Pros and cons of private sale

Gael23

A family member is selling their home in the near future and have been approached be someone potentially interested before it goes on the market.

Are there any drawbacks to doing this? They don’t even know exactly how much to ask for, any houses sold recently in the area have needed refurbishment which this one doesn’t.

L1011

With the market as it is right now, you're missing out on the chance of a bonkers bidding war adding a huge amount to the sale price.

Potatopie

Are there any drawbacks to doing this? They don’t even know exactly how much to ask for, any houses sold recently in the area have needed refurbishment which this one doesn’t.[/quote]

Hey!
Get a valuation done on the house. It costs €150-€200.
I found that emotional valuations can really skew the expectations of the seller.
Start off with a proper market valuation and take it from there.

ongarite

Get it valued and then ask what the max the private buyer is willing to offer.
If offer is a chancing their arm offer, then refuse it and put on open market.

I'm in a similar boat to you, except I'm (potentially) the buyer. There's a house I'm interested in buying that I know will be coming up soon, so I got in touch with the seller. Thankfully for me, two houses have sold in the general area recently, and one is currently for sale, so it's easy to get an idea on the value.

If you opt to put the house on sale publicly, you risk entering into a sale with someone who was bidding for the sake of bidding, or bidding with the hope of getting funding, etc. and may not be able to secure the funding (whereas if someone approached you, chances are they're confident they'll have the money approved, or if you ask for more than they'd offer, they know they can bow out immediately and not pursue an emotional bidding war).

It's all anecdotal, of course, but I am hearing of houses that went sale agreed recently struggling to draw down, because of EWSS and PUP issues, buyers realising they paid a lot more than they should have and using surveyors to knock the price down substantially etc. so there's a bit of a drawn out process taking place on a couple of houses i'd been keeping an eye on and hearing about. Some sellers are afraid to re-list incase they don't achieve near the same high-price again.

For me, I contacted the seller and he said he is getting two valuations done and will come back to me before listing the house publicly. I've a good idea what I'd pay for the house, and it'd be based on recent market prices, so i think I'd make a fair offer on it. If he was happy with my offer and skipped selling publicly, he would lose out on a potential bidding war, but he'd also save the risk of selling for less, and he'd save a few euro on estate agent fees.


One of the reasons I've heard lately for private sales, are people selling houses in settled/mature/community-orientated areas and wanting working families to get the houses, instead of investors or council owning it and potentially doing their neighbours a disservice.

Darc19

After recent experiences of estate agents, I simply don't bother.

I was in the market for an investment property and agents think they are god's gift and have an attitude that stinks.

And this came across from 4 agents in the same area, so wasn't just one.


They simply do not earn their money and are far too self interested.

Get a valuation, listen to the offer and if it's something that you are happy with, then proceed.


As above, a hassle free sale can be worth a few thousand (which the agent would take)


I ended up buying at auction. No mess, no agents, transaction completed days before new regulations came in on pension properties.

Gael23

One sold a few months ago for 170k that had been rented so needed some refurbishment. Based on that I think 200k is around the right mark but I’m not an expert.
It’s not an area that will attract a crazy bidding war but it is one of the better houses in the area and an estate where good houses don’t come up often so it will sell easily. Can you get glutinous without any intention of having that agent sell the property?
The person is sale agreed on their house so they are ready to go

Gael23

Gael23 wrote: »

One sold a few months ago for 170k that had been rented so needed some refurbishment. Based on that I think 200k is around the right mark but I’m not an expert.
It’s not an area that will attract a crazy bidding war but it is one of the better houses in the area and an estate where good houses don’t come up often so it will sell easily. Can you get glutinous without any intention of having that agent sell the property?
The person is sale agreed on their house so they are ready to go

If you want 200k, then certainly ask for it.

Based on what you said, I think its optimistic though. Houses generally sell based on the area rather than the house itself.

For example, the house I'm looking at is in an area where there have been 3 sold in the last few months and one up for sale at the moment. All have sold in and around 185-190 despite all being different condition. Some had extensions, some were like the travelling into the 1960s, some were modern-ish.

Didn't really make much difference though when it came to the sale price.

I think if property in an area is selling in the 100s, the sight of a 2 at the start of the price csn result in making people look to other areas as you, depending on location, can generally open your search a bit more once you're spending over 200 in many places.

It depends how open you are to haggling though I suppose, and how confident you are in the price you want. Obviously you maintain the option to say no to the private buyer and go on the open market with an estate agent (albeit, it can backfire on you).

Gael23

Yes agreed an area has a ceiling proce regardless of the house.

My feeling is that it should go on for something like 197 or 198 and settle for 190

listermint

L1011 wrote: »

With the market as it is right now, you're missing out on the chance of a bonkers bidding war adding a huge amount to the sale price.

Missing out on a bonkers bidding war is probably a good thing.

Graham

listermint wrote: »

Missing out on a bonkers bidding war is probably a good thing.

Not necessarily if you're the person selling.

listermint

Graham wrote: »

Not necessarily if you're the person selling.

I was replying as part of the sale. Bidding wars aren't the crack people think they are. Often a seller with all the ducks in a row at the price you want removes months of nonsense and stress.

There's two sides to a coin