Sell property without estate agent?

Thanks for that information kmick. Did you have any problems with the legal side - and maybe what costs I might expect.
 
When I sold my last property, I didn't bother taking a booking deposit as it is completely refundable if the sale doesn't go through. So hy go to all the hassle - a purchaser may be reluctant to give you a large deposit (usually 10% of the sale price) - but your solicitor may hold it on your behalf.

As regards a solicitor, any solicitor will deal with your conveyancing - some will work on a fixed fee while others will wait until the deal is finished and provide you with an invoice.
 
Be careful when doing viewings as a few friends have mentioned about stuff going missing. This probably happens more often on open viewings where estate agents hang around the kitchen and people wander freely from room to room. Best to put valuables and photos away also until after going Sale Agreed.
 
Thanks Sue Ellen for that helpful tip.
I'm not sure if it's okay to make available planning folios and maps, receipts of work carried out during my tenure and an engineer’s report to interested parties. It never made sense to me that each prospective buyer would pay separate engineers to provide reports for the same property (which always have disclaimers that inspections are purely superficial anyway). Or maybe not?
 
Eddie Peters said:
It never made sense to me that each prospective buyer would pay separate engineers to provide reports for the same property (which always have disclaimers that inspections are purely superficial anyway). Or maybe not?
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If I was selling a house, I could get a buddy of mine to sign-off on a report that says everything is in order. If you bought the house, and subsequently found out there were major problems, you'd have no come back.

Buyers engage their own engineer to protect their interests in what is a very significant transaction. Take a look at the recent thread on here of someone who bought a house based on a BER rating provided by the vendor that they now believe is way off the mark for an example of why you shouldn't take everything a vendor tells you as true.
 
Leo said:
Buyers engage their own engineer to protect their interests in what is a very significant transaction.
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I totally agree with you Leo. But would you not have the same come back with an engineer's report supplied by a vendor as you would by a report that was independently carried out?
 
Eddie Peters said:
I totally agree with you Leo. But would you not have the same come back with an engineer's report supplied by a vendor as you would by a report that was independently carried out?
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No, only those employing the engineer would have potential for come back. It also wouldn't be independent, as the engineer producing the report would be employed by the vendor to represent their interests.
 
Gerry Canning said:
Hear you cremeege,

Suppose it boils down to , Will seller want the hassle ?
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I have to say, up until I was selling a house myself,I thought it would be a piece of cake to sell a house,but having an estate agent is almost essential as they act as a cushion between you and the buyer specially if there are issues with the house title etc, in my case one of the people interested was a complete pain,I would have told them where to go,but on the advice of my estate agent, i took a few deep breaths.... and that person ended up buying the house!.I couldnt really recommend my estate agent more.
 
I saw 2 houses in my area which the owners were trying to sell themselves and they never seemed to move for at least a year. Both were sold in a couple of months once they got a major EA involved.

It's quite possible that some estate agents will be less then 1.5%. It's 9 years ago since I sold but at the time because we simply asked the EA to contact under-bidders for the house across the road, they only charged us 0.75% (and knocked a bit off our neighbours price as well). Some may also repay advertising fees if the house sells.

Perhaps you should get some in if they offer a free valuation and pick their brains and discuss costs with them.

Bear in mind you will have your own costs if you sell it yourself, from online advertising costs, getting signs printed etc to having to make yourself available for viewings regardless of what your personal circumstances are, often at short notice. Outside of Dublin it is still a buyers market and if your house is nothing exceptional, buyers will walk away and move on quite quickly
 
The book Freakonomics (or another of that ilk) demonstrated that agents of this type (whether estate agents, or loss-assessors etc etc) always encourage a quicker settlement than if it were their own property - as the marginal returns of waiting-out for the right offer (the extra time and work involved) are outweighed by the returns of settling quickly and moving onto next property / loss EXCEPT when it comes to their own properties!

Sales of houses belonging to estate-agents take longer to sell than their neighbours'. The reason for this is ultimately agents (of all types) are looking to their own bottom-line.
 
thedaddyman said:
Bear in mind you will have your own costs if you sell it yourself, from online advertising costs, getting signs printed etc to having to make yourself available for viewings regardless of what your personal circumstances are, often at short notice.
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I was planning on having a few open hour days. The property is located in an estate of city suburb so is relatively easy to value and printing signs would not serve any purpose. The only cost that I'm factoring in is the €299 daft.ie advert plus a few hours here and there for viewings etc.
A recent newspaper article indicated that close proximity to Dunnes Stores, Supervalu, Tesco, Lidi & Aldi stores is a good selling point and worth noting in the advert...
 
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Setanta12 said:
And be ruthless ... ... anyone arriving outside your allotted hours, give them short-shrift.
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Of course I will prepare for viewings/ engineer visits outside open house hours by prior arrangement. After all, I am trying to sell to the best bidder so I'll try my best to accommodate within reason (taking time off work etc.). The last time I checked even estate agents had business hours
 
cremeegg said:
Setanta, if you are ever faced with the decision to go with an EA or sell yourself, I strongly suggest that you go with the EA.
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If I gave the mistaken impression I was advocating selling oneself - please disabuse yourself of that notion - after all, you know what they say about self-representation in the courts and paraphrasing here ...'the lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client.'

The point I would like to make is that everyone should rigorously challenge whatever they are told or advised, and not to follow blindly.

At the end of the day, some people are recognised experts in an area and as a consequence of that may know more than you. You pay their fees and should demand to know the basis for their advice.

(In another field, I had to hire an expert to do some form-filling for me and paid 10% of outcome. In the end, for two/three hours work, they earned 000's but I have certainty I got best deal)(And yes, I did challenge and went against initial recommendation from the expert, but I have a security of type knowing the best/complete work was done on my side)
 

Whatever about opinions expressed in replies to date a very important consideration needs to be addressed in relation to interested buyers.Of course with the web anyone can give a sale a go.
Personally I would prefer on my first viewing of a property to keep things at arms length and not too personal. In other words deal with an estate agent. If you dont like the estate agent on a initial viewing so what. I dont think if you were genuinely interested in a property it would prove to be a deal breaker. If you are dealing directly with the owner of the property emotions etc this might proof more difficult.
 
I'm sure that most engineers have disclaimers included in their reports, regardless of buying or selling.
In most cases they will state that inspections are superficial in nature and that areas that are inaccessible can not be reported e.g. a dry rot, drain and chimney inspections, planning matters etc.
 
I only intend selling a house rather than dating the potential viewers I expect it to be purely professionally based. If I were viewing a property, I would prefer to meet the owner who might have honest feedback on the property rather than an estate agent whose end goal is to simply shift a property.
 
Leo said:
If I was selling a house, I could get a buddy of mine to sign-off on a report that says everything is in order. If you bought the house, and subsequently found out there were major problems, you'd have no come back.
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Is it me but I think that is just awful. Building engineers are experts in their field, spend many years studying their professions and are probably registered to some professional body. Surely they wouldn't risk their professional standing by sign ing off on a 'buddy's' house in the full knowledge that there are defects in the property, that could potentially cost unsuspecting buyers thousands to remedy.
 

Unless you're employing them, you have little or no insight into the terms of reference of the report produced. Unless you actually hire the engineer yourself, you do not have recourse to the complaints procedures.
 
Leo said:
Unless you're employing them, you have little or no insight into the terms of reference of the report produced. Unless you actually hire the engineer yourself, you do not have recourse to the complaints procedures.
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Not sure what is meant by the 'terms of reference of the report'. Surely an engineers report is exactly what it says on the tin. What are the chances of employing an engineer to produce a report who will selectively omit major structural defects? Surely they have to sign off on the integral structure of a building... or have we not tightened up on compliance and accountability since the boom?
 
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