Is it me or is there a bit of an upsurge in private house sales?

We have one to sell that is going nowhere fast with the agent its on with. I don't want to change because they are better than the rest, but we need to do something to sell it. Its in good condition, decorated neutrally etc etc - there's no-one living in it and it has a new kitchen and new windows - big 3 bed cottage for £240K  - so priced competitively too...!

We are considering having a go at selling it privately - anyone got any experience or ideas?

I did a private sale about 12 yrs ago, put a board up in the garden done by a local market trader so looked good and someone knocked on the door next day and ended up selling it them no fees to agents was very easy.

Hi Chloe

I sold my house privately last year.  I was really lucky, it sold by word of mouth.  I did have some agents round to value it - I ended up getting more for it than any of them suggested, and of course, didn't have to pay their commission.  Like you, I had made sure that it was neutrally decorated and spotless.  The only downside was that I had to get there to show people round and to let the surveyor in - more than compensated for by paying no commission!!

Just out of curiousity - have you left it furnished?  I think so many house buyers seem to have no imagination at all, and seem to be put off by an empty house.  When we bought this property, we still hadn't sold my partner's house, but I left it fully furnished and I really think that helped.  (Or maybe I've watched too many House Doctor programmes)  Must admit, though, it wasn't much fun "camping out" in the new place til the other one was sold.  I also asked the agent not to mention that we'd already moved out as I think it would have made buyers think we were desperate to sell.

Good luck, it's a horrible, stressful experience.

Hi Chloe, well I don't know where you are but here in Liverpool, prices have started to drop quite a bit...I think people are getting fed up with the prices being so high??(that doesn't mean yours is too high a price LOL) I think it's incredibley hard to sell privately in a competative market?? Maybe do a search on the net and see if it throws up any hints or tips?? :D All the best, Dawn

Thanks all.

We have dropped it and it is on with an agent who is known for competitive pricing. They just don't seem to be selling here at the moment so I am wondering if in pulling the stops out and marketing it privately with a web address to piccies etc might be enough to provoke more interest...

Does your current agent advertise on Rightmove?  If so, are they putting a brochure / enough information on the website?  I wouldn't bother with an agent that didn't use Rightmove as this is where most people go to when househunting, particularly people wanting to relocate who can't easily drive around and see For Sale boards.  At the moment I'm looking for somewhere to buy about 150 miles from where I currently live, so Rightmove is a godsend.  But make sure they put enough pictures up - if I don't see pictures of the interior I assume it's in a real state and don't bother with it.

Unfortunately a LOT of the pictures can be very deceptive, particularly of the exterior :( We always try to look at the aerial view on Multimap to establish whether it is in the middle of an industrial estate or not :D :D We are looking 100 miles away and have wasted several trips looking at houses that seemed OK on paper :(

Daisy

I'm sure they use wide-angle lenses for a lot of the pictures: what seems like an OK sized room is generally a rabbit hutch when you get there. 

I'm having an on-going battle with our agent.....to ensure that he telss them FIRST that the first view they willhave of the house is behind a 30ft highnet fence (which protects us from golf balls :) )    I feel they need to get round that psychological barrier first!

I wouldn't mind that - it's the house that had a sewage works at the bottom of the garden (and didn't mention in the particulars - surprise, surprise :D ) that I was annoyed about :D :D

Daisy