Selling house from overseas - what's the process

Hi all,

Thanks for your invaluable help so far on so may issues.

I am selling my house in Ireland from overseas and would like to get an idea of the process from forum members at this site rather than hearing it from a real estate agent. Can you help me out? This may be impossible but here goes ....

I suppose what I really want are pointers to some things that I should look to avoid having to pay for. What are the most common things that real estate agents try to get you to do that are not necessary?

Can anyone shed some light on this for me?
Thanks.

Why bother with an auctioneer, you could try using daft.it to sell it and a solicitor to draw you the contracts etc.

moxy said:

Why bother with an auctioneer, you could try using daft.it to sell it and a solicitor to draw you the contracts etc.

Click to expand...

And who's going to show prospective buyers around the house?

Irish auctioneers charge between 1 and 2.5 %, depending on price of houseand how much you bargain. The commission, along with the UK auctioneers, is one of the lowest in the world. In USA it can reach 7%.

Considering you're abroad I can't see how 1 or 2% is a charge worth avoiding.

Thanks!

Thanks for all pieces of advice, I really appreciate it.

I know I will be charged something to sell the house, it is just that I want to avoid having to pay for 'services' or 'requirements' that are not really needed.

Thanks again.

If you go with an estate agent (and I can't see how you can avoid it if you are overseas) you will be charged a marketing fee on top of the commission that they get from the sale. This marketing fee covers a professional photographer taking pix of the house, putting the listing up on daft.ie and myhome.ie, getting a sign put up, flyers printed etc etc. Estate agents normally require this marketing fee to be paid up front so that they are not out of pocket these expenses if you change your mind about selling the house later on.

You will also need to have a BER inspection done to rate the insulation in the house. The house can not be sold without a BER cert. When I sold my house last year, the up front marketing fee was 600 euros, and the BER inspection was 200 euros.

In these post Celtic Tiger days, 1% of the sale price seems to be the industry standard for estate agent commissions. If you are being charged 2%, they better be doing something over and above what other estate agents are doing for you.

When I sold my house, I can't think of anything that I was billed for that did not seem reasonable, or that I was not told about ahead of time. Get the estate agent to outline all fees and charges before you sign up with them. If you think that you are being hoodwinked, speak up and question it.