Selling Property Privately in the UK

Selling Property Privately in the UK

An article written by industry insiders from theadvisory.co.uk

First, let us make a few things perfectly clear about selling your home without an estate agent It can and is done all the time, all across the UK! It is not difficult to do and you don’t need any special expertise! Using an estate agent will not guarantee that you sell for more!

Selling property advice

Many people feel strongly that most Estate Agents don’t deserve the fees they charge

Property prices have risen dramatically over the last decade. Seeing as estate agency fees are based on the percentage of your sale price, Estate Agents are making a killing (over £4 billion last year). Are they working any harder for their money? Are they providing consumers with a better service?  The evidence presented earlier suggests that they are not.The truth is, selling a property is not difficult. There’s certainly no mystery to it and you don’t need the sales skills of Arthur Daley to get the best possible price.

Selling your home

1. Price the property competitively (use estate agents for this, they’re free)
2. Present the property well (no one is going to pay you top dollar for a dump)
3. Take your pick of the marketing options that are available to today’s private seller
4. Find a decent conveyacer to take care of the legals & process the transaction

That is it! When you get these fundamentals right, property sells it’s self. Don’t let any estate agent scare you into believing otherwise.

Why Should You Sell Your Property Privately?

The main benefit is the £1000’s of pounds you save in Estate Agents fees. To give yourself the absolute best chance selling privately we’d say that you should put aside a marketing budget of around £500 (it is of course possible to do it for less than this). 

More Benefits to Selling Houses Privately

By selling your property privately you can also look forward to

• Taking control of your sale (being in the driving seat)
• Receiving direct and immediate feedback on all aspects of your sale
• Not having to rely on the word of your Agent for updates (there will be no Chinese whispers, brush-off’s, excuses or lies)
• Knowing that your sale is receiving the attention it deserves
• Probably achieving the highest possible sale price

That last point deserves a fuller explanation. You see, for many Estate Agents, a sale is a sale. They get paid no matter what price is finally agreed.

The harsh reality of estate agency is that the effort involved in negotiating an extra £5,000 -£10,000 for you will only and an extra £100 – £200 on to the estate agent’s bill.

It’s not much of an incentive for an Estate Agent to go the extra mile and fight for your best price once an adequate offer has been presented.

The recent bestseller by Steven J. Levitt (winner of the “John Bates Clark Medal”, awarded to the best American economist under 40) on modern economics called Freakonomics has even shown scientific proof of this.

They forecast that by 2010 nearly half (that’s 700,000) of all property sold in the UK each year will be without the help of a traditional Estate Agent.

Now, that’s got to be bad news for the element of rogue estate agents out there!

Whichever way you decide to sell, we wish you good luck. Just remember, in property the true spoils go to those that plan their attack.

Sell property online

Sell property online from one small fixed fee learn how 

More Advice on selling your home! 

Visit TheAdvisory where you can learn how to get the best from estate agents and conveyancing solicitors.