selling your own house

[tdvit]

Has anyone here ever done this? Is there much to it? Seems fairly straight forward to me but I just wanted to get some feedback of what to expect if anyone has any experience with it.

any advice much appreciated

thanks very much

[Jules001]

we knew our old house would have no trouble selling so we sold our old house to move to where we are now, we have been here 17 years.(just to let you know of the time involved). We took a photo of the outside of our house which we used to place an advert in the local paper . We also typed up Estate Agent- like particulars so that people could have something to take away with them when they viewed the house. We knew what other houses in the area were selling for and plumped for a figure a little higher to allow ourselves to be knocked down a little if necessary . We had 3 people view the house, the first couple only asked 1 question (how old is your baby!) and the third person made an offer of the full asking price so we sold to him and saved a fortune on Estate Agent fees and cut out another link in the chain. We found it extremely easy and I think if we were to move, we would probably do it again.

hope this helps

[tdvit]

thanks Jules :-)

[Oneeyedvic]

We bought a house from someone selling privately - just walking doen the road one day (in a town 100 miles away from where we lived) and saw a sign saying for sale and a tel number. We had a chat on the phone and then went inside - fell in love with the house - asked her how much she wanted and then agreed to her price.

Everything was very easy - I chased everything as opposed to an Estate Agent, but I prefer it that wawy anyway. We actually completed in 4 weeks (she wanted a quick sale) so it was proably faster without an estate agent!

(and this was 2 1/2 years ago)

[tdvit]

4 weeks?  I would have thought it could be done quicker if there were no complications?  was there a hold up ? or did the paper work etc just take that long?  and did you still use a solicitor?

[Sammy Snake]

4 weeks is about normal.  I bought my house privately from a friend without estate agents.

Most of this time was spent waiting for the solicitors to complete the searches.  They said they would be complete within 10 days although in reality took just over 2 weeks.

[Oneeyedvic]

4 weeks to organise a full structural survey, get a  mortgage (easier as I had a large deposit), get a solicitor, get the searches done and complete the whole transaction. I thought that was pretty quick - considering a mortgage offer often takes 4 weeks alone.

Bear in mind local searches often take 2 weeks - though I believe that that process is a lot quicker now.

Oh and never try and buy a house without a solicitor - if anything goes wrong, you do need someone to sue! The solicitor is there to protect your interests.

Would also recommend a full structural survey - some people will tell you its a waste of money - but better to spend �500-1000 now than regret paying �100,000+ for a house with defects!

[Hgrove]

I know someone who sold her flat through Loot (the magazine) and was very happy with the result.

[Hgrove]

In case this is of interest I have seen a yellow board outside a house with the words "for sale by owner" and the website www.homes-on-line.com.