Selling Privately

fifigogo

Just wondering if anyone has sold their property WITHOUT the use of an estate agent and how it went for them? I know it's not very common in Ireland to sell privately but how complicated is it really?

My brother and I have joint mortgage on a house we live in and want to sell. We were going to go through an estate agent (we've had two EAs to value the house) but as we woud have to clear the mortgage, we want to make as much as we can from the house so I was thinking of selling privately. I know we have to have the house BER certified, need our own sign, do our own advertising and have a solicitor in place for the legal side plus the viewings. It'll probably be a bit of a head ache for us to sell privately but if we can save €5k or 6k then it might be worth it.

Plasandrunt

I sold my house last via a private sale and if I could do it again I would.

I didn't have to advertise the house because it was a friend of a friend who bought it. She'd got word I was looking to sell and we came to an agreement on price. Thankfully there was no mortgage on the property so we didn't have to worry about that.

The best thing was that we were able to communicate directly with one another and not have to go through an intermediate source such as an estate agent so our minds were at ease at all times.

BigAl81

Really surprises me more people don't sell privately.

Been to a few viewings and the agents hadn't a clue.

Just stick it on daft or wherever and save a few quid!

mugsymugsy

Haven't done it myself but agree with people here. Make sure you have a decent solicitor and have it up on daft and myhome with decent photos etc best of luck with it.

Check property price register for other properties in your area and what they have sold for.

campingcarist

I sold my last property less than 2 years ago. I had it sold within 8 days (actually, the first viewing). I used Daft with a detailed description including all the things I would want to know if I was buying and plenty of photos.

Absolutely no problem at all - and I got my asking price which was about 40% more than I paid for it 2 years earlier.

bbari

Lets say there are 2/3/4 interested parties and start bidding against each other, who would you trust more when they call you to tell that your are out bidden - Agent or the private seller ? Yes we don't trust the agents much either but incase you are selling privately, potential buyer can think that the seller is making it up for the obvious reasons ? Its great if you can sell privately as you will save 1% + vat the least.

listermint

bbari wrote: »

Lets say there are 2/3/4 interested parties and start bidding against each other, who would you trust more when they call you to tell that your are out bidden - Agent or the private seller ? Yes we don't trust the agents much either but incase you are selling privately, potential buyer can think that the seller is making it up for the obvious reasons ? Its great if you can sell privately as you will save 1% + vat the least.

Trust neither tbh.

Radiant Cool Crazy Nightmare

I sold my old home last year privately, but like other posters it was a neighbours friend who approached me when they heard I was contemplating selling. Saved a lot by not involving an estate agent. If your property is in an anyway popular area I would definetley attempt to sell it privately as it coild well be worth it for the chunk of change you could save.

Lekrub

If you havent sold a car on donedeal or similar I don't think you should attempt it. But from my limited experience in this, unless your EA is below .5% it's pretty easy to do yourself. Your solicitor does all the work anyway. Handling the deposit is the tricky bit - but that also goes to your solictor if selling private

Logo

campingcarist wrote: »

I sold my last property less than 2 years ago. I had it sold within 8 days (actually, the first viewing). I used Daft with a detailed description including all the things I would want to know if I was buying and plenty of photos.
Absolutely no problem at all - and I got my asking price which was about 40% more than I paid for it 2 years earlier.

campingcarist - as a matter of interest, how much did it cost to advertise the house sale on Daft?

bbari

Logo wrote:

campingcarist - as a matter of interest, how much did it cost to advertise the house sale on Daft?

Three packages. 300, 400 and 500

daft.ie/ad-entry/sale

wordofwarning

listermint wrote: »

Trust neither tbh.

Well I know I would not buy off a private seller unless there was a significant discount. But the seller is selling for a discount off the market rate, than saving the 1% fee is false economy in the first place. Slapping up a sign and selling will not attract all potential buyers

I know some people don't trust estate agents. But if an estate agent lies about bids, they can lose their license and their livelihood. There is an incentive not for them to lie. Whereas a guy with a sign in his garden can lie left, right and centre with no recourse.

fifigogo

THe house is in a popular area and it is in very good condition. It just needs a lick of paint here and there but over all a very good property close to everything. We did have it valued last year and were told the EA fee would be around 5k+. AFter clearing the mortgage which is small, I won't have enough to buy within Dublin so I need every penny. sellityourself.ie charge €150 to advertise and you get a For Sale sign included. DAft charge around €350 to 400 and then whatever the solicitor fees are. I think I will go privately. It's not that I don't trust EAs, I would rather pocket as much of that 5k as I can.

catrionanic

fifigogo wrote: »

THe house is in a popular area and it is in very good condition. It just needs a lick of paint here and there but over all a very good property close to everything. We did have it valued last year and were told the EA fee would be around 5k+. AFter clearing the mortgage which is small, I won't have enough to buy within Dublin so I need every penny. sellityourself.ie charge €150 to advertise and you get a For Sale sign included. DAft charge around €350 to 400 and then whatever the solicitor fees are. I think I will go privately. It's not that I don't trust EAs, I would rather pocket as much of that 5k as I can.

Please keep us updated and let us know how you get on! Best of luck.

listermint

wordofwarning wrote: »

Well I know I would not buy off a private seller unless there was a significant discount. But the seller is selling for a discount off the market rate, than saving the 1% fee is false economy in the first place. Slapping up a sign and selling will not attract all potential buyers

I know some people don't trust estate agents. But if an estate agent lies about bids, they can lose their license and their livelihood. There is an incentive not for them to lie. Whereas a guy with a sign in his garden can lie left, right and centre with no recourse.

I have no trust in an agent losing any license either.

And I've no problems with buying privately. When I said trust neither it means exactly that. Do your own checks and balances just because someone has a sign over their door doesn't make them any less unscrupulous.

Logo

bbari wrote: »

Three packages. 300, 400 and 500

daft.ie/ad-entry/sale

Does anyone know if I can place an advert on myhome.ie for private house sales? I've tried the site but can't find any prices listed. Thanks

Mr. Incognito

If you have a decent Solicitor you dont need an EA imo.

The Solicitor does all the work anyway.

The Agent just shows people around and takes a booking deposit.

Logo

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

If you have a decent Solicitor you dont need an EA imo.

The Solicitor does all the work anyway.

The Agent just shows people around and takes a booking deposit.

Thanks for the info. BTW what work does a solicitor do for the seller besides taking a booking deposit - and how much does it cost the seller?

bbari

Logo wrote: »

Does anyone know if I can place an advert on myhome.ie for private house sales? I've tried the site but can't find any prices listed. Thanks

MyHome - It looks like that you can only advertise thru the agents.
I guess daft is the way to go for pvt sale ?

Logo

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

If you have a decent Solicitor you dont need an EA imo.

The Solicitor does all the work anyway.

The Agent just shows people around and takes a booking deposit.

For what purpose does a private house seller need to employ a solicitor?

mugsymugsy

Logo wrote: »

For what purpose does a private house seller need to employ a solicitor?

So the buyer raises an issue with land registry or legal stuff who is the seller going to ask.

100% decent solicitor required don't skimp on that!

Logo

mugsymugsy wrote: »

So the buyer raises an issue with land registry or legal stuff who is the seller going to ask.

100% decent solicitor required don't skimp on that!

Surely it's up to the buyer to employ a solicitor to ensure that "land registry or legal stuff" is correct?

fifigogo

catrionanic wrote: »

Please keep us updated and let us know how you get on! Best of luck.

Will do. It probably won't be until June. Just need to get some bits and pieces done, hire the solicitor and then advertise. A house on my road has already gone up for sale so it's given me a price guide.

Mr. Incognito

Logo wrote: »

For what purpose does a private house seller need to employ a solicitor?

1. To answer legal questions re title, planning, easments, lis pendens, LPT, charges, VAT clauses, special conditions, draft the contract of sale, answer requisitions on sale and pre contract enquires, review the Deed of Conveyance/ Lease, give undertakings where required.

2. Because the Bank is not stupid enough to give a purchaser money to buy a house off some moron trying to do his own legals who will not be able to transfer the legal title properly and will get absolutely run over by the purchasers solicitor and in the absence of an equally stupid purchaser for cash you will not get finance for the transaction.

Logo

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

1. To answer legal questions re title, planning, easments, lis pendens, LPT, charges, VAT clauses, special conditions, draft the contract of sale, answer requisitions on sale and pre contract enquires, review the Deed of Conveyance/ Lease, give undertakings where required.

2. Because the Bank is not stupid enough to give a purchaser money off some moron trying to do his own legals and in the absence of an equally stupid purchaser for cash you will not get finance for the transaction.

The buyer pays a solicitor to address title, planning, easments, lis pendens, LPT, charges, VAT clauses, special conditions, draft the contract of sale, answer requisitions on sale and pre contract enquires, review the Deed of Conveyance/
Lease, give undertakings where required.

The bank requires and will bill the purchaser for a Letter of Loan Approval stating the property value.

busylady

Logo wrote: »

The buyer pays a solicitor to address title, planning, easments, lis pendens, LPT, charges, VAT clauses, special conditions, draft the contract of sale, answer requisitions on sale and pre contract enquires, review the Deed of Conveyance/
Lease, give undertakings where required.

The bank requires and will bill the purchaser for a Letter of Loan Approval stating the property value.

It is the seller's solicitor who drafts the contracts, deals with special conditions, replies to pre-contract queries, replies to requisitions on title, drafts the closing declarations, explains the searches, redeems the mortgage, arranges for the mortgage to be removed from the title etc. Mr Icognito's post set it out very clearly. A purchaser's solicitor will only deal with a qualified solicitor with professional indemnity insurance, as will the bank. The bank issues a Letter of Loan Approval to the purchaser and will require a Certificate of Title from the purchaser's solicitor.

Logo

Thank you busylady and Mr. Incognito for taking the time to explain. Assuming that title, drafts closing declarations, searches etc. are fairy recent I assume that a purchaser's solicitor will be able to manoeuvre through the quagmire that's involved in the business of a house purchase, as will the bank.

Askthe EA

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

The Agent just shows people around and takes a booking deposit.

If only this were true, I wouldn't have Grey hair!

quietsailor

If you are selling privately it would be well worth your time to get YOUR solicitor to perform all the legal checks the buyers solicitor will be carrying out and make sure everything is in order and correct. Otherwise the sale can be held up on your end.

You're going to have to employ them anyway so you might as well use them to your advantage

Mr. Incognito

Logo wrote: »

Thank you busylady and Mr. Incognito for taking the time to explain. Assuming that title, drafts closing declarations, searches etc. are fairy recent I assume that a purchaser's solicitor will be able to manoeuvre through the quagmire that's involved in the business of a house purchase, as will the bank.

The purchasers solicitor will not do the sellers solicitors job for a number of reasons.

1. It's illegal to act on both sides of a conveyancing transaction and for good reason.

2. He's not selling the title. It's up to the Purchasers solicitor to make sure they have good title and draft the documents to sell it.

3. It's up to the Buyers solicitor to check that the title you are buying is good title.

4. You assume wrong.

campingcarist

Logo wrote: »

campingcarist - as a matter of interest, how much did it cost to advertise the house sale on Daft?

As far as I remember, it didn't cost me anything - I used the cheapest version on daft. However, the site is not that straight forward and I had to make several attempts before I got my ad on-line.
Little indication as to when you have to do certain things - my first attempt I wasn't ready with my photos (they were still in my camera and not on my computer).

As the booking deposit is refundable if seller pulls out, I didn;t bother with the deposit. I also bought the property from someone who was selling privately and he didn't bother with the deposit either.