Selling in Scotland - is an estate agent essential

dunroving

I will be selling up and moving from Scotland later this year. I have several experiences here and abroad of using estate agents and on most occasions struggled to see where the value for money was coming from (in the US especially, where the estate agent commission was 6%!). I don't want this to be an estate agent rant but would rather avoid paying several £k's unless it is essential.

I live in a former council 3-BR standard semi north of Glasgow. There is a shortage of family housing around here and plenty of people who grew up in the village want to return or upsize due to a growing family. I therefore don't think it will be difficult to find a buyer. Recent houses for sale had several viewings and offers within a week or two.

Below are the main reasons someone might need an estate agent, with my thoughts.

House valuation. I think I have a pretty good idea based on recent sold prices and a knowledge of the local market what my house is worth. Also, I know estate agents sometimes overvalue a house to persuade the seller to go with them, or undervalue it because they want a quick sale and commission..

Publicising the house for sale. I think the various local Facebook sites, plus jungle drums will reach plenty of potential local buyers.

Showing the house. Around here, estate agents seem to leave it to the seller to do this anyway.

Negotiating price. I've never seen a situation where having an estate agent as an intermediary really helped with this, and plenty of times where the estate agent simply got in the way. For example, telling the buyer information that doesn't help the seller ("He's really keen to sell and I think he will accept lower offers"), or being very poor at answering the phone.

Legal aspects - I will contract a solicitor to help me with that side of things.

My plan is to advertise on several local Facebook sites and then if the buyers don't start showing up, then use an estate agent.

Am I missing anything major with this plan? (Other than observations that I am cheap - this is after all the Moneysavingexpert forum). ;-)

pinklady21

Why not use the local Solicitors' Property Centre?

davidmcn

What proportion of properties are advertised on Facebook? It's not somewhere I would consider looking. The only adverts which crop up on my feed seem to be for broken furniture and barely roadworthy cars.

pinklady21 wrote: »

Why not use the local Solicitors' Property Centre?

Because you can't do that directly, only via a solicitor (who will charge you the usual marketing costs).

dunroving

davidmcn wrote: »

What proportion of properties are advertised on Facebook? It's not somewhere I would consider looking. The only adverts which crop up on my feed seem to be for broken furniture and barely roadworthy cars.



Because you can't do that directly, only via a solicitor (who will charge you the usual marketing costs).

I take your point, except that local to where I live Facebook is a very active source of local community information. There are often posts from people looking for property locally also. The local word of mouth is also very powerful.

I can see that the local Facebook sites would miss people looking from outside the local area, such as in Glasgow and beyond, but my gut feeling is that there are enough people who are almost desperate to move back to the village or upsize within the village that word would get around.

Houses sold locally via estate agent usually go to contract within days (so, this might be a case for spending £2k on an estate agent), but most potential buyers in that scenario are from local areas. It just seems a bit daft if there is such a strong market to be in a hurry to spend £2k if it may not be necessary.

ProDave

I sold one of our BTL properties privately.

I advertised it on Gumtree and an advert and phone number in the window.

It sold to the next door neighbours mother who had just been widowed and wanted to downsize and be next to her daughter so definitely the right buyer at the right time.

I was advised afterwards that even to advertise it privately I should have had a home report done. When the buyer approached me to buy it, her solicitor insisted on having a home report before he would make a final offer, but as the HR valuation came in £5K more than I was expecting,m that is what she paid, so I am glad thy insisted on it.

PokerPlayer111

ProDave wrote: »

I sold one of our BTL properties privately.

I advertised it on Gumtree and an advert and phone number in the window.

.

Nice job, also check out doorsteps.co.uk £99 to get on rightmove/zoopla. 98% of buyers come from rightmove zoopla. Not sure if scotland different but worth checking out.

googler

ProDave wrote: »

I sold one of our BTL properties privately.

I advertised it on Gumtree and an advert and phone number in the window.

I was advised afterwards that even to advertise it privately I should have had a home report done.

Yup, that's not 'privately' according to the HR legislation.

By doing this, you've made it known to a section of the general public that the property is for sale. It's no longer private.

"A house is on the market when the fact that it is or may become available for sale is, with a view to marketing the house, made public in Scotland by or on behalf of the seller.
...
A fact is made public when it is advertised or otherwise communicated (in whatever form and by whatever means) to the public or a section of the public. "

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2006/1/pdfs/asp_20060001_en.pdf

sheramber

Estate agents were not the norm in Scotland when we sold in at 1970's. but at that time houses for sale were advertised in the local papers- no internet then.

Offers to buy could go to the seller or to their solicitor who handled the sale paperwork.

You do need a Home report to sell a house in Scotland and the surveyor's value will be stated on that.