Selling privately, how did you handle it?

Bashie90

Thanks all some really useful perspectives here. I totally get the point that finding a buyer can be the easy bit and the real work starts after offer is agreed. The examples above make it pretty clear where it goes wrong when people don’t understand the process, don’t chase things, or just end up miscommunicating and falling out.

I’m not saying private sale replaces a good EA, especially with a longer chain. But what I don’t want is just an advert board that lists houses and leaves people to it. The aim would be to help plug the gaps you’ve all mentioned, basic checks (AIP/deposit proof etc), clear steps on what happens next, prompts/chasing, templates, and just setting expectations so sellers/buyers are not guessing. The guides I’ve been putting together cover things like marketing, viewings, handling enquiries, what happens after an offer, and getting through to completion. I’m mainly trying to understand what support would actually make people feel confident doing it privately and where it still just isn’t worth it vs using an agent

Bonniepurple

My brother and I did - but it was a chain free property being bought by an BTL landlord. We sold our late parents’ house to the son of the next door neighbour. It worked well for us as the house needed a lot of TLC and we knew the buyer.  His Mum was a key holder and we agreed that he could pop in and out as he wanted. He knew what he was getting into, and, when he was offered less on the mortgage than he’d hoped, it was still better value to drop the price than to involve estate agents.

Herzlos

You mean an advert board with an advice blog? If you're going to do any of that extra stuff you're going to end up replicating an EA anyway. 

In any case, where's the revenue going to come from?

Bashie90

Herzlos said:

You mean an advert board with an advice blog? If you're going to do any of that extra stuff you're going to end up replicating an EA anyway. 

In any case, where's the revenue going to come from?

Yeah fair point. It probably does sound like advert board + advice blog on the face of it and I get the point that if you add too much you are basically rebuilding an EA.

The bit I’m trying to focus on is the stuff that helps people do it themselves (step-by-step listing flow, prompts, templates, what to do next etc) rather than being the agent and negotiating/chasing chains for them. More like making the process less confusing and less risky, not replacing an EA entirely.

On revenue, a few ideas really: small listing fees / optional paid upgrades, mixed stock (not just private we also include EA's) and things like referral/partner bits where relevant. Nothing set in stone yet, which is partly why I’m asking these questions

mlz1413

You question reminds me of Purple Bricks.

I didn't follow their story but I know they offered a fixed fee and I know they failed and went bust.

So probably worth knowing what went wrong for them so you don't repeat any of their mistakes. 

Bashie90

mlz1413 said:

You question reminds me of Purple Bricks.

I didn't follow their story but I know they offered a fixed fee and I know they failed and went bust.

So probably worth knowing what went wrong for them so you don't repeat any of their mistakes. 

Strike bought Purplebricks (for £1) and then Strike basically got rebranded into Purplebricks. So Purplebricks is still going as the brand, but Strike is/was the owner behind it. There’s loads of public info on the deal/rebrand as a case study which is handy to look at atleast for us to learn from for sure

Albermarle

mlz1413 said:

You question reminds me of Purple Bricks.

I didn't follow their story but I know they offered a fixed fee and I know they failed and went bust.

So probably worth knowing what went wrong for them so you don't repeat any of their mistakes. 

Like with the on line second hand car retailers, it seemed an obvious route to success.
Undercut the hated middlemen, like estate agents and second hand car dealers, by having a cheaper on line offering. Unfortunately it proved more difficult as some purchases do not lend themselves to be fully on line.
Purple Bricks sold for a Pound.
Cazoo went into administration.
Cinch lost over £100 million Pounds last year.

saajan_12

Bashie90 said:

Thanks all some really useful perspectives here. I totally get the point that finding a buyer can be the easy bit and the real work starts after offer is agreed. The examples above make it pretty clear where it goes wrong when people don’t understand the process, don’t chase things, or just end up miscommunicating and falling out.

I’m not saying private sale replaces a good EA, especially with a longer chain. But what I don’t want is just an advert board that lists houses and leaves people to it. The aim would be to help plug the gaps you’ve all mentioned, basic checks (AIP/deposit proof etc), clear steps on what happens next, prompts/chasing, templates, and just setting expectations so sellers/buyers are not guessing. The guides I’ve been putting together cover things like marketing, viewings, handling enquiries, what happens after an offer, and getting through to completion. I’m mainly trying to understand what support would actually make people feel confident doing it privately and where it still just isn’t worth it vs using an agent

Disagree, finding a buyer (I'll add in, for the best price) is the hard bit. If you're on a smaller website than the big players and have a limited pool of buyers, that could result in a lower offer. A small % difference coudl be £x0,000s of a difference. 

Once a buyer is selected, its not difficult to check affordability and then most of it is done by solicitors. The chasing can be hit or miss with agents, so I wouldn't pin much on that personally. 

Bashie90

saajan_12 said:

Disagree, finding a buyer (I'll add in, for the best price) is the hard bit. If you're on a smaller website than the big players and have a limited pool of buyers, that could result in a lower offer. A small % difference coudl be £x0,000s of a difference. 

Once a buyer is selected, its not difficult to check affordability and then most of it is done by solicitors. The chasing can be hit or miss with agents, so I wouldn't pin much on that personally. 

Fair comment. I’ll rephrase and admit that while you may get enquiries selecting the right buyer and at the best price is a different thing and does need due diligence. And you’re right, if you’re not on the big portals then you can easily limit the buyer pool and that can impact the offer. But that does not mean they can't be challenged.

Once a buyer is agreed, a lot of the heavy lifting does sit with solicitors, but I don’t think it’s always as simple as job done either, people still go quiet, surveys downvalue, chains wobble and it’s easy for momentum to drop. Even professionals get it wrong and sales still fall through.

That’s kind of what I’m trying to get my head around really, what checks/tools/steps would actually help a private seller filter out timewasters and qualify a buyer properly, without pretending it removes all the risk

Albermarle

what checks/tools/steps would actually help a private seller filter out timewasters and qualify a buyer properly,

They could ask an experienced estate agent, who can probably smell timewasters a mile away.