I have a natural distrust of estate agents and now that I have to pay for a HIP (£400 + vat) I’m even more reluctant to part with £2k for an estate agent to print off some particulars and stick details on the tinternet, I could do this myself.

I’m not in a hurry to sell, has anybody tried a private sale, did you register with any particular site and how did it go?

Ta very much!

do it your way, frank 😉

lot’s of estate agents don’t get a hip done now until an offers made – you have to have ‘ordered’ one but not have had it done – talk to whoever’s goign to do it and see if you can get them to agree to have it ‘pendign’ until you get an offer.

Eastate Agents are working really hard for sellers at the moment I think purely ‘cos the market’s so poor.

I did it myself, but in easier times when we had people knocking on the door to buy it once the word was out.

As much as I dislike agents and like the idea of doing these things myself I decided to use an agent because they have access to buyers and can do well getting the best possible price. I sold mine 2 years ago in W.London when things were going crazy and sold mine the 1st weekend for more than I thought possible.

Find an estate gent who will put your house on rightmove and field calls but that’s all. Cost me £500 but that sold the house and was much cheaper than any other agent.

That HIP price is higher than it needs to be, should be closer to half that.

I was told for £100K – £200K houses Hip is £400 plus vat (in scotland if that makes a difference)

We sold our house with an online “advertising” agency. For a small fee, they put up a for sale board in the garden and fielded calls from interested clients.

This was 3 years ago and I can’t remember the name of the company now. I’ll have a look when I get home. It did work for us.

Ah, scotland – ignore me re HIP’s then – you don’t really do offers do you?

In ?Scotland – It used to be common to sell a house yourself. Private ads in the newspaper are quite expensive tho.

What have you to lose? Try for a month or two? Get a board made or make one to go outside – make it look professional and get your ad in the relevant paper.

I sold a flat privately about 14 years ago.
Just put a sign in the window, but it was in a wee gardened cul-de-sac that was quite desirable, so not too difficult to get interest, and it did sell quite quickly.

check out http://www.designsonproperty.co.uk

you will find out loads of very useful information there, i worked on the site over the summer, writing some articles, and general web design.

I can guarantee any question you have you’ll find the answer to (well to do with property anyway 🙄 )

Eastate Agents are working really hard for sellers at the moment

my suspicion is working very hard to get any sales = not the same as working really hard for sellers

sold a flat (in much easier times) by advertising on notice boards at work –
was a large employer with a lot of staff moving around biggest cost was getting an independent valuation
did this cos’ local estate agents and their mates seemed to be intent on doing deals among themselves at prices that earned them more money than they ought – another light touch regulated industry!

oh how times have changed , when i was an estate agent about 7 years ago estate agents fees were much lower say 1.5% of the sale price the reason being, that they were flying off the shelves and the agents had to do little work/ advertising before sale, now however, the tables have turned houses not moving meaning higher costs for advertisin, details etc. All an EA is a market place for property with people experianced at selling, this can either go for you or against you depending on weather you find a good one

Couple of words of advice, signage boards outside need to be a certain size (otherwise the planners might turn up).
Valuations are not hard to do , do you know any friendly surveyors?
If your really struggling send me an email.

On HIPs, the guy who has done EPCs(£50) for me this year does them at £200, providing no unusual searches needed, no vat(one man band). South Yorkshire though so market may vary. A quick google suggests it doesn’t vary that much though. The price of the house isn’t very relevant, especially since you shouldn’t be marketing it until you’ve got the HIP, and it’s contents should in theory influence the price, otherwise what’s the point?(Having a go at HIPs, not you Frank, good luck with the sale)

thanks for all of your advice, I think I will spend a few weeks trying to punt it myself.

Might as well start here!

FS 3 Bed semi, Melrose, Central Scottish Borders just 30 mins from Glentress. Bike shed with power for keeping the bikes, south facing garden blah blah. Awesome riding from the doorstep.

Fixed price £170K, and beofre you say it, I’m not an estate agent, just a chancer!