Selling inheritaned house privately

[gashart]

Hi guys

Anyone done this, any advice, know the process pitfalls, or stick with local EA at 1% commission?

So had some great advice on here when Mum died recently with regards being executors with my brother and sister, and we have now applied for probate and waiting for that to be processed.

As my siblings and their children are 4 hours away its taking a while for everyone to go through the house and pick out bit and pieces they would like etc, been no issues, everyones been very considerate of others feelings, space and needs .

After this weekend I have the British Heart Foundation booked in for a quote to do a house clearance, and once the house was cleared that was when we was going to appoint a local EA to market.

But, through friends and neighbours we've had a couple of inquiries about buying the house, nothing serious yet, but has got me thinking is it worth saving the potential £3400 and sell privately if any of these inquiries get serious, or reduce the hassle and point them to the EA to negotiate etc?

[Petrus1983]

I paid 1.25%+VAT on my house sale last year and felt it was worth every penny (once I had the right EA) - there’s a similar thread though - I’ll try and find it for you.

[gashart]

Petrus1983 said:

I paid 1.25%+VAT on my house sale last year and felt it was worth every penny (once I had the right EA) - there’s a similar thread though - I’ll try and find it for you.

Thanks, I did do a search but couldn't find anything relevant, be interested if you find it

One thing that has popped up, if selling privately to a sole interest, you can only negotiate on that one interest, but with an EA there could be more interested parties which could push the price up, that wound then offset fees,

[Mr Pointy]

There's nothing particularly difficult about selling privately in your situation given that you aren't in a chain, although your buyers may be. You can get a surveyor to value the house & if the private buyers fall through then you always put it on with an agent. You'll have to do viewings yourself but if there are only a couple of buyers then that shouldn't be difficult if you are local.

You'd have to work out which of them was more "proceedable" but as is clear from the other thread running estate agents seem to strugle with this anyway so you may be no worse off.

[alscar]

I had to sell a relatives house and sort out complete house clearance.
I went via an Estate Agent who also found a company to sort the latter.
Almost inevitably there is some form of issue so paying an Agent 1.25% whilst irritating in the scheme of things is probably worthwhile.

[Petrus1983]

Sorry OP - I hadn’t properly read your post with regards to already having offers directly which probably does change things a bit as you’d need good conveyancers rather than an EA. Maybe see if they’d do a very good rate to handle things though and ensure the price is accurate.

This is what I went searching for but doesn’t apply!

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[gareth h]

When my MIL died there were several notes through the door by people interested in buying the house (which to be honest was a bit distressing). The house was put on the market through an EA and the buyer was not one of those who had expressed interest which leads me to think that they didn’t want to pay market value for the house.

[SunsetZed]

I'd suggest not doing the house clearance until after the house has sold, lot's of people struggle to envisage furniture in empty rooms so it may well look better with the furniture in situ.

[Slow.Patrol]

gareth h said:

When my MIL died there were several notes through the door by people interested in buying the house (which to be honest was a bit distressing). The house was put on the market through an EA and the buyer was not one of those who had expressed interest which leads me to think that they didn’t want to pay market value for the house.

I would agree with this.

Also a GOOD estate agent will determine the applicant's ability to proceed by checking the chain, finance etc. Also a GOOD estate agent will chase the sale progress and keep you up to date. They have the ability to chase the buyer's solicitor. It is unlikely that the buyer's solicitor will speak directly to a vendor and most solicitors will not get involved in any chain chasing.

[LFB531]

Don't put it up for sale until you've got probate, that's asking for trouble. Any good estate agent would give you that advice when they come in to look at it.

Probate can get bogged down for no reason in even the most straightforward of cases and the associated delays can easily scupper a sale.

Edited by LFB531 on Thursday 16th March 13:50

[gashart]

SunsetZed said:

I'd suggest not doing the house clearance until after the house has sold, lot's of people struggle to envisage furniture in empty rooms so it may well look better with the furniture in situ.

I'd agree normally, but dear old mother was a bit of a hoarder, already done 1 skip, will review with brother over the weekend

[alscar]

gashart said:

I'd agree normally, but dear old mother was a bit of a hoarder, already done 1 skip, will review with brother over the weekend

In my case you couldn’t get in the front door without a struggle - so sympathies.
My relatives was like something you see on those TV programmes.
My wife and I spent a total of 2 days there with masks on etc and that was just trying to find any papers etc.
iirc getting the house then completely cleared was circa £4k but had no choice.

[arfur]

LFB531 said:

Don't put it up for sale until you've got probate, that's asking for trouble. Any good estate agent would give you that advice when they come in to look at it.

Probate can get bogged down for no reason in even the most straightforward of cases and the associated delays can easily scupper a sale.

Edited by LFB531 on Thursday 16th March 13:50

I just got probate on my father's estate which was just house + cash (no IHT due) in 4 weeks from application online ... I was somewhat shocked !

[Kickstart]

With a good EA you will achieve market value for your house which a wide range of potential buyers will get to see - private sale may not get the same price and tends not to generate any competition
Personally I would at least get 3 valuations from local agents and go from there

[PositronicRay]

gashart said:

SunsetZed said:

I'd suggest not doing the house clearance until after the house has sold, lot's of people struggle to envisage furniture in empty rooms so it may well look better with the furniture in situ.

I'd agree normally, but dear old mother was a bit of a hoarder, already done 1 skip, will review with brother over the weekend

We had a real mish-mash, so left a couple of nicer pieces, some pictures, and cleared the rest. Made it easier to freshen the place up.

The buyer took it on complete with furniture.

[otherman]

gashart said:

After this weekend I have the British Heart Foundation booked in for a quote to do a house clearance, and once the house was cleared that was when we was going to appoint a local EA to market.

We used BHF for this very thing a few weeks ago. Turns out, they don't do house clearance, they just take the bits they want. Also, they'd contracted the work out, and the people who came round said "BHF won't want this furniture but we can dispose of it for you" pointing to the Ercol and GPlan.
Far better to get house clearance auction people in. You can always donate the proceeds if you wish.

[gashart]

otherman said:

gashart said:

After this weekend I have the British Heart Foundation booked in for a quote to do a house clearance, and once the house was cleared that was when we was going to appoint a local EA to market.

We used BHF for this very thing a few weeks ago. Turns out, they don't do house clearance, they just take the bits they want. Also, they'd contracted the work out, and the people who came round said "BHF won't want this furniture but we can dispose of it for you" pointing to the Ercol and GPlan.
Far better to get house clearance auction people in. You can always donate the proceeds if you wish.

Might depend if you have a local BHF furniture shop local, we do, in Exeter, the assessor coming round on Monday, he will let us know what they can or cannot take, with what they can, will also let us know what will be dumped and what they can sell in the shop, the more they can sell the cheaper the operation. Plus if we get rid of stuff separately that they have already identified is dump material also becomes cheaper.

[gashart]

Taken all that's been mentioned above, discussed with siblings and we have decided to engage the local estate agent to manage the sale, they already know the property, as he valued it for us for probate.

Thanks for all the advice, will report back sometime.

[MountainMutant74]

If three of you set to inherit then think of it as £1000 each, which is not a lot for someone else to do all the hard work

[gashart]

MountainMutant74 said:

If three of you set to inherit then think of it as £1000 each, which is not a lot for someone else to do all the hard work

Exactly our thinking