House Selling - Money Saving Tips

centralbusiness

Glad I found this information before I sell my house . Thanks a lot !

coveragesherpa

Very nice information, thank u for this.

nikkiowilson

In reply to some of the above post asking about using an Online Estate Agent to save money I have set out here our experience with using Housenetwork to sell my mother-in-law's bungalow (I am writing this review on my wife's MSE account). We found that an online agent, such as housenetwork, seemed ideal for us. My wife checked some reviews online and then asked me to check also. Housenetwork seemed to get good reviews and appear to be one of the largest online agents, the reviews were not perfect but were generally good and we wanted to have full control of selling (there may well be others just as good but I have no experience of the others so cannot comment on them).

Local estate agents wanted about £5,000 to sell our property and we have paid just over £800 to housenetwork for their Star Buy package although we probably didn't need to spend that. The upgrade included things such as a For Sale board which they charge £50 for (expensive for a corrugated board). I didn't realise they only supply a corrugated plastic sign, no post, and erect it yourself (in fact their contract states a board will be erected and maintained by Countrywide Signs etc. etc. but they said that was out of date). Thankfully, I am a builder so no problem to do. The EPC which is an extra to the standard package is a compulsory item for selling your property (not compulsory to purchase via housenetwork). They include it in the Star Buy package or charge £95 + vat separately. In fact the agent who came to the house was not yet qualified to do the EPC and they subcontracted it to Justepc (who charge £35 according to their website so we could have saved there).

The photo's were mainly very good but we had prepared well and cleared the house of all clutter, cut down overgrown bushes and mowed the lawn etc, etc. However we are keen photographers and have a very wide angle camera ourselves so were able to replace any photo's we weren't delighted with, with our own and add many extra. The floorplan they did was pretty good but I added my own version as a jpeg image as I did a more accurate version. Their description was not very good and full of spelling and grammatical mistakes such as 'in a sort after location'. The great thing is, that is just a starter as you can rewrite it yourself, which we did. Their software is very good and they were quick to action changes although needed several calls to get the EPC sorted.

We put up the 'For Sale' board and added my phone number on a separate sign on the post and had 2 calls and viewings the next day. We agreed the sale at full price to the second viewers. I believe we would have sold it if we had just scribbled our number on a piece of cardboard to be honest (apparently 1/3rd of houses are sold by the For Sale sign). I would much rather deal with the buyers myself than let any agent negotiate for me. I think it is much better to speak to people directly (not just to get the best price but to ensure they know the truth about the property, both good and bad, and to discuss how the sale will proceed etc. One hour speaking to people can save weeks or months of communications via agents or solicitors and is less likely to end in a failed sale/purchase).

Housenetwork aren't perfect but the saving over local agents is massive and local agents are not always experts in my opinion and are acting in their own best interests rather than yours. The local agents had valued the house much lower than we listed it at but I could not believe their valuations. I researched other bungalows in the area and believe we offered a bargain. The purchasers are delighted to buy at full price and are cash buyers so it should go smoothly.

I would recommend Housenetwork if you want to control the sale yourself, are pretty competent with computers and want the satisfaction of selling it yourself and saving thousands. If you can't do these things then maybe you will need to use a local agent but they are far from perfect. I have just viewed a house for sale for a friend which has been for sale for well over a year with Reeds Rains. The description for the lounge reads exactly the same as the kitchen 'fitted with a range of base and wall units etc, etc'. This is still on their website and Rightmove etc. The agents brochure is poor with few photographs, no floorplan, and poor detail. The owner obviously hasn't complained and looking at the house, missing gutter at the front and missing door handle to front door etc. they haven't got a clue but neither have the estate agents. What are they doing to deserve their thousands of pounds.

We have had no interest via housenetwork but we told them to put the property as 'under offer' after 2 days and are pretty confident the sale will go ahead so they didn't have much chance. My wife booked the initial package at nearly £600 when I was out and didn't know about the 5% discount available if you use someone’s code. We used a code I found via Google when she paid the extra to upgrade to the Star Buy package. I have shown my code in case anyone wishes to use it and we also get paid if anyone uses it for recommending housenetwork. I hope you will realise that I have given an honest and somewhat critical review which I hope will be helpful.

My discount code is HGGFDIFLZE.

mjax

Since the law has changed, regarding the Estate Agents act, there are a few cheaper alternative ways to market your property online using web-based 'intermediaries'.

Most sites that I've come across e.g. Sellmyhome.co.uk and HouseSimple are asking for a small fee £450 to list a property on them. However I've come across a new site that is offering this type of service for free. It is called Easier Sale easiersale.co.uk. It is a new site with very few properties at the moment. I hope it takes off, it might change the way people think they have to sell their house.

John_Ma

I think if you have the confidence and some knowledge the best way to sell a house is to do it yourself. Sure you will have to put some money in but this should be far less than hiring an estate agent. Do your research and I am sure you'l be fine.

Should I hire an Estate Agent?

Utseya123

Great post. I liked the idea of getting independent valuations done. That really helps in arriving at a ball park figure. I also liked the method suggested of how to find the best agent and how to negotiate the fee. Since you do not see owner driven sales to such an extent, this would go a long way in getting the best value and reducing the amount you pay as agent fees. A win-win situation all the way.

black_taxi_2

I have a large king size bed(which I lov) in my small bedroom flat,but if I was to sell,I'd buy a single,or 3/4 bed for the bedroom

nottoolate

above :spam:

danielhermann

What Marcus has offerred are just tips. They are not hard-and-fast rules to be followed by everyone. What may be food for one is another man's poison. However you can keep these things in mind, if you intend to sell your house. Something else may work for you. Also, you may not want to spend so much time and may be looking for convenience, in which case, you do not have time to shop around. As long as you feel you have got a good deal, that is what matters.

john-306

I've had a couple of Estate Agents around today to get some prices for selling my late Fathers house. The house itself is valued around £120,000 and the Estate agents costs were both flat fees of £2400 and £3900 including VAT. Solicitors fees were about the same £800 inc VAT flat fee, EPC around £100 inc VAT.
I haven't got all that many pages into reading this whole thread but a figure of 1% to 1 1/2% keeps cropping up for Estate Agents fees.
What's changed lately for my charges to be 2% and 3.2%, maybe it's just that a flat fee hammers the smaller valued property?
I'll ring up another few tomorrow and hopefully they'll tell me the fees over the phone instead of coming to the house.