the first one or two accompanied viewings...

Having buyers in your home is no different vis-a-vis security whether introduced via an agent or your own advertising. Don't expect agents to 'vet' buyers despite what they may claim - there are no security checks, only enquiries made of the buyer to see if the agent can sell them a mortgage. The simple stuff like asking for full name, address, telephone contact details and basic financial situation is easy enough to do yourself - agents don't check that the details provided to them by the buyer are valid (not at the outset prior to arranging viewings anyway...).

By talking to people on the phone before offering viewing, you will easily build a picture of people's situation and if in doubt, don't offer a viewing.

But it is important not to get these things out of perspective. Whilst agents love to scaremonger about the supposed 'security benefits' of using them instead of doing it yourself, you need to ask yourself what the risks really are.

Would mad axe-men really want to bother to check only on properties for sale and arrange bogus viewings in order to get into your house?? - why bother, when they can simply walk down any road any daytime and expect to find someone in (or not if the intent is burglary) that they can attack. There is also the greater likelihood that they will give away their identity in the communications, so again a rather pointless approach for a crim.

Simple precautions like doing viewings with your partner or a friend are really all you need to consider if you are not confident about meeting people alone. And create an audit trail by keeping records of contacts and if appropriate say you will call people back to confirm arrangements later (which gives you the opportunity to check the numbers given). If you are really paranoid, you can check up that they do live at the address given also, but frankly I think this is unnecessary.

I have never heard of anybody coming to grief over viewings arranged privately - the only problems which seem to have occurred in the past have involved agents themselves, and even then I can only recall 2 possibly 3 incidents reported in the press in the last 20-30 years, out of literally millions of viewings conducted every year. Agents do have to take safety precautions because like many professions, they are exposed to the possibility of targetted attack, but this is a quite different principle and the risk is not the same for vendors.

Seeing how much interest is generated by a free website trial will give you no indication of what you could achieve if you pay for advertising on a successful established service. Unless you are lucky, I suspect it will simply confirm to you that internet sites don't work - a self-fulfilling prophecy because of the weakness of choosing a "free" service....

Don't be put off considering selling privately by 'perceived' risks which don't exist or which a bit of common sense would deal with. Do some research and look at the different private services available and review ways you could use them in your own situation - selling without an agent is not for everyone of course, but it is highly viable for confident people who want to retain control of the process and are prepared to put a bit of their own effort into the marketing for large rewards and savings.

Sellamyhouse

Claire - I do agree with courtjester about vetting them on the phone first and asking questions. I'd never do a viewing by myself, and even my estate agent calls me to say there is someone who wants to come over for a viewing! The checky whatsits! They dont' even do the viewings themselves. I'd say register with them. The free trial is only for 30 days and then you have the option to pay. I've had quite good interest so far with people sending me emails and asking questions. I've got two viewings this weekend so I'll keep you posted.

Claire_Dean

Thanks, we are sitting down to register tonight and going to see how it goes. Good luck with your viewings at the weekend.

Claire