selling house advice required

absolute0

The wife and I are soon going to be selling our first house. As we have never sold a house before and having read some of the postings on this forum, I'm wondering whether to test the waters with internet advertising first, such as http://www.thelittlehousecompany.co.uk/, before using an agent. Has anyone had any experience of using internet advertising? I'm really interested in seeing whether we can get listed on rightmove.co.uk.

We spoke to an agent who has informed us that their fees would cost £2000 + VAT on a £115,000 property. I think this is quite high and I definately think we can bring this fee down. However, is it worth spending £130 on internet adverting to find out that it doesn't work and then have to fork-out for estate agents anyway?

TIA

Dave

dougk_2

The only way to get on Rightmove.co.uk as far as I am aware is to use an estate agent as the site is owned by estate agents and run for them!

Yes Internet advertising can work, but obviously doing that alone is not reaching the whole audience out there and unfortunately Rightmove is the biggest and most popular site.

You should be able to get the estate agent down to around £1600+VAT or maybe lower.

absolute0

dougk wrote:

The only way to get on Rightmove.co.uk as far as I am aware is to use an estate agent as the site is owned by estate agents and run for them!

Yes Internet advertising can work, but obviously doing that alone is not reaching the whole audience out there and unfortunately Rightmove is the biggest and most popular site.

You should be able to get the estate agent down to around £1600+VAT or maybe lower.

So would you recommend getting an agent first, then advertise via the internet if interest via the agent is low?

How does one haggle and reduce agent's fees?

Cheers

Dave

dougk_2

It depends if you want to sell quickly - if there is no rush try the advertising yourself route first and see what happens. Search through these forums you will find links to lots of websites that will advertise for free or lower prices than £130. You can even buy your own for sale board to put outside your property.

To get prices down just visit several estate agents and get quotes, play them off against each other ... be prepared to say I am not paying that much ... or say I'm willing to pay for instance 1.25% only.

There is lots of competition from other estate agents!

MrsMW

I would buy a For Sale board and just try that for a week or so. When we sold our house we had an agent but as soon as the sign went up we had a couple who offered the asking price straight away. It turned out they had a relative in our street and had been waiting for a house to come up for sale. Could have saved ourselves £1500.

absolute0

Thank you for all your advice. I think we need to get a few quotes from the estate agents first and then consider our options. Then the fun can begin

Has anyone heard of an Online Agent called - House Network? If so, are they any good?

Cheers

Dave

halloweenqueen_2

Read this thread with interest! I'm thinking of using the little house company's £135 package as it advertises on asserta + others as well and getting a for sale board from them for £30, if I can sell my house for under £200 in costs thats great. Might get a couple of valuations from local estate agents first!

Cacran

I was thinking of selling my first house. I mentioned it to the next door neighbour who said that her sister would want to buy it as she had mentioned it before. I do not exactly know how much to ask for the house. I do not want to ask too little as it would be foolish. Asking too much would put her off buying. It seems a shame to employ an Estate agent. How can I get an acurate value for the property in as cheap a way as possible?

m00nie

you can get estate agents round to value it, dosent cost you and you dont have to go with them, i would get 3 or 4 round to get an average price on it.

just ring them tell them you are thinking of selling and would like a valuation, they will tell you when they come round how much they think its worth, tell them you want some time to think about it.

then once you got an average price put it to your neighbour.

KD

MrsMW wrote:

I would buy a For Sale board and just try that for a week or so. When we sold our house we had an agent but as soon as the sign went up we had a couple who offered the asking price straight away. It turned out they had a relative in our street and had been waiting for a house to come up for sale. Could have saved ourselves £1500.

I could certainly endorse this idea as I used it to sell my house, saving over £8000 in estate agents fees! I got 4 valuations from local estate agents, took average to high price, giving me negotiating space.
I got a local printer to print me up a very cheap, but professional looking sign (£10) with FOR SALE and a contact number on it. Stuck it on a pole in the front garden.

It was amazing how many people phoned and were serious viewers. I lived in a cul de sac and the eventual buyers were people who were visiting their friends who lived in my street! All done in about 4 weeks.

Given that many estate agents want to 'contract' time with you for 12-16 weeks, I certainly think this is a great way to find out how vibrant your local property market is.

On another thread someone mentioned a web site, I think.... https://www.nethousesprices.com - you can find out for free what properties in your local area have sold for based on the land registrary.

I'm just an average joe- no real special negotiating skill- give it a go- it saves a whopping lot of dosh!