Selling your home without using Estate Agent?

lordleitrim

Is this a good idea? I'm about to sell my home and my partner says he'll do it for me so that I save 1000s on what I'd have to give an agent to sell it for me. He did a degree in auctioneering a few years ago and while he is not a practicing or registered agent, he says selling a house is very straight forward. Just put the ad on Daft, have a few open viewings, field the enquiries and give the buyer your solicitor details for booking deposit as they might not want to transfer such money to private individuals. The conveyancing is then handed over to each party's solicitor and the selling part is done.

He thinks I'm crazy to even consider an agent when I expressed a preference to leaving it to to the professionals.

Is selling a house really that straight forward? Can anyone advise or share experiences of DIY selling that can help me decide or what to watch out for. Thanks!

Trigger Happy

I sold to a friend of mine without use of an estate agent. There is no issue with this.

However - the risk you take with leaving it to your partner is that they will have no chance of getting the best price possible. That is the real value of an estate agent IMO...they will get the best price and have the farthest reach. This is what makes their % commission worthwhile.

Some buyers will see a fella selling privately and thing this is a bit mickey mouse and not engage. The argument for your partner will be that 'any house can sell itself in this market'.

But for me - to get the best price after commission - go to an estate agent.

_Knight

No different to buying land from a neighbour. Happens often around the country.

Once agreed, each solicitor deals between themselves.

Downsides are if viewers know you're essentially the owners, some people might take the piss hassling you with phone calls and playing the sympathy card.

herbalplants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058337388/selling-your-home-without-using-estate-agent

Or use Auctioneera.ie. They offer a set price and they use all the usual channels for advertising it. They do all the usual viewings etc and offer the platform where bidders put their bid on. You will definitely save money against the traditional agent.

Claw Hammer

There are 2 main skills the experienced auctioneer brings to the table.

Accurate knowledge of local prices and bidding trends.

Negotiating experience.

Knowledge of messers and their antics.

your friends simply doesn't have any of the above in appreciable quantities.

If someone says it is straightforward, they are an idiot. they are using you as their guinea pig to test their imagined skills.

C3PO

I would go with a reputable Estate Agent.

Hontou

There are a lot of tyre kickers viewing properties. Estate Agents are highly skilled at weeding these out. The local Estate Agent I use has always sold for a good price (I have sold 3 properties through him in a rural area not in high demand) even though he didn't show the property to that many. He just knows who the real buyers are from experience, so the sales have gone through relatively quickly too. Many buyers just don't have their finance in place on time. A good Estate Agent is worth every penny. Go for a local one.

SupaCat95

It should be a straight forward deal but...... Yeah tyre kickers and dreamers.

Three good questions to ask are who is your solicitor and surveyor? Boom.... That is 80% of the dreamers sorted. How long have you been looking? Two months.... Dreamers. Have you assets/letter of intent from solicitor? That sorts the tyre kickers.

Are you willing to put up with these muppets? Also if your partner was so good why isnt he doing it now for his 6%? I would rather sell myself. The estate agent we were dealing with dragged it out on either end when both parties wanted to settle quickly.

There is no such thing as a reputable estate agent, they are all crooks and gazumpers. Its not the mechanics of the system that will be your problem but rather the people dealing.

herbalplants

New kids on the block.

Swiftly.ie: Ireland’s Tech Led Estate Agent for Savvy Sellers

Check them out.

Traditional agents, most of them are crooks. I am sure in no time, they won't be earning the fees they earn now. It is about time, we see some innovation in this sector. It is monopolised by the same old tired faces especially in some areas I know!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121819503#Comment_121819503

How does an EA drag out a sale after agreement is reached between the buyer and seller?

magicbastarder

Let's say you want €400k for the house. If an EA wants 1.5%, that's €6k.

Will you sell the house, going privately, within €6k of what the auctioneer would get? If you have buyers who are wary of dealing with an amateur they may not engage. And what you want if you're trying to sell a place is a bidding war between multiple parties, which you may not get if people are not engaging or do not trust an amateur.

I reckon selling privately to save money is a great example of penny wise, pound foolish.

We advertised our last house by ourselves (a simple painted sign). It was located in a busy city in a seller market. Offers were in within a week simply based on people walking the area on foot. Don't think we lost out on a penny and saved a few thousand.

We are selling our country cottage now in rural Roscommon and decided to go with an agent. Offer accepted was €52k higher than expected so in this case the agent more than earned his fee and I have confidence we would have undersold it if we did it ourselves.

Horses for courses.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822316#Comment_121822316

Which begs the obvious question.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822316#Comment_121822316

the problem is in either case you've simply no idea how much difference going, or not going, with an estate agent meant.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822349#Comment_121822349

It's impossible to know but in rural areas the estate agent brings a lot to the table. He had a list of viewers lined up on day one and just about everyone of them made an offer. Many came from far away.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822382#Comment_121822382

I would have thought the potential for selling for more, would be much greater in a city where demand would be higher, and the buyer benefit from wider advertisement than just people walking by a sign.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822393#Comment_121822393

People at the time had chosen their area and knew exactly what they wanted, it's how we found the property originally by walking the area for weeks on end. This was in England and properties sold very quickly so if you didn't know the area you had no chance. This is very much how it is at the moment. The selling price was very much in line with local properties so I am confident we got a good price.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822405#Comment_121822405

Certainly would have added context if you mentioned it was in the UK.

In Irish cities the demand is very high and I suspect most buyers use online sites to first view properties before they drive to them/arrange a viewing. Just putting a sign in the garden would severely limit your intended audience..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121820592#Comment_121820592

Have you read the FAQ’s?

Just a heads up, you have to do the viewings with interested buyers yourself, and answer all their questions. It would appear you are paying €1k for them to advertise your property in daft/myhome.

brokenbad

I sold my last house privately back in 2017. Got a photographer friend of mine to take decent photos of the house inside and out and i put it up on Daft.ie (300 euro i think it cost) i also copied and pasted some of the "lingo" auctioneers use to make the ad look more professional and "stand out". Also made sure that weekend viewings only strictly by appointment - within 2 weeks of the ad going live i had a flurry of enquiries but nothing concrete until about a month later when a couple came to view it - i handled the viewing myself while my wife and kids went off into town for an hour.....i explained the process to the prospective buyers on how i was cutting out the middleman (auctioneer) and the house sale would be handled through solicitors and they were agreeable with that. They ended up coming back for a second and third viewing before the negotiation began on price. In the interim another couple had also viewed the house and were also very keen - there ended up being a mini bidding war and i ended up getting 15k more than the asking price in the end from the first couple - with the 5k saved on the auctioneers fee i ended up with a tidy sum of 20k in my pocket.

magicbastarder

it's a fairly simple calculation - if you reckon you'll do 98.5%+ as good a job as an EA, more power to your elbow; go for it. but bear in mind it's not just how good you think you are, but also how good the buyer thinks you are.

*not sure exactly what estate agents charge nowadays. was typically 1.25%-1.75% when i last bought IIRC.

Lecter8319

Auctioneera, Didnt hear great things about them, unprofessional and gimmicky website with plenty of fake bids floating around, inexperienced agents, sure the owners aren’t even agents themselves. The cheapest agent often equals the poorest service in an area aswell as this.

as for swiftly.ie changing how houses are sold in Ireland. Don’t think so, many have tried this before and failed. Tech is all well and good but an agent needs to know the area, know the people in the area, have good people skills, you don’t get that with tech.

The very people complaining about agents fees are the ones left sickened when they realise they got 20k less in price than the house down the road because they did it themselves.

herbalplants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822437#Comment_121822437

Perhaps swiftly.ie not the answer either as @Dav010 pointed out, but the model of traditional agent needs a whole revamp. Tech and transparency is the way to go if we want a functional property market.

You make me laugh thinking only on Auctioneera.ie there are fake bids. How do you think traditional agents operate?

Lecter8319

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121823005#Comment_121823005

Im discussing the website and the online bidding platform they have, anyone can set up an account and make fake bids. Of course there's dishonest agents out there as well as honest ones. Same as many other industries.

As for a dysfunctional property market, theres many reasons for this mainly government policy & regulations, agents are only a small factor of this.

lordleitrim

Thanks all for your helpful inputs. Good to hear different viewpoints and cautions about some of those online sites. I think I'll go with one of the reputable agencies that have sold quite a few properties in my locality.

arctictree

Well I had personal experience of an EA closing a bidding process when I had 50K more to spend as they were in a hurry to close it before the weekend. I was the highest bidder by 1K but they persuaded the seller to go with the underbidder.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121824259#Comment_121824259

50k more would have kept the bidding open.

arctictree

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121824411#Comment_121824411

Yes, but I was never given the chance to give a higher bid. I rang the EA and they said that bidding is closed, no more bids accepted and that the seller is going with the underbidder.

pale rider

I sold an apt for more than 50% more than a local established agent told me they could achieve in a small western town six years back.

if you can speak to people you can sell the property, I ensured it was presented properly and talked easily about its pro’s and con’s, people liked it.

I then bought another property through a different local agent that was poorly presented and so cold, heating not even put on, the negotiation was so poor, I was prepared to pay 20% more than I did,

There is no mystery about selling your property, I will not be using an agent again.

I had said this years ago when I was selling a house, the EA got in touch to say he had a bid on the house and then said they wouldn't follow through and would withdraw the bid which is what happened, the EA just knew it's a skill they have.

herbalplants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121824259#Comment_121824259

I experienced something similar with an agent who is allegedly well known in the area, the type that is being bragged on these sites. As a buyer he didn't give us a chance at all. The house is still sitting sale agreed for the last 6 months, this is the second time after it sat sale agreed previously for another 6 months.

This guy is your typical tradional agent, full of verbal rubbish, kind of king status in the area.

SupaCat95

The agreement wasnt reached, that is my point. The seller wanted a quick sale, we wanted a quick purchase. The estate agent wanted a desired price based on his commision. It was only a few grand difference but he peeved off both us and they buyers. I was willing to walk away at one point. I was bidding against "a doctor in the hospital".

Buddy Bubs

I'd go with the estate agent. If he gets you 426k and you get 422k, you're even. I'd put my money on them getting 4k more than you, or 5k, or 6k. Or even 20k, 30k, who knows?

I'm currently involved in selling a company, I'm managing the project. The brokers doing it for us are charging 30k + 3.5% of sale price.

Hopefully we end up giving them over 400k.

The owner baulked at giving someone 400k and wanted me to do it, Im financially experienced but not in negotiations. The thing that swung him was me saying if they can get us absolute max 10 million, do you really think I can get 9.6 million on my own?

Not a hope could I, they have already opened doors to private equity and pension funds I couldn't get near, I was only thinking of bigger companies in our industry.

Extreme example, but a good estate agent has lots of very interested buyers on their books that you don't and can negotiate with experience, spot a chancer etc...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121826477#Comment_121826477

I think the seller was pulling your leg, I doubt any seller complains that the EA they employ to sell their property, is trying to get them too much money. Besides, the seller can instruct the EA at any time that they are accepting a bid, and agreeing to sell to a particular bidder.

herbalplants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121826618#Comment_121826618

I think you are talking about a completely different type of sale here. I am sorry selling a company versus a normal house!

Also if I am an interested buyer, I would not put myself on any estate agent books! Absolutely no way. Why, sure all they want to know is your absolute max budget so they can sell you some overpriced rubbish.

Buddy Bubs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121827834#Comment_121827834

They are both probably your biggest asset that has the vast vast majority of your wealth tied up.

You would be automatically on their books if you on their books if you bid on any property with them or registered interest.

Sell you some overpriced rubbish? The OP is a seller, by your last point that's exactly why they should use an estate agent.

herbalplants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844739#Comment_121844739

You must be an estate agent, at least you talk like one.

Buddy Bubs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121845031#Comment_121845031

Nope, bought one house in my life and never sold one.

Just know the value of using professionals instead of DIY

Aph2016

Sold our house ourselves within one week, looking back at the PPR we sold for more than two neighbours on the same road, only difference was the interiors. Saved €5k nit using an estate agent.

If the house is well maintained, there's very little selling needed, just take good pictures, create a dedicated email, and arrange viewings by email. Ask for proof of funds.

SupaCat95

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121866779#Comment_121866779

Good questions to ask are :

How long are you looking? 2-3 months they are not sure of themselves 4 months plus and after a few failed bids they know the process

Have you got proof of funds? Any answer other than "YES" mean they dont know what "proof of funds" are and they havent got a solicitor.

Who is your Solicitor and Surveyor? Any answer other than Mr X and Mr Y means they are not familiar with sale process.

Those people are not ready to buy and sadly I was one of them once and had to learn the hard way.

ingo1984

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121845470#Comment_121845470

Lol using the word professional in reference to estate agents. Nothing more than Del Boy in a suit and office.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121869136#Comment_121869136

Thing about Del Boy, he could sell items for more than they were worth, that’s pretty much what all sellers want EAs to do. If an EA said to me, “I will sell your most valuable asset for a reasonable price rather than the highest price a buyer is willing to pay”, I’d tell him/her to take a hike.

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844739#Comment_121844739

We've expressed great interest and bid on a number of properties recently, and we're not automatically "on the books" of any estate agents that we delt with. They certainly don't call us when new property comes up, we have to find out about them like everyone else via Daft, MyHome, etc. Then if we have any interest, we have to do the legwork and contact them. So I'm not convinced that these mythical estate agent "books" exist - certainly not in the current climate.

In your example of selling the business, the brokers were able to introduce you to markets that you had absolutely no access to. It's a bit different with selling a house. Anyone can put it up on Daft, and most prospective buyers will be checking Daft.

Depending on the property, like if you were selling a very expensive property or a holiday home, Estate Agents might be able to get you access to international markets that you may not be able to access yourself. Or they may be able to get you into the property section of the Irish Times or similar, which could cast your net wider than you could yourself. But for the average home, that stuff isn't applicable.

I think for most people an EA's main value proposition is taking the hassle out of dealing with queries, dealing with viewings and screening potential buyers. It's up to people to decide themselves if that's something worth paying for.

crybaby

The process is indeed straightforward in theory: listing the property, arranging viewings, and handling inquiries. However, there are some challenges to consider. Marketing a property effectively, negotiating the best price, and managing the paperwork can be time-consuming and stressful. If you feel confident in your partner’s abilities and you're both ready to handle these tasks, it could save you a significant amount of money. But, if you're unsure, the peace of mind provided by a professional agent might be worth the cost.

When I was selling my house, I initially thought about going the DIY route too, but I wanted to ensure I got the best possible outcome with minimal hassle. I found a company that specializes in buying properties directly from sellers, which was incredibly helpful. They offer a quick and stress-free sale, and I didn’t have to worry about marketing or negotiations. You might want to consider this as an option, especially if you're looking for a faster sale. You can check them out here:

https://www.thepropertybuyingcompany.co.uk/news/selling-house-council-do-they-buy-private-houses

mrslancaster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122554846#Comment_122554846

thread is months old and that link is about UK council properties 😏

enricoh

Some people rent houses by themselves, some people get an estate agent to do it.

Some people selling their house themselves, most get an estate agent to do it.

If I was in an estate where houses go for 400k and I'd save 6 k I'd probably do it myself.

One off in the country harder to get a handle on price probably use estate agent.