I am looking to sell my house early next year and am doing a bit of homework at the mo.  Problem is, quite near the top of my hate list you will find estate agents :D :D
Really dont like the thought of parting with so much of my hard earned cash just to give it to some estate agency for advertising my home!!
Has anyone any experience of private selling of houses?  Any advantages/disantages?
Cheers, Sarah :)

Found a few safety tips here :)

Nice one - Will go and read, thanks :)

Here's another site that might be useful if any neighbours have sold recently.  It tells you what price that actually got rather than the asking price.
I will be interested to see any replies from people that have actually done this.  My own thoughts are it is a lot more tempting when the market locally is a sellers market.  Would you say that is the case your way Rozzer?  I keep an eye on properties prices because that is my main investment and I have to say in the two areas that I have property it appears to be a buyers market at the moment with properties sitting for while and prices being reduced.  I think another issue is how easy it is to advertise, for instance both my properties are tucked away where a board would never catch the passing eye and although I check the property prices almost weekly using all the local agents I have never thought to look at the private property sale sites, might be different if I was actually looking to buy though.  The adverts in the local paper for privates sales never seems very eyecatching either but then people never seem to pay for a picture to go in.

Yes Isabel you are right - I think it is very much a sellers market where we are right now which is why it is so tempting to me.  Three years ago we bought a 3 bedroom property that needed MUCH work!  Now it is a modern looking, airy, spacious home that I think (hope ;)) will sell - leaving me to obtain a nice little cottage :D  It is just off a main 'A' road that links Bristol and Bath and properties around here seem to get snapped up pretty sharpish!  Still have some cosmetic work to do between now and xmas but I want to be prepared and have done my homework - will prob sell in the spring when the garden looks nicer ;)
Sarah
Thanks for the link

I would be tempted in your position.  Let us know how you get on when the time comes.

Will do Isabel :)

I haven't sold privately, but have bought privately not once but 3 times now   However, I do feel that it is more stressfull to buy somewhere privately than through an agent, and I would not entertain selling privately at all.  The estate agents are there to act on your behalf, to speak to solicitors and other agents as well as the prospective buyers.  It is bad enough having the vendors on the phone every two minutes asking questions, but to have to deal with buyers direct would be the straw that broke the camels back to me!  Only my opinion of course, but having bought both ways, I find buying through an agent less hassle.

Good luck!

having recentley moved home and sold through an agent, it broke my heart when paying the bill because the service that they provided was rubbish Other than advertising the house, we did everything else ourselves. We are still recovering from the stresses of moving........NEVER AGAIN!!!

I sold my house last year privately.  I was very lucky, I didn't even have to advertise it.  Some friends of the neighbours expressed an interest and came and looked round it.  I got 3 agents to come round to value it and tell me their commission.  I had quite a price variation - but I ended up asking more than the agents had suggested and I got it!  So I was far better off than if I'd used an agent - got more money for the house and saved about £2000 in fees. 

I had to be there to show the people round (I was living with my partner) and to let the surveyor in and I had to deal with the purchasers direct, but I prefered that.  Unfortunately their solicitor was rubbish so I ended up doing some running around with paperwork, but an estate agent couldn't have helped there.  I would definately do it again if I had a property that would be easy to sell.

I think that a lot depends on how good your advertising is and what your local market is like :) We've just bought a house (subject to survey) 90 miles away. It is in a very tucked away position and we would never have found it if it was being sold privately - we only looked on the main internet sites and estate agents. If there are any internet sites for private sales, we didn't look at them. Private sale obviously works for some :)

Daisy

We sold our house not long ago and used an estate agent, and to be honest I never would again. 

I think most of the time nowadays you end up liasing with each other rather than through the estate agents.

We were very lucky selling this house and the last. The first house sold within a week and this house within 3 hours, but we still had to pay estate agents fees.

I would say go for it selling privately just trawl the net for tips etc.