Selling a House & Estate Agents Advice

[smokeysmoo]

Mrs Smoo lost her Nan just before Christmas and now has the uneviable task of selling the house.

We have very limited experience between us, I've bought two houses and sold one in 25 years, and the MIL has lived in her home for around 35 years.

So would you go with a conventional high street agent or one of these online jobbies or something totally different?

We don't really want the hassle of dealing with viewings TBH, think we'd rather just give whoever a key and tell them to call when they've got an offer, so guessing this may limit who to use but any advice from the CC massive would be gratefully received.

T.I.A

 

[derrick]

Online for me. Save a fortune. We dealt with the veiwings. But i think you can get them to sort that side as well. We used House simple. Have no trouble recomending them.

 

[Slick]

We sold the last 2 on our own. It isn't difficult if you know anything about your market. Agent valued first house 50k below what we got for it first week out the gate. Some agents just want their cut as opposed to getting you the best deal regardless of what they say.

 

[Beebo]

For a probate sale of an empty home I would just use a standard agent. It will cost more but be less hassle.

 

[screenman]

What do you hope to achieve? Highest price, less hassle, fastest sale.

 

[smokeysmoo]

What do you hope to achieve? Highest price, less hassle, fastest sale.

The highest price for the fastest sale with the least hassle

 

[screenman]

The highest price for the fastest sale with the least hassle

You can have two of those in an auction I would imagine.

 

[Dave 123]

My mum died in October. We sold hers via a good local agent. The sale fell through in early November, the day before her funeral while we were trying to get probate ASAP to complete the sale.

We put it back on the market, my sister saying we should reduce the price. We didn’t. It sold in 2 weeks for £7k more than the original sale.

I’d go with a good local firm.

 

[Spiderweb]

For less hassle use a local high street agent, leave them with a key and they will sort all the viewings. Local agents will have lists of prospective buyers looking for certain types of properties in the area.
I would have 3 different estate agencies come and value the house, look at the valuations and listen to their advice and what they say about the property. The high street estate agents that I’ve dealt with are all prepared to negotiate their fees with you so worth talking about this too before you decide.

 

[Profpointy]

Deapite all the cliche anti-agent hype, a decent proper estate agent will do a professional job and hustle for a good price and quick sale. I'd be wary of some of the newcomers as they can be more fixated by selling a finance product to the buyer than selling your house. Realistically there is several £k worth of work in in selling a house so "on the cheap" is being paid for some how and if you are not paying where is the moneh coming from ? that said, some are better than others so just like with any tradesman go with recommendation and gut feel when you meet them. An internet outfit more interested in selling finance - take care !

 

[sheddy]

Get recommendations for high st EA's. Must use Rightmove.

When you have decided, agree a timescale (and get it in writing) for when you can ditch em without penalty.
We were lucky enough to get a 2 week rolling contract. Don't go beyond 6 weeks.
Tidy up & loose the crap before you get them to shoot lots of (say 40) pics and select the best ones you want to be used. Check descriptions etc.

 

[Cuchilo]

Just in the process of buying and selling for my parents . High street estate agents take away most of the hassle .
Even this route will take a lot of your time .

 

[mr_cellophane]

This has changed from when my father died 2 years ago and now depends on the value of the property and the amount of Inheritance Tax you might have to pay
1 - Contact a couple of agents and get probate valuations. These should be the minimum you could sell the house for.
2 - Transfer the property into your name
3 - While you are waiting for that to go through, tidy up and clear everything out. Having it looking like an old person's home who might have died in there will reduce the price. We had time while inquests, etc drag on to refurbish, the EA's will advise how much more you will get.
4 - Find an Agent. Hardly anyone round my way does their own viewings. The Agent will do a better job of selling it that you will, after all that is why you are paying several £,000's
5 - When sold pay CGT on the difference between (1) and the sale price, less agents fees, etc. That will be at 18% less your allowance instead of the 40% Inheritance Tax

 

[Archie_tect]

i thought probate had to be completed before property could be transferred or sold?

 

[Dave 123]

i thought probate had to be completed before property could be transferred or sold?

Yes. Online Forms are awkward but not impossible. Don’t let a solicitor charge you £5k for them to do it.
We had the probate form back in 3 weeks.