Selling my house - my way

dont_use_vistaprint

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82098722#Comment_82098722

well done you.

do you get bored and just randomly join conversations that are not relevant to you?

honestly, if you have nothing to add about DIY house selling there is no need to comment

Shadyocuk

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82098674#Comment_82098674

Well, if you believe that then there is no helping you . The easy part is getting the offer , the hard part is getting it to completion, even more so in the current market.

I will add that as a buyer I would either avoid Purplebricks , or would reduce any offer to take into acount that I would have to deal with them.

Herzlos

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82098488#Comment_82098488

Given the questions you're asking here, you can't.

Plus this is mental:

Asking price will start at 355 and if it's not sold in two years will reduce no lower than 285 which is the approx value

You want to try and sell it for £70k above what you think the value is, and are willing to sit on it for 2 years, when you could get someone who knows what they are doing something like £3k more than you are talking about paying to make a mess of DIY.

I've used purple bricks in the past a long time ago and they were good
especially when you get lots of offers. It's good to manage in their
platform but I've been disappointed today trying to get a hold of them
and there seems no way to sign up like you used to be able to do without
getting them to do evaluation first.

Research Purple Bricks now, after they changed hands. Lots of buyers won't even entertain them.

BikingBud

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82098488#Comment_82098488

I would be really interested if you kept this as a diary and provided regular updates so that others can review and decide if they must follow the normalised process or if DIY is actually a viable alternative.

Please do keep us informed, especially:

• Where you advertise and how much interest it generates
• How you decide if interested parties are proceedable
• If you conduct any checks
• How you instruct solicitors
• How you negotiate
• How you expedite
• When you reduce the price
• What triggers you to reduce the price and by how much
• When you exchange and complete
• What you buy next and via what method

There may be many lessons to learn and we might all see the true value of the established market dominance of right move.

Currently I feel some services are value for money as they de-risk and de-stress and those factors are personal but it would be good to understand where niggles were worth the saving and if there are tipping points where professional management are worth the fee.

Please do keep us updated on your journey.

jimi_man

Ok, some points about Purplebricks that may assist as a friend of mine recently used them.

The basic package for over £300k (which you want to start at) is £1600 with some other extras that need to be paid for.

That price has to be paid upfront so if you don't sell then there are no refunds.

If the price is under £300k then it's £1300, however if you start at over £300k then subsequently reduce it to under £300k then the price is still £1600. If you don't want to pay upfront then its closer to £2k I think.

They offer a free package but they don't list on Rightmove (Rightmove are very expensive, but sadly necessary).

You can set your own price, but they still come and do an evaluation and give a guide price but it's up to you what you set it at. I'm pretty sure you can describe it how you like.

Those 'specialist companies' you refer to naturally will cost a large premium, either in charges or a reduced sale price. My wife investigated them as a possible avenue when it was taking ages to sell our house. Don't do it!!!

An EPC lasts for 10 years. Personally I wouldn't bother getting another. If it doesn't change then you've wasted your money and tbh, no-one I know has ever paid it the slightest bit of notice.

Some general points from someone who has bought and sold recently and has a number of friends and relatives in the same position:

Houses marketed by Purplebricks are generally viewed with suspicion by buyers. Their comms isn't great apparently. And they are notorious for overvaluing their properties (though from what you say, you may have pipped them to this ;) )

Also you have to do the showing unless you pay for one of their sales team to do it and that's another few £ hundred. Now you might think this is an advantage showing people round yourself but having viewed 24 houses in our last move (8 months ago) the estate agents were so much better at showing round people and we felt far more at ease with them than the owner. Personally we hated the owner showing us round and others who have recently moved have said the same. So bear that in mind.

By far the biggest hurdle is the current market conditions. We sold eight months ago and it was a huge buyer orientated market and it's got a lot worse since then. The pricing needs to be very realistic as with what few buyers there are, they are very cagey about offering. Not just my experience either, but quite a few others that are trying to sell at the moment. I don't know when you last bought and sold but it's a completely different market than a couple of years ago.

The longer you leave it for sale (and thus shown on Rightmove) the less the final price will be. Overvaluing it by £70k will lead to few to no viewings and zero offers. A quick turnaround with a realistically priced offering will lead to a higher sale price. This is not opinion but it's statistically the case. If you're thinking of leaving it at a high price for two years then that can be seen on Rightmove and will be noticed and the longer it goes on, you may get some seriously lowball offers. Your decision obviously.

HTH.

RelievedSheff

For what it is worth we bought and sold recently (completed in March 2026, marketed our property middle of November 2025).

We used a local agent to market our property, they cost us £3400 including VAT on a sale price of £250k. The property was marketed with a guide price of £260k to £270k which we always thought was a tad optimistic.

November was a tough market but our agents got us a steady stream of buyers through the door, we had 10 sets of viewings in the 6 weeks it was on the market which resulted in 7 offers.

We had an offer accepted on our onward purchase at the end of November. We accepted an offer on our property the week before Christmas. There was a lot of haggling between us and the FTB to reach the eventual £250k sale price which our agents were very good at communicating. They really were worth their fee at this point and going forwards with keeping solicitors in check and their marketing of the property was spot on and aimed at exactly the right market.

Realistic pricing is the key, you need to generate the interest in the property. From my point of view you would really be shooting yourself in the foot pricing too high initially. Every area has those properties that have sat around for years and they are glossed over by buyers. You don't want to become one of those.

dont_use_vistaprint

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82099428#Comment_82099428

thanks for this very useful. I've actually just come off the phone with purple bricks and she did apologise and tell him it would be 1599 for over 300 K list price. She also said they require the valuation but it can be done over a phone call tomorrow morning.

She confirmed I got 10 months extendable to maybe one year if it doesn't sell but if I set an unrealistically high price and don't sell within a year then that's on me, but I wouldn't be able to market it for two years at that package.

i'm not only happy to show the viewers around. I insist on it, if I'm selling my house to do somebody it will be me doing the selling and negotiating not an estate agent. Same when I buy if I can't meet the owner and ask l some very direct questions, I will not risk wasting time making an offer, to then discover problems later.

you know I never considered the issue of the perception of to buyers that's really important so thank you for pointing that out. It's particularly important to me that the perception is because of the types of buyers I'm looking to attract. Maybe purple bricks for the sale is not the right channel.

appreciate your time replying and useful and detailed response

thanks

dont_use_vistaprint

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82099490#Comment_82099490

thanks for your reply. I don't agree with some of it but thanks anyway.!

i've never had any trouble selling houses, location location location even in a really bad market I've sold above the market value.

I'm quite strategic with what I buy when I buy and where I buy. The current house I am selling was brought during Covid, when nothing was shifting, with a Tennant in situ after the government had brought out a Law that required you to give 12 months notice to Tennant., from an owner that was almost bankrupt. I bought without survey and gave him a ln instant cash advance to help him pay some debts , which of course he later paid me back. All legit and checked by the legals . I got the property for 60% of its market value, now I'm gonna sell it for 140% of its value. It's a beautiful three bed detached house but far too big for me on my own.

dont_use_vistaprint

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82099089#Comment_82099089

so called me back today after I made a couple of enquiries yesterday they seemed really helpful and did 999 package wouldn't be available. She answered all my questions, she wasn't didn't try to sign me up there and then she said they have a backlog for in person evaluations but if I was happy to take a phone call evaluation or video Possibly she could get it in for tomorrow. I couldn't book this myself online even though I have an existing account because my postcode is down for in person evaluations, but she managed to get around that and has booked it for tomorrow.

The 1600 feet does change things a little bit especially as someone else pointed out buy a perception of purple bricks, I'm not sure why though any serious buyer knows what they are buying and don't really care who is marketing it they will do their own research and ignore anything their estate agent says.

maybe inexperienced buyers are put off by purple bricks?

Anyway, I'm gonna take the call tomorrow but not sign up tomorrow. I'm just gonna do a little bit more research on the fees comparison based on a price of 270 and 355,

I have used purple bricks before and from memory the platform is absolutely excellent for managing lots of offers, it basically gives you like a auction system kind of from memory where you can let people bounce back and forward to bringing the price to the highest possible

but it's been a good five or so years since I've used them interestingly all my sales data and offers from the last sale are still in there! .

MeteredOut

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82099531#Comment_82099531

"now I'm gonna sell it for 140% of its value"

Everything sells for or around it's true value(*). If you "sell for 140% of its value" then it was undervalued in the first place.

Will certainly be interesting to see how you get on and I'm looking forward to your progress posts (as someone who is not a fan of EAs and also think they provide limited added value compared to their fees). I

(*) unless it was a distress purchase or your buyer is an idiot