Creating a really simple (and free?) webpage

moneybunny123

Hi

I'm considering trying to sell my house myself. The house is on a thoroughfare so gets a lot of traffic passing by, so I'm thinking of making a For Sale board and putting it up outside. I want to put a link to a homemade website (with a short, memorable address) so that anybody that is interested can look up the address where I will post further details (such as photos, price, etc) and a contact email address if they want to view.

How do I go about setting one up? Is there a way to do it that's free? I'm pretty good technology-wise, but creating a webpage is something I've never done. I'm pretty creative so I'm confident I could make it look good - it's just I have no idea where to even start or how much money it may cost.

Any advice welcome

bluesnake

bluegriffon will produce you a free web page that may be up to the standard you want and so may Serrif Web Plus and Dreamweaver, however the last two thing are time limited to 30 days. However it is rarely the quality of the brush, but more the quality of the artist that determines the quality of the picture.

I would not do what you are doing for many reasons, but immediately security, burglary and fraud do come to mind, but there are more including as a buyer the smell of desperation means a huge discount (well in my mind it does).

A few years back there were those 'sell your own' house where the company put a picture with details on the web and in the local paper for a few weeks. Think the cost was £150 and because very few sold their houses via those means, owners felt that they were ripped off.

your property would not be a 5 bedroom located in central London, with off-street parking, and is going for £45000 by any chance?

moneybunny123

Hi, thanks for your reply. I may have a look at the first option you suggested. To be honest, I AM desperate to sell which is why I WILL be offering a huge discount. Identical (but not as nicely finished) houses in the immediate area are on the market for 10% more than I intend to offer mine at. AND, I'm going to offer a further incentive of stamp duty paid. The reason? Because I want to sell quickly and I'm realistic about the market. Nor do I want to be living there forever and a day.

Not sure anything I intend to do is fraudulent?! Lots of people market their own houses. I just wanted a way of doing it that didn't have people knocking on my door at all hours, or ringing my phone. I thought logging onto a website would satisfy their curiosity and give them a means for contacting me. As for security/burglary - again, I'm not sure having my own website with photographs on is any different than the property appearing on Rightmove (or similar).

Sadly, it's not a 5 bed in London. If it were, I'd be happy to keep it

bluesnake

I did about a year ago see outside a block of Flats near London Bridge a sign, done in crude spray paint, saying "Sale, two bedroom, monthly morgage £1234, phone (mobile number)".

The sign vanished after 3 weeks. I did the math, even though I do not have the money, and it did not work out to be worth renting it out.

A second phone with a cheap Asda sim is a good idea, as it keeps friends and family separate, and you always know what that phone call is about, and isolates weirdos.

Mr_Forgetful

I would recommend you get it on Rightmove as that looks like it is the first place people look nowadays. That gives you the exposure and you could then put it on at a price that shifts very quickly. Get any local estate agent in to do it and you could barter them off to get a good deal. The cost of the estate agent would be paid for in the better price you would get from more exposure. There are free sites like http://www.houseladder.co.uk/ but I have never heard of them. Rightmove is where I always look.

zzzLazyDaisy

I agree with the advice about rightmove. ALL my house searching is done from the computer. TBH it would make no difference to me whether there is a sign outside or not, as I'd never do random drive-by's anyway. I suspect a lot of people are like me nowadays.

The % cost in using a estate agent will be more than made up for in having someone to screen potential buyers for mortgage availability and the extra exposure. If you market the place at a good price, it will sell.

moneybunny123

I DO agree about Rightmove, and if the board outside doesn't work then I WILL go down that route. It's just that for a month or so I want to see if we get any interest from the sign, as it will cost nothing and I know of someone who has sold their last three houses (the last only a month ago) using this method. It's gotta be worth a try hasn't it? For free? And then when I've had no interest, go down the Rightmove route.

Mr_Forgetful

Well I can help you if you fancy giving it a go. You need a catchy domain name first and then the information that you want to display. I think the domain name should be a short and memorable as possible as people are driving by and need to remember it within a glance. You can look up/test for domain names here that you could buy:

http://www.123-reg.co.uk/domain-names/

I use a free web host where you can store your photos and web page to hold them:

http://www.000webhost.com/free-domain-hosting

You would really only need one page with details, photos, price and contact details. Maybe setup a new email address just for this? You could even find a sales particulars online and model it on that. PM me if you want some more details/help....I'll help you do the page if you like?