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JessDub 
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Joined: 29 February 2008
Location: Hamilton
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 Topic: Selling house privately
Posted: 24 August 2010 at 7:35am |
Can anyone share their experience of selling or buying a house privately? And any tips or traps?
We're going to give selling our house a go. With house values so low, we can't really afford the $12k or so estate agent fees.
We'll get a sign made and use TradeMe for marketing.
I think we've done our research pretty well and talked to lots of people. There is an article on Fair Go website too about one of their team who sold privately and that was helpful.
Fortunately, the FIL is a retired RE Agent so he'll be able to help with sale and purchase agreements etc.
And just as an aside, looking at houses to buy... some have been so filthy! Why wouldn't you clean your house if you want to sell it? I've spent hours with a toothbrush cleaning our windowsills and mouldy shower corners!! 
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clover
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Posted: 24 August 2010 at 7:53am |
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I would use your solicitor for the S&P agreements to make sure they are watertight, FIL would be good for sales strategies though.
I totally understand why you would want to try and save on fees but the catch is that agents have the contact with potential buyers, when we brought our place most of the houses we viewed weren't even officially listed yet, our agent just knew that they would fit what we were looking for.
I know what you mean in terms of filth! I could never understand it either.
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millymollymandy
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Location: Taranaki
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Posted: 24 August 2010 at 8:38am |
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Yes - clean lots.
I cleaned our house top to toe over two weeks with a 4 month old. Scrubbed all the ceilings, skirting, cupboards etc and likewise the outside. We got a good $15K over what we were expecting so I think its worth it.
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happymumma
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Posted: 24 August 2010 at 8:38am |
We successfully sold a house privately using Trade Me to market. My tips would be to take really good photos and put plenty on TM. We also used the written information provided by the real estate agent at the time we bought as a basis for our own text in our ad.
We held open homes (which for us seemed to be a waste of time) and let people come through at other times by arrangement (much better!). We had Sale and Purchase agreements all set to go so that people could take them away with them if they wanted.
The biggest potential issue is that if you're not forthright it can be quite hard to negotiate on your own but I guess you could get lawyers to do that bit for you pretty easily. Or get FIL to do that part.
We had a real estate agent come and chat with us and happened to get a private offer as she was sitting in our lounge. She felt that she wouldn't have been able to get a better price so I definitely think it's a great starting point. We gave ourselves a month to sell (the market was moving quickly at that stage) before getting in the professionals.
Good luck!
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pumpkino
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Posted: 24 August 2010 at 8:59am |
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Hi - just thought that as someone who is currently in the market for a house I would second the lots of photos bit - there is nothing worse than getting all the way to a property to see that there is no bathtub in the bathroom (essential with a baby!!).
Also, in my experience a lot of real estate agents will negotiate their commission in exchange for sole agency. You need to do this at the start obviously - when you engage their services. eg if their usual commission is 5% say you'll give them sole agency if they accept a 3% commission or something like that.
As someone else suggested I would agree to give yourselves a month or so to sell it privately and then consider bringing in the agents. Personally, I (and I'm sure many other buyers) get TradeMe to send me daily e-mails with the new listings that fit my search criteria. All the agents put their properties on TradeMe so there's no reason why you wouldn't get the same results - as a buyer it's much easier to search on one site than visiting every individual agency's site.
Oh, and put a realistic BEO on it. It is now illegal for agents to put a BEO on that the vendors wouldn't accept so people will be annoyed if you do that.
Good luck!!
P :)
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clover
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Posted: 24 August 2010 at 9:10am |
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Oh yeah, price it. I hate ads that have no price on them, I'm much more inclined to seriously consider a property if I know it is within my price bracket.
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JessDub
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Location: Hamilton
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Posted: 24 August 2010 at 9:33am |
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Thanks guys, it's all good stuff. I think our point of difference is that we're motivated to sell and our asking price is totally reasonable. We know we won't be getting what we really think we deserve! In the ad we'll be stating 'priced to sell' and we'll be firm that we can't go much lower. We don't like wasting people's time either.
Certainly if we have no joy, we'll approach an agent but then the price has to go up to accommodate fees so it'll be sitting in a new price bracket and potentially just sitting there.
I wasn't sure about open homes but we'll trial them as well as view by appointment.
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pumpkino
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Posted: 24 August 2010 at 9:50am |
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OH - forgot to say re open homes, I personally wouldn't bother. I think viewing by appointment is better. There are so many open homes on at the moment (assuming you're in a city) that you can never get to them all so you risk people actually not getting to see it. As long as you're happy for people to come through on the weekend they will probably prefer to make their own time rather than having to fit with an open home time, and you're more likely to get the serious buyers rather than just the tyre kickers.
P :)
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didi99
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Posted: 24 August 2010 at 10:01am |
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We purchased our home privately and found it on Trade Me. Was great not to have to deal with a real estate agent, when we decided to put an offer on we just sat around a table and talked about price. Can be a tad uncomfortable at first and I did feel a bit rude coming in low and working up but at the end of the day they where expecting us to negotiate.
Honestly I think we got the better deal as the buyer as they did not have a lot of interest and where getting a bit desperate, but I think that was because in all the photos they had up on trade me the house was a mess, and when we went to look at it there was stuff everywhere. They where a combined family and had 5 kids and 2 adults in a 3 bedroom house so major clutter and overfull rooms made the place look small.
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minik8e
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Posted: 24 August 2010 at 10:13am |
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Biggest thing ever is declutter - this makes your rooms look bigger and more inviting. Also, take GOOD photos - some of the houses I've looked at, have had photos taken of the couch. I'm not buying the couch, so why would I want to see a photo of it???
Good luck!
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JessDub
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Posted: 24 August 2010 at 10:38am |
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Ha - I know what you mean about photos, minik8e! I've seen ads with pictures of the kids, several photos of the same dingy scene, the family car, father and son mucking around with a wrench under the sink... WT?
Fortunately, we've got a photographer mate coming over with her wide angle lens.
Another question... something that hasn't bothered us at all... but we are on a cross lease. Should we advertise that information or just tell people who are looking through?
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caliandjack
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Posted: 24 August 2010 at 10:45am |
On TM there is a part for the section size, if its cross lease its usually referred to as 1/2 of the measurement. Then people know its a cross lease. They should however have their own lawyer search the title it what lawyers fees are for.
We've sold 2 houses privately, family home sold to the neighbour and by word of mouth for our family bach. The sale and purchase was all done via solicitors and was fine.
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clover
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Posted: 24 August 2010 at 10:47am |
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I would stipulate it is a cross-lease.
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Highlander74
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Posted: 24 August 2010 at 11:59am |
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We bought our first home privately and viewed about 5 private sales when buying our current home - agree with all the advice re photos and cleaning but also we were really put off by owners who insisted on walking round their house with us giving us a running commentary on each room! Much better to just be available for any questions but let the potential buyers wander round themselves.
Also be prepared for negative comments about your house - not that it's much easier coming from a real estate agent but they tend to say them a bit nicer, some people don't hold back when viewing a house! Good luck with the sale!
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busymum
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Posted: 24 August 2010 at 12:31pm |
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You could probably put together a little info sheet on the property like REAs do, with annual rates and cross-lease and areas and all those little details that people need to know when they go through.
As for the S&P agreement, most solicitors will make this a part of their fee so ring around and find someone who can help right from the start. Remember to check out their fees (including GST and disbursements) and have that factored into your budget.
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MamaT
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Posted: 24 August 2010 at 12:41pm |
Personally I wouldn't and don't even look at houses that are listed privately. You may find you don't get a lot of genuine interest, but tyre kickers instead.
Although, my parents sold my grandmothers house privately and had no problems at all and got a good price for it, without having to fork out for estate agent fees. It was a very saleable house though and at a good time to buy so that makes things a bit easier.
Have you spoken to any estate agents yet? Could be worth having them come through and discuss things with you before you decided to market it yourself too JIC?
As for the S&P agreement, I would definately get a lawyer to do that part of it.
Edited by MamaT
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Hardisson262712
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Posted: 24 January 2021 at 2:42pm |
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First of all, if you buy a house, be sure to look at what is there with the water supply system on the base floor, because later it will be very expensive to remodel.
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Men253877
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Posted: 13 May 2021 at 9:18pm |
I think it is not that easy to sell the house privately these days. Even if you are not a celebrity. People will come, view and share their opinions with friends. So for this I advise you to read the review about hard wood floors cleaning that explains the difference between various ways and tools for hard floors washing. This is extremely important as floors are what age first.
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Tim266235
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Posted: 21 May 2021 at 9:00pm |
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Selling house privately
