Posts Tagged ‘Strict Guidelines’

When it comes to selling your home privately you stand to gain a lot of money by way of saved costs. But, just how easy is it?

A sell (selling by “private treaty”) is, on the one hand, perfectly feasible if:-

1. you simply sell to a relative or to your neighbour without any advertising or marketing. Your have not “marketed your home” and the Law and how House selling regulations are interpreted says this is a private transaction. It could easily be considered a “marketed sale” if you depart from strict guidelines – do you know all the in’s and out’s of such Regulations?
   
2. If it is a genuine private sell without marketing then you would not need a Home Information Pack (the HIP with Energy Performance Certificate – the EPC).
3. and you avoid all the hassle of advertising and have people trample through your private space – your home – your pride and joy.
4. You also avoid Estate Agents with sharp suits and smooth tongues. What price for this?
   

On the other hand:-

1. Are you sure you are not under-selling your home?
2. Have you considered the possible benefit to value if you first did certain repairs? Are you sure you know who to ask for this advice? Spend £500 on XXXX and you might ask for twice as much as added to the house value!
3. Do you know how to vet your buyers to ensure they are serious and aren’t going to cause problems “later”.
4. Are you sure you have infringed the law and property regulations and may get a Penalty Notice served on you at any moment?

Balancing these competing forces will tell you which way to go but do think seriously about it.

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Selling your house privately? What are you saving?

Save 1.5% commission = £1,500 plus vat (per £100,000 of house value)

Save your HIP cost = £400 with partial vat

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The only problem you have is the unknown…….

If you are truly knowledgeable then you are saving real money and the consequences, if all goes wrong, will be minor.

If you are not fully knowledgeable and may need help if the going gets tough then you may just regret attempting to penny-pinch.

Perhaps getting the Estate Agents in to give “initial free advice” (without telling you may go private) is not such a bad thing?

Perhaps getting PROinspect in to talk about value and disrepairs, and the effect of doing repairs – effect on value – also isn’t so silly?

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A third Way?

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Nowadays nothing is new. Starting to string up are PROPERTY BROKERS: often these are internet based, but not always.

Website services exists for simply listing your home are available for sales – this means you will need the good old HIP but the fee for this limited brokerage service will be much smaller than a full Estate Agents commission.

Certain Brokers mix internet service with limited marketing and other actions. Again these will save you a large sum.

The secret here is to correctly match what your home needs to dispose of it to those services that are available to you. Why not invite a fee quotation from a (1) traditional Estate Agent, a (2) “partial” Agent/Broker and (3) a full internet Broker service whereby no visits to your home are made at all (sometimes with the exception of a professional Photographer)? You could then assess the value that each brings to the table and match that with what you believe your home needs to get it sold.

For example – if your home is modern and on a large estate (is similar to most other homes and many have sold recently or are on the market) then provided it is in reasonable order then you may not need the full services offered by a traditional Estate Agent.

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A final two thoughts – (1) what about home swaps? Google house-swaps and see. PROinspect would immediately mention that if you go down this route then a private survey would be essential for self-protection purposes: (2) what about selling quickly to an Investor? Various organisations will buy your home “upon request” where an offer can be provided without a full viewing: the latter may be required as you are seeking to avoid an imminent repossession or you simply need the equity in your home quickly – no fees but perhaps you will not get full market value (in some cases nothing even ner to full value). Google sites like National Home Buyers to see how such schemes may work for you.

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A Footnote — I have recently been involved with Estate Agents in the disposal of my Parents home closeby. A long chain developed but we priced the house to sell and found a home to buy quickly. When chain problems cut in, and they often do, our own Agent acted with great authority and rapidity and circumvented several problems before they got out of hand. I have been very impressed with the professionalism shown (and suspect some Agents would not have been so helpful). We have not yet exchanged but are confident we will.

I must state that my Parents just could not cope with self-selling their own home and needed full Agency services: even though I could sell my own home I would normally request full Agency services because I am a busy person and just could not find the time to do all that a modern Agent has to. This is not a choice but a necessity.