Private house sale

Hello, does anyone know about / or has anyone sold a house privately?

I'm interested in doing this and am looking for advice. Good idea? Bad idea?

I'd welcome any info.

Thank you

If not using an EA, you really do need to involve your solicitor at a very early stage.

If not using an EA, you really do need to involve your solicitor at a very early stage.

Why does the lack of an estate agent have any bearing on when or even if you involve a solicitor? Answer is it doesn't. I've done my own conveyancing to buy a house, which is more complicated than selling one, and that was pretty straight forward.

There is no reason why you can't sell a property yourself, the main problem you'll have is advertising well enough to find the right buyer. The other option is to strike a deal with an EA as the market is flat and they are presumably fairly desperate for business. Again I've had experience of this, and it's not hard. They have fixed costs for brochures and marketing (although you could insist on doing the brochures yourself, but it might not be cost effective) but the rest of their fee is a % of the selling price. This is largely nonsense of course, because if you have a higihly desirable top end property on at a realistic price, it may sell far more easily than a small terrace for which you're asking too much! So my advice would be either have a go yoursef, or negotiate with and EA.

Ps I did have a go at selling my aunt's house privately after she died with no success. That said I wasn't exactly making it my priority.

Hope this helps.

(we spent 3 months with an EA dumped them in December and sold it ourselve via mypropertyforsale and sold it with in a week saved us over 7k on EA fees.

eta: it cost us around £360 to get listed on all sites and to have a 4sale board. )

The above is from another thread on this forum I've just spotted.

Why does the lack of an estate agent have any bearing on when or even if you involve a solicitor? Answer is it doesn't.

But, of course, your answer's wrong.

DiY sales are more likely to lead to disputes between V and P, for lack of an EA buffer between them: hence use of a solicitor.

But, of course, your answer's wrong.

DiY sales are more likely to lead to disputes between V and P, for lack of an EA buffer between them: hence use of a solicitor.

My word you do come across as smug if I may say so. No opinions for you are there, just 'facts' you seem to pluck from the air.

Many years ago I sold my house privately and had no problem getting people interested in buying. I made a couple of posters and stuck one in the window and another on a home-made For Sale board. The big problem for me at that time was I had no means of checking what prospective buyers said about their financial state. One guy, for instance, assured me he had cash - but he hadn't: he had optimistic hopes of borrowing cash from his employer. The hopes did not materialise and so he had wasted time for me, but only a week or so, iirc.

I also sold my next house privately. Home-made posters in the windows again. No problems with the selling but co-ordinating the dates of selling the house and buying the next house was a bit difficult and I was glad of the help of my solicitor at that time.

My word you do come across as smug if I may say so. No opinions for you are there, just 'facts' you seem to pluck from the air.

No opinion, no- just a statement of the bleedin' obvious.

No opinion, no- just a statement of the bleedin' obvious.

Whoopsey! You forgot your manners there I think.

Whoopsey! You forgot your manners there I think.

Nope, I remembered them but used only the less-nice one. With you, it seemed appropriate.

Nope, I remembered them but used only the less-nice one. With you, it seemed appropriate.

Nice! Resorting to swearing because you disagree with what I've posted.

Nice! Resorting to swearing because you disagree with what I've posted.

(Sigh) Haven't you ever seem or even heard of Fawlty Towers?