Selling privately

[ChasW]

I am in a difficult position trying to sell my mother's retirement flat which happens to be in the stock broker belt where the average house prices are 10 times the value of her flat. The result is that local agents show little interest in taking it on when fat commissions are the norm from the 5-6 bed houses.

Has anyone tried marketing their own property? Are there any good websites that you can recommend?

[garycat]

We tried with the Houseladder website and got no responses, gumtree is probably your best bet but you really need to get the house on the agent-only websites like rightmove.co.uk for max publicity.

[cslgirl]

I got a "lead" through houseladder. We got to the day of exchange and the buyers were stalling - turned out the guy wanted to split up with his missus so it all fell through but I would use houseladder again - it nearly worked for us.

[zcacogp]

Stupid suggestion, but we bought our current house privately after seeing a hand-written A3 notice in the front window. It had a mobile contact number, but we just knocked on the door ...

Sometimes the simple ways can be the best.


Oli.

[scotal]

zcacogp said:

Stupid suggestion, but we bought our current house privately after seeing a hand-written A3 notice in the front window. It had a mobile contact number, but we just knocked on the door ...

Sometimes the simple ways can be the best.


Oli.

Could be tricky in a flat... especially if its on the first floor.


OP, you mention retirement flat, is it an over 55's development? Is it run by McCarthy & Stone or similar? Do they have a pet agent in the area? Which agent did you buy it from?

[zcacogp]

scotal said:

Could be tricky in a flat... especially if its on the first floor.

True, and it also might not work if it is not the 'normal' property type in the area (hence not what people walking past would be expecting to see), but worth a try.

Even if a flat, there will be an entryway at street level of some kind which a such a sign could be applied to.


Oli.

[scotal]

zcacogp said:

scotal said:

Could be tricky in a flat... especially if its on the first floor.

True, and it also might not work if it is not the 'normal' property type in the area (hence not what people walking past would be expecting to see), but worth a try.

Even if a flat, there will be an entryway at street level of some kind which a such a sign could be applied to.


Oli.

That might work, if someone already there knows someone who wants to move in.

[eldar]

zcacogp said:

scotal said:

Could be tricky in a flat... especially if its on the first floor.

True, and it also might not work if it is not the 'normal' property type in the area (hence not what people walking past would be expecting to see), but worth a try.

Even if a flat, there will be an entryway at street level of some kind which a such a sign could be applied to.


Oli.

Try a small ad in the local paper as well.