Selling my house - my way

dont_use_vistaprint

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

I just saw your bullet points. Absolutely happy to keep you updated on these. I will post replies into this thread, I'm in no rush. I need to sell probably buy the summer of 2028 although I'm looking at properties now and if I find something I like I may expedite myself by reducing to the market value. Although I wouldn't expedite my purchase in anyway, I would just let it take its time to give me more time to get a good price, but I am in a position to buy another property without selling first.

where will I advertise Rightmove and Zoopla, there's really no need to do anything else is there? I will of course tell everyone in the street and they will tell all their families. I will get a few offers there. I've actually already had offer from the daughter of the opposite when I wasn't selling.. I will do it on social media discreetly on places like LinkedIn because it's probably against the terms and conditions but once people know you're selling a property and see a few pictures of it word gets around someone wants to relocate to a nice area in the Midlands etc… use all your networks socials and physical networks

how will I decide if interested parties are proceed? This is the toughest part, because you can only accept one offer at a time legally and people do lie about their ability to move forward, in my experience estate agents are the worst liars worse than the clients themselves. Give a good look in the eye and if we're doing a deal, you gotta shake my hand and look me in the eye, if it feels like llimp lettuce I'm gonna be worried.

the legal team handle the checks not me or an EA. The EA pretend to do some checks first, but they are so easy to get around they are very wet behind the ears when it comes to identity authentication and funds. You just have to leave the checks to the legal team, you cannot rely on the estate agents own checks and you cannot do them yourself

I never use a solicitor. I use a conveyancer . I've used the same one for the last 20 years. I just follow him around the different companies. He knows me and he knows how to get things done in a style that I like, he understands the things I'm not interested in and won't bang on about them too much like non-existent or some receipt for a double glaze patio door that was done 10 years ago that I don't care about I can tell whether it's been fitted properly by looking at it , opening it up , giving it a bit of a shake. His job is to push the other side Forward fast and get everything done that needs to be done by responding to things when they arrive not just opening the file once a week.

how do I negotiate purple brick platform? Makes that very easily and very transparent. It's like an auction. Ideally, you want the be a face-to-face but then legally they must be replicated in the purple brick system. All actions are done in the platform, not in person..

when will I expedite taking the long view of two years Although PB are now saying max one year I would typically review interest iquarterly and if low do something including have a rough plan in advance of when to reduce to expedite. Level of interest isn't just about price it's good photographs and copy that gets interest, you are not selling a house you're selling a lifestyle, a possible future. No one cares that there's a three-piece bathroom suite of bath sink and toilet why anyone would put that in a sales copy is beyond me, show them the lovely trees in the street and tell them how long it takes to walk to the train station. How many hours of sunshine the back south facing garden gets and how private it is don't just tell them show them. Take some pictures of the street, you might not be able to do that on Rightmove but you can do it on your socials.

Anyway, it's only day for this property, it will be on the market in the next couple of days via socials and I will know the timescales for Rightmove in the next day or so

RelievedSheff

Pricing is despite what you say is very important.

No one will even bother to view a property that is over priced. You won't sell if you can't even get people through the door to look at it.

I look forward to your updates.

Billynomates2

Hi everyone

I have been trying to sell for my house for 10 months and finally found a buyer but the chain has broken and I have lost the property I was planning to buy so we start again!.

It would appear that the whole process is flawed and I would like to offer a solution and would welcome any feedback.

Solution:

A government back bond which locks in all parties and ensures the process completes quickly . This would only come into force once all the other necessary checks are completed .

It could be paid by a very nominal fee of 0.1% of the sale on completion .

This would guarantee that all parties secure both the sale/purchase of their chosen property.

I understand that there is talk about issuing something to stop gazumping but does not stop the chain breaking down and will speed up and secure the market place.

It may have legs and I would welcome any feedback

Thanks

user1977

"All necessary checks" aren't usually complete until immediately before completion, so not sure how much use this is.

horsewithnoname

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82098732#Comment_82098732

you have clearly made up your mind and don’t want anything but people telling you you’re right. This forum isn’t the place for that; you will get opinions contrary to your own, like it or not.

otb666

We also have wasted 10 months on a buyer that lost their buyers twice a few days before completions. You need to check the chain out before you accept an offer as otherwise you are just wasting your time. Check out what they are selling and hope to god no one below them owns a leasehold. We have picked the smallest chain this time round.

We found buyers easy enough both times in days Its completing that seem unobtainable. Our EA have earnt their money with us when and if we complete.

Also right move removes property if its been on SSTC after 9 months we found. This worked for us as when we relisted it looked like it was new to market when it was not.

OldScientist

Just to add to what @jimi_man said about viewings we have recently (within the last 3 or 4 months) seen this from both sides.

In our experience, the three (out of 13) viewings we had with the owners were the worst viewings we had (not the worst house - that was with an EA) - they tended to be long (the longest was 40 minutes!) compared to the, perfectly adequate, 15 minutes with the agent. In fact, for some houses a couple of minutes was enough to make a decision (both positive and negative).

IMO, doing your own viewings is perfectly possible following some suggested 'rules'

1. Stick to 15 minutes at most (we were viewing in blocks of 3 and needed to be elsewhere on a tight schedule - I'm sure it wasn't a coincidence that the EA scheduled owner led viewings at the end of a block!)
2. Let the rooms speak for themselves - no-one is that interested in how you boarded the loft or how you converted the garage to operate as a vintage vehicle workshop (a 10 minute spiel in one of our viewings), but answer questions if the viewers have any.
3. Keep the number of people in the house to a minimum (in our worst owner led viewing, there were 5 people in the house).
4. Tidy up before each viewing!

In terms of selling a house (inc. pricing, but unfortunately there are no DIY selling tips), https://www.theadvisory.co.uk is the best website I have read in this area. One key takeaway for me was pricing to get feet through the door usually ends up with a better price. In our case, we priced at the bottom end of the same range suggested by each of 3 different EA (which was close to the top end of the range I'd found by studying the final asking prices before sale of houses similar to ours over the previous 6 months) and got 16 viewings in 3 days and 7 verified offers (ranging from slightly below asking to about 7% over asking).

By 'verified', I note that when both selling and buying the EA insisted on ID check and proof of funds before an offer could be formally accepted. While you could wait for the solicitor to do the ID check and proof of funds, you could do a preliminary one by asking to see their passport/drivers license/proof of address and mortgage in principle/bank statements before you accept the offer (in my experience, documentary evidence is better than a steady eye and a firm handshake although both can be faked).

Dustyevsky

Interesting thread! We have bought and sold privately with no problems, but in earlier times and with very different properties from the one we have now. My personal experience is well out of date.

I wouldn't rule out dealing with a third party directly via Purple Bricks, but I'd be on my guard, just the same as I would be with someone whose communications lack accuracy, or appear dismissive. They might be fine, or they might not. With the kind of property we last viewed, it was quite normal for the owners to handle viewings, Most were lovely, and all tried hard to be 'professional,' but some should never have taken on the job! They gave away more than they realised.

I'd simply want to pay a fair price for a property. What I see locally, is agents often pricing hopefully to get business, and sellers deluded by this. Nothing has sold in my postcode this year, or last year, except a property reduced by 20% of its original asking price in late 2024. Is it "the market," or is it people failing to perceive reality?

All I know is, correctly priced property sells

jimi_man

Agree with the above. Where EAs have the edge is interpreting what you want within the parameters of the place you are looking at. So for example, with the OPs house which I have no idea what it's like, you might want something that it hasn't got - a large kitchen and small sitting room or a small kitchen and a large sitting room - and they are very good at saying that you can do this or that with the place to get what you want.

With owners, they tend to get overly focussed on stating the obvious 'this is where the boiler is' and as above, why the room was done as it was etc etc.

Some of what the OP says about selling a lifestyle can be true but tbh that's usually for far more expensive houses and needs to be marketed carefully. At this price point most people want to know if the place offers enough of the things on their 'tick box' to make it a viable proposition. Lovely trees in the street are great, but you'll spend more time in the house itself than wandering amongst those trees, so if the house doesn't offer what you want then those trees are somewhat academic. EAs (good ones) seem to know this.

lady1964

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82098672#Comment_82098672

That’s actually quite a rude response and also not necessary