Finally sold....what a journey

Happychappy

:j It's gone !!!:j

Last October I decided to sell my mothers bungalow which I had inherited three and a half years ago, instead of using an estate agent I decided to sell it myself, I thought I would give it 12 months and then hand it over to the sharks

I had a sign writer make a For Sale board, very professional board, I then bought a domain name and hosted a four page web site, really easy to make from a popular site, and then painted the property magnolia, new carpets, vertical blinds and the sat back and waited.

What an experience selling a property is, the Sunday tribe out for a nosey wander round, the Oh that's a good idea, we must do that brigade, and a host of people who really wanted to buy but couldn't sell their own

Anyway, finally after three visits from a couple, they exchanged last week and took over on Thursday, what a relief, no more heating bills and full council tax on an empty property over another winter.

I would recommend trying to sell it yourself if your property is easily seen from the road?

Professional For Sale board £30
Domain name web site £18
Monthly hosting fee £4
Solicitors fee agreed up front £500

One very happychappy after 11 months and 2 days :j

terrierlady

well done you, most people go the easy route but still it takes same amount of time but loads more cash,just shows what can be done

kelpie35

Well done :j

superskintmouse

Well done you!!! you can stick two fingers up at all estate agents and celebrate!!
:beer:

ijrwe

How much attention came from your website, do you know?
How did you promote it?

PasturesNew

Happychappy wrote: »

Professional For Sale board £30
Domain name web site £18
Monthly hosting fee £4
Solicitors fee agreed up front £500

One year's lost interest on, say, £200k: £6,000

Sleepless nights, running for the phone, working your life round the fact the house exists etc, time spent on discussions about it/viewers/what to do .....

pelirocco

PasturesNew wrote: »

One year's lost interest on, say, £200k: £6,000

Sleepless nights, running for the phone, working your life round the fact the house exists etc, time spent on discussions about it/viewers/what to do .....

Plus bills

jules888

Good stuff.We got gazumped this week .Whole things fallen through.Sale of ours and buying of a house.Really liked house so quite upset.

Happychappy

PasturesNew wrote: »

One year's lost interest on, say, £200k: £6,000

Sleepless nights, running for the phone, working your life round the fact the house exists etc, time spent on discussions about it/viewers/what to do .....

No sleepless nights, used my mobile phone number on the board, so no running. A bungalow eight doors away was already on the market and still for sale, so maybe if you are in the "trade" as an estate agent you would have done no better, maybe a little miffed you lost out on commission

Regrading viewings, I enjoyed talking about the property, I knew it and the area intimately, far more than some commission hungry agent who knew little or nothing.

I was happy with it and it suited my purposes, as I stated, I was in no hurry, I had had the bungalow for three years standing empty after my mother passed away and allowed my heart to rule my head, I should have sold immediately, but we are not all perfect.

My point was it is possible to do things yourself, rather than pay estate agents exorbitant fees for doing basically what I have done, I also promoted the property on a few sites and had interest and viewing from them such as Tepilo the Sarah Beeny site,

Not anyway close to the Rightmove site in viewings, but my thinking was with bungalows, a lot on our estate are bought for an elderly parents to move close to their family which is why I bought it, therefore local people would soon know the property was up for sale by the board, but anyway, thanks for your constructive feedback

Happychappy

ijrwe wrote: »

How much attention came from your website, do you know?
How did you promote it?

The website had a counter which clocked up 850 hits, I had five viewings from the three free websites which I had put the property on, and roughly twenty viewings and around forty enquires generated from the sign outside.

The sale came from someone who lived 25 miles away, their daughter lives on the estate and told her parents about the sign, they viewed the property online and then who came over and after two viewing, bought it.

Davesnave

Happychappy wrote: »

The sale came from someone who lived 25 miles away, their daughter lives on the estate and told her parents about the sign, they viewed the property online and then who came over and after two viewing, bought it.

So it might well have sold without the web site, because local people will always pass on info about houses for sale to each other.

I've bought and sold in this way. In both cases the price was realistic.