Anyone bought a house direct without using estate agent?

[ImogenTubbs]

Any tips? I might be selling direct to my tenant and my plan is as a first step to get a few market valuations to understand what I could get for the property.

Then obviously I would offer it to them for the price without the agent's fee, but is there anything else I should consider? Should I knock another couple of % off for the hassle? Are there any standard things that tend to happen in these cases?

Thanks anyone with any insight!

We once bought from a landlord, and then sold via an ad in the Times.

My key piece of advice is to detach as much as you can. Work out the tipping point where you would be better off selling on the open market and don't go below. A lot depends of how tough the tenant is at negotiating and how kind you feel.

When we bought we got most of the furniture as it was not worth the landlord moving it, which saved us andhim quite a lot. He gained from continuous tenancy through to completion. Essentially we bought at close to the tipping point, I think he referred to it as the bargain of the century, but it was straight forward for everyone.

Our private buyer was a pain and threw in odd things at the last minute like demanding our washing at the last minute. DH was better than me at taking a step back and confirming we were willing to back out. I don't think he would have been as aggressive if things had to go through an agent.

That's really helpful, thank you. Yes - you're right - we need a minimum price threshold. I suppose we should also work out a price for all the furniture and sundries as they may well want all of that too so we need to factor that in.

Not even sure we want to sell yet, but the tenant is actively looking to get on the ladder and has said they might be interested, so just want to get everything straight in my head before we move forwards.