House Selling - Money Saving Tips

System

Thanks for your suggestions. I've also had the suggestion of leaving sun loungers and ambre solaire on the lawn, which I thought was a good idea and worth a shot.

Mozilla_2

I will be buying a property soon as a 'first time buyer'. Do you have any tips??

eldreda

Hi,
I'm confused with all this talk of 1% estate agents fees.
The agents in our area don't go below 2% for sole agency and I can't see any of them dropping, although I'll try my best!
I've never heard of any of them accepting 1%.
We will be putting our house up for sale shortly for around £450,000 and I really begrudge the thought of paying an agent £9000 + VAT!

Any suggestions?

yonk

I've never paid more than 1.25%...

Lelly_2-2

Hi Marcus

Thanks for your tips - I am just about to sell my property. I contacted 4 agents and got them to value my property. The lowest was 15k under the middle two and the highest was 19k above the lowest - hope I am not confusing you!

None of them were willing to go below 1.5% commission unfortunately - I have not signed anything yet but photos are scheduled to be taken tomorrow by one of the agents (middle valuation) We have not discussed lock ins or anything at this stage.

I have completely renovated both the house and gardens (bungalow actually!) so it looks like a show house and will not be difficult to sell - all in neutral colours of course!

Are you advising to go one agent initially? to see how it goes. This particular agent is not in a large group - but their adverts are large and eye catching and details usually give at least 3 pictures thereby attracting people who like the look of the inside and want to see more!

TheDink

This is a really interesting thread. I was trying to sell my house about a year ago. The supposedly best agency in the area had a fixed fee of 2%, and a lock in period of 12 months!! Guess who didn't touch them with a bargepole.

I wasn't impressed with the agency I used though - hardly got any viewings, no virtual tour of the property on their website, and despite them telling me that all viewings would be accompanied, they weren't.

Next time, I will definitely go on some of the advice given and will probably go for one of the very small local agents.

I also tried the Little House Company - I don't think they are able to advertise on Rightmove anymore. I gave them a call and they said that once their current contract with Rightmove ended, they would not be able to renew as Rightmove would only deal with estate agents.

Slinky

SL

Did the little house company say when their contract with rightmove was due to end? We're thinking of using them, but only because of rightmove

TheDink

SL

Did the little house company say when their contract with rightmove was due to end?  We're thinking of using them, but only because of rightmove

They didn't give me a date, but it was about a year ago that I spoke to them. I would give them a ring (0800 083 42 41). It would be interesting to see if the situation has changed!

willywillwill

Great topic, one post did worry me tho, the one on diy conveyancing. :-/ Whilst it seems straightforward, there can be a few potential minefields in selling a property. Think about hiring a solicitor in this instance as equivalent to buying an insurance policy when you go on holiday. In my case, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, it's a judgment call, I may think 'no need, I'll be careful' and not buy it, but that doesn't actually mean I won't need it once I'm out there. But remember that if you !!!!!! up your conveyancing, it could bankrupt you where as if a solicitor cocks it up for you, their indemnity insurance policy (compulsory to all conveyancing lawyers) will bail you out. Conveyancing can be as easy as pie, but it can also be a nightmare.There's a reason for having professionals do the job for you, just like anything else!

Slinky

SL

I haven't phoned them, but I've just checked their website, and Rightmove isn't listed anymore as a site your house would be advertised on, so it looks as though their contract may have ended. That's a real pity as I'm not really convinced now of the value of listing with them.

Thanks for drawing this to my attention. I'd looked at the site the other night and not noticed the lack of link to Rightmove.