AlwaysAVFC Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 Anybody have any advise or information on selling a house without using an estate agent? Having never bought or sold a house before, I don't really know the ins and outs of what an estate agent does, but say I had a potential buyer already how easy is it to avoid paying estate agent fees? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinker Posted April 3, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted April 3, 2016 Sell it using an online agent , one who lists your property on rightmove, I have sold 2 this was and saved 4000 on agents fees Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapal_fan Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 Conversely, I'm currently selling through Connells who will be taking 2 grand off me. OH MY DAYS THEY'VE DONE **** ALL THE ROBBING ****. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villarule123 Posted April 3, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted April 3, 2016 8 minutes ago, lapal_fan said: Conversely, I'm currently selling through Connells who will be taking 2 grand off me. OH MY DAYS THEY'VE DONE **** ALL THE ROBBING ****. They are lazy useless shits, from what I could tell from the ones I used. I had to wait over a week for a board to go up outside the house, they didn't put up a floor plan like they promised and they could never make themselves available to show the buyer around the house so I had to do it myself. After ditching the first agents, the next I complained about a lack of viewings and then on the same day two viewings magically appeared. Luckily we part exchanged our house in the end for the price we wanted with the building company. The most stressful part of moving home for us was the rocket polisher estate agents. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapal_fan Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 10 hours ago, villarule123 said: They are lazy useless shits, from what I could tell from the ones I used. I had to wait over a week for a board to go up outside the house, they didn't put up a floor plan like they promised and they could never make themselves available to show the buyer around the house so I had to do it myself. After ditching the first agents, the next I complained about a lack of viewings and then on the same day two viewings magically appeared. Luckily we part exchanged our house in the end for the price we wanted with the building company. The most stressful part of moving home for us was the rocket polisher estate agents. In all fairness, we haven't really had much problem with them - apart from when we first put our house up, there weren't many viewings after the 1st two weeks, which I expected to be honest. Our photos, floor plan etc were all up without hassle. But now we're in a chain and we've sent all the stuff to our solicitors, I'm getting phone calls asking the stupidest things, things that they already know. We also had the problem of them not doing many of the viewings. The people we've sold to, I did the viewing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 Next time I move I'll certainly use one of the new online sellers. Paying upwards of 2 grand to a highstreet agent is bonkers in this day and age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante_Lockhart Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 I used Purple Bricks to sell mine, used their online conveyors too. Was so easy, downloading and uploading files instead of making appointments to see the solicitor etc... Only stressful thing was the fact it was a leasehold property and I was extending the lease prior to selling which A: Cost a bomb and B: Took ages because the management company of the building were being clearings in the woods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zak Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 13 hours ago, AlwaysAVFC said: Anybody have any advise or information on selling a house without using an estate agent? Having never bought or sold a house before, I don't really know the ins and outs of what an estate agent does, but say I had a potential buyer already how easy is it to avoid paying estate agent fees? If you have a buyer, you dont need an estate agent, just put solicitors in touch with each other. Although sometimes having a middle man is quite handy. If i got an offer on a house without an agent, one thing i would do is get a couple of (free) valuations done by estate agents just to confirm the offer is at the correct price. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlwaysAVFC Posted April 4, 2016 Author Share Posted April 4, 2016 13 minutes ago, zak said: If you have a buyer, you dont need an estate agent, just put solicitors in touch with each other. Although sometimes having a middle man is quite handy. If i got an offer on a house without an agent, one thing i would do is get a couple of (free) valuations done by estate agents just to confirm the offer is at the correct price. I have just started arranging a couple of valuations, but that's as far as I've got. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zak Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 2 minutes ago, AlwaysAVFC said: I have just started arranging a couple of valuations, but that's as far as I've got. How did this offer come about? presume you werent trying to sell the house but someone randomly offered on your house? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlwaysAVFC Posted April 4, 2016 Author Share Posted April 4, 2016 1 minute ago, zak said: How did this offer come about? presume you werent trying to sell the house but someone randomly offered on your house? It's my Grandads house, the brother of his next door neighbour said he was interested a while ago if we were going to sell if my grandad went into a care home, which he didn't end up doing. He apparently is still interested but nothing more than that currently as there hasn't been an offer I haven't got a value on it. I also have no idea what his situation is, whether he owns already and needs to sell or any other possible factors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted April 4, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted April 4, 2016 This kind of thing interests me. I'm thinking of selling my house soon and was going to go down the traditional estate agent route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapal_fan Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 Wished I'd have asked! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zak Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 If you have the time to do viewings yourself then online agents may be the way to go due to saved costs, although i have found online agents to be just as useless and organizing viewings with them fairly annoying and difficult, as they have to contact seller then get back to you, if he cant do that time you have to go through the whole process again and so on, which can put you off as a buyer. I will presume you are not going to be available for viewings all the time and thus you may have a few less viewings than if you had a local agency who will be available most the time. Another benefit a local agent might have, is they have experience in selling houses at viewings and superior knowledge of local market, which might outweigh your superior knowledge of the property. I recently sold my house with a local agent, and it took something like 45 viewings and 2 months before i got an offer i deemed acceptable. There is no way i would have been able to do them myself, i dont really have flexible hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante_Lockhart Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 I do highly recommend Purple Bricks though. Manage if all through the online portal (Viewings, feedback, offers etc...). Think I paid about £700.00 for my sale, so saved a LOT of money by doing a few viewings and clicking a button to say 'offer accepted' 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omariqy Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Anyone recommend a good solicitor/conveyancer to use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 I just went for the cheapest one that came up on a comparison site, which for me ended up being Chadwick Lawrence, but I'd check the numbers for your purchase/sale. If it's a bog standard house sale, you'll probably speak to them once, and then exchange a couple of emails for the paperwork, there's no need for it to be a local firm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 I sold recently with Paul Carr cost £1800, but sold in first week, so expensive, but they know how to sell your house. Online agents will put your house for sale but not really help you sell. Anyway I made them graft as I used there recommended solicitors who didn't want to sell my house with a loft conversion without building regs, although the estate agent was saying it was ok, as I was not selling it as a room. So cut a long story short, they either had to make the solicitor sell or lose £1800 quid as I was threatening to take it off the market if they did not let the buyers purchase my property and sell private. So really its not the estate agents who are a nightmare, even though they are all useless. its the solicitors. Something which should now take 7-14 days with a couple of emails still takes around 3 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baselayers Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Estate agents are pure scum 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted February 10, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted February 10, 2017 (edited) My advice is use an estate agent. If you are South Brum or Solihull use Melvyn Danes. Either way a "proper" estate agent i.e. not a cowboy will give you valuable advice and get it sold for the right price quickly, and then whip your buyer and chain into shape. A good one can be invaluable. Not sure what the hate is on here for them but I would bet my bottom dollar that those who think they are useless and scum have probably handed their business to the cheapest agent or the agent claiming to get them the highest (and therefore probably unrealistic) price. You get what you pay for with professional advice my friends. Edited February 10, 2017 by sidcow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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