Selling your house yourself

dangerd

Has anyone any experience selling their house independently? Is it worth getting an auctioneer or does it give you more control over the situation if you do it yourself. Does it put buyers off and would you recommend it to a complete novice?

bonyn

dangerd wrote: »

Has anyone any experience selling their house independently? Is it worth getting an auctioneer or does it give you more control over the situation if you do it yourself. Does it put buyers off and would you recommend it to a complete novice?

I sold my house myself.
I put the ad on daft and had a few viewings.

One thing about an auctioneer is they may be tempted to overstate the value and encourage you to list it with them, or understate the value but assure you they have someone lined up who will pay a premium.

Set the valuation yourself. Go on property price register and see what nearby properties sold for. Consider the properties (perhaps google the address to see photos and descriptions on daft.ie or google street view).
If your house has had work done recently, add a premium.. premiums also apply to end of terrace, rear access, etc.

Then see what similar houses are currently listed for, bearing in mind some are listed low to attract attention, or high for haggle room.

Another bit of advice. My solicitor said to be very careful when agreeing to a sale. Even sending a text, always append the words "subject to contract" as you cannot blame a 3rd party (the est agent) for misunderstandings.

Also, don't get strung along by people in selling chains or people without mortgage approval. Estate agents are used to dealing with them. You might not be.

dangerd

Thanks for your reply. Did you feel you got a good price in the end and would you recommend it to others? I put my house on the market a few years ago and didn't have a good experience with an auctioneer. Now that I've started the process again I'm finding I'm loosing my confidence in them again.

bonyn

I feel I got a good price, and the process went fairly well (which may have been luck). I hadn't approached an estate agent. The house value was relatively low anyway, so didn't see the need to pay commission, advertising and other such fees.

Angel2016

My neighbor sold her apartment herself, she put an add on DAFT and it sold within 2 days she knew all there was to know about the building, the fees on the place what was happening in the area as its a large complex she had no problem at all and saved herself a few quid, I just sold mine via an estate agent and they were really good and easy going it took 6 weeks to sell.
I would have sold it myself but my mam had a stroke is in hospital and I didn't have the time for viewings etc...

steps_3314

I recently sold our house myself without the use of an EA. Put advert on Daft for 300 euros.

We had first advertised with an EA earlier this year and we received no offers following 4 viewings. No feedback either and very slow. We went again a month later ourselves and had a dozen viewings and received the asking price - 200k. We are now Sale Agreed and due to sign contracts this week (fingers x'd)

I think there are pro's/con's to using an EA

An EA might get a higher price (i felt hesitant to push bidders for risk of losing them but if you get 2 parties bidding you are in stronger posiiton)
I was available to do viewings and feedback was prompt - EA tend to be slow to get back to vendors and bidders.
In the end we were happy and saved some money also - approx 3k-4k before VAT

It can be stressful though but no less than when you have an EA. We had an offer for 10K more but this fell through so make sure your bidders have Approval in Principle and there are no legal issues which could prevent the bidder completing the sale which was the issue we had with the 210K bidders. They had a deposit but a previous marriage related issue meant they had to pull out. Can be disheartening but you go again.

Patience is key which can be hard.

Graham

steps_3314 wrote: »

An EA might get a higher price

steps_3314 wrote: »

In the end we were happy and saved some money also - approx 3k-4k before VAT

That 3k - 4k you didn't spend may not have been a saving at all if an EA could have sold your house for another 5k/10k/20k

I'm not saying that's the case in your previous house, just pointing out that money you don't spend does not necessarily equate to money you have saved.

steps_3314

Graham wrote: »

That 3k - 4k you didn't spend may not have been a saving at all if an EA could have sold your house for another 5k/10k/20k

I'm not saying that's the case in your previous house, just pointing out that money you don't spend does not necessarily equate to money you have saved.

I agree but my circumstances were different.

We have a NE trade up mortgage so an increase in the selling price of 5k/10k went off the overall 30 yr mortgage whereas a savings from the removal of an EA meant money on the hip now (helpful considering the legal costs)

Also 2 houses sold in my estate for 30k and 35k less under 9 months ago so I felt we got more than enough. Our house was a higher standard but really not a huge deal different. There are also house being sold at the moment by Nama for 40K less but these houses although similar are on a main road whereas we are in a cul de sac so again I was more than happy to get what we did and could not expect much more.

And as I described my experience with our EA was negative. Some have a bad rep for a good reason. Have heard all sorts of stories. I'm sure there are good ones so ask friends/family and so on would be my advice if you do want an EA.

Zelda247

Was it really 300 euros to post on Daft.ie?

steps_3314

Zelda247 wrote: »

Was it really 300 euros to post on Daft.ie?

Really? Ok it was 299E

Just go check but yes. They also have premium ads which are 399.

Zelda247

steps_3314 wrote: »

Really? Ok it was 299E

Just go check but yes. They also have premium ads which are 399.

Thanks, might be worth it though.

dangerd

Thanks for getting back to me everyone. Is there anywhere you can go to get more information? It certainly is an interested option. I put the house on the market a few years back and did not have a great experience with the auctioneer and so far the ones I have talked to are not building my confidence.

steps_3314

dangerd wrote: »

Thanks for getting back to me everyone. Is there anywhere you can go to get more information? It certainly is an interested option. I put the house on the market a few years back and did not have a great experience with the auctioneer and so far the ones I have talked to are not building my confidence.

Check the forum section on Dafts.ie There are some existing threads with folks describing their experiences.

Also try askaboutmoney.ie or at least post a new thread there for comments.