House Selling - Money Saving Tips

Poppycat

Two posts and both promoting that site, me smells advertisement. I reported that person klaatu to abuse. Obviously a advertisment.

newschmoo

Friend of mine just had a few estate agent valuation the house was well decorated but the carpets where a bit shoddy. They invested in having new carpets on the hall landing stairs and bedroom (cheap and cheerfull at £400) and put 5k on the price when it went up for sale selling in a matter of a couple of weeks.

NS

Madmel

I would like to thank Marcus. I read this a few months ago when we were deciding to put the house on the market.

In this city, the cheapest EA charges 1.5%. I had several of them round, and was impressed by one, but the commission was the same.

Then we found the dream house we wanted to buy. I am such a cheapskate that I put a sheet of A4 paper in the downstairs window of our present house saying "House For Sale - Apply Within". We had 4 enquiries; the third was very interested, but hadn't sold. Then we were out for a morning and came home to find a note through the door. I rang up and the family came round to view 3 hours later (think mad cleaning session!) An hour later, they offered us the asking price! We have saved £4800 plus VAT in EA fees and it has cost us the sheet of A4 paper and the ink!

I need to point out that it is quite a modern estate, and people do drive around "on spec". But I hope it helps someone

thecornflake

Can anyone let me know what the minimum rate would be currently in Kent? The original post mentioned 1.5% but that was back in 2004. We were with a 2.5% sole agency fee last year but luckily we never sold (1 viewing in 6 months!). We changed over to another agent who got us 14 viewing sin 2 months but no sale so we gave up.

Now we are in the situation of being able to move pretty much regardless of selling price so we will be going back on the market soon. One valuation so far, with a quoted rate of 1.75% and no tie-in. This agent was offering 0.99% special offer during February so I'm wondering if we can get them down to this. My parents are selling as well (part of the reason we can afford to move) and they got offered 1.25% with no tie-in so I can quote that at the very least.

I'm also being wary of new terminology some of them use - basically 'Sole Agency' still allows you to sell privately via word of mouth or internet as that doesn't count as an agency but some changed it to 'Sole selling rights' which covers anything at all.

Our valuations last year varied from 140k to 102k which is a massive difference at that price. We'll see what happens this year...

Incidentally the smallest change can make the difference between someone buying and not buying, so basically it can be worth the entire value of your house. Even just changing the front door or painting the entrance hall a lighter colour.

seven-day-weekend

We have only ever sold two properties (both investment properties). One needed a new roof, this was reflected in the asking price. It was quite an unusual property (an ex local authority prefab), so we didn't hunt around for agents, we put it with the one who we knew had sold these properties before. We 'magnolia'd 'it and put some creamy coloured carpet in the living room. She sold it at the asking price within a week.

The other property was a very nice 60s ground floor flat in a popular development. After a sale that had fallen through, and then a spell with a tenant , we redecorated and asked the letting agent to sell it for us as she knew the property. We wanted a very quick sale so we put it up at less than that of similar properties in the same development. It sold the same day at a price only slightly less thanthe asking price

Although not strictly money-saving tips, I think the reason both these properties sold so quickly was that we priced them realistically and then put them with an agent that was used to marketing these properties and could therefore market them better.

They are certainly stress-saving tips!

I hope these observations are of use to someone.

hellybelly1

Madmel wrote:

I would like to thank Marcus. I read this a few months ago when we were deciding to put the house on the market.

In this city, the cheapest EA charges 1.5%. I had several of them round, and was impressed by one, but the commission was the same.

Then we found the dream house we wanted to buy. I am such a cheapskate that I put a sheet of A4 paper in the downstairs window of our present house saying "House For Sale - Apply Within". We had 4 enquiries; the third was very interested, but hadn't sold. Then we were out for a morning and came home to find a note through the door. I rang up and the family came round to view 3 hours later (think mad cleaning session!) An hour later, they offered us the asking price! We have saved £4800 plus VAT in EA fees and it has cost us the sheet of A4 paper and the ink!

I need to point out that it is quite a modern estate, and people do drive around "on spec". But I hope it helps someone

We had 3 estate agents round last week to value our house. I was shocked when I worked out what commission they will earn if they sell our house!

We too have decided to go the cheapskate route and have a go at selling privately. I found a website, monkeymove.com that are listing for free while they "trial the system" so I thought I'd give them a try. We bought a 0845 number so we aren't advertising our home no. and my husband has just ordered a For Sale board from a local signwriter for £25. We live on the edge of a popular village, on a road that has a lot of through traffic, (in a 30 mile-an-hour zone!) and within the catchment of a good primary school.

We'll see how we get on.... wish me luck!

courtjester

Having a for sale sign is a great idea, although why are you shy of using your own number on the sign?

There is a potential problem with using non-geographic numbers as many people with mobile phones have free tariffs for calls - except for non-geographic numbers, so they may view calling such numbers as the same as calling a premium-rate line which can be a negative you don't want. Using a land-line or a mobile number on your sign would avoid this.

>>..the cheapskate route and have a go at selling privately...<<

You have opted to go for a freebie website which has only recently set up, so they are unlikely to offer much in the way of effective advertising for your property. Too many people give up on selling direct on the internet as an alternative to estate agents because they find it doesn't work, but the reality is this is due to the choice of service they use rather than the concept.

Try researching the established 'paid-for' national websites which have much more expertise and experience - if you pay for a service, you will stand a much greater chance of success because like everything else, you only get what you pay for. There is a big difference between being on the internet and being *found* on the internet.

Even the best of the private house sale websites will only cost you £100-£150 which is a pretty small investment for such hugely viable potential gains.

hellybelly1

Thanks, Courtjester, yes you are right and we have now also gone on Houseladder.co.uk (although we have had one lead from Monkeymove!) and at the end of 2 weeks have had 8 viewings altogether. Still no offers though. About half the viewers found us on the website and half phoned after seeing the sign.

Just a little uncomfortable about advertising my home number on a board outside for all to see. Paranoid? I do feel though that if someone is put off phoning up about the house just because it's going to cost a few pence they can't be that serious about viewing. We have got the houseladder website on the sign as well so there's always the option of e-mail through them.

We might go with an agent as well from next week if we have still had no offers as we are hoping sell by the end of summer and emigrate to New Zealand.

Anyone interested in buying a 3 bedroomed cottage in Devon??

susieb

As I am already with an agent, I am going to try privately with monkeymove, I cant see I have anything to lose this way and depending on how it goes may then try house ladder as well.

hellybelly1

Be aware though that if your contract with the estate agent states that the agent has "sole selling rights" you will still have to pay the agent fees, even if you find a buyer yourself! Unfair or what!