Selling privately what do I need to know?

[Belleende]

Hello all,
My lovely tenants are moving out of the country for a few years, and we are just about to have DD number 2. We decided to look into the option of selling. Turns out they are interested
We have agreed a price.

Never sold privately before. What do I need to know?

We recently did this. It wasn’t much different than an estate agent one really - you both need solicitors etc and we went through surveys in the same way. The big advantage was being able to talk to each other and coordinate to get solicitors moving!

Good to know. They have lived in the flat for 2.5 years so they should be aware of all the issues!

How did you agree the price? Did they come up with a number or did you?

I had 4 Valuations done. I knew a minimum figure I had to achieve, they offered well below, I said no, has to be at or near X, which was bang in the middle of the valuations anyway. They offered X minus saved agent fees.

Given the market I think it's a fair deal on both ends. I might have been able to get maybe £15k or so more, or not, who knows. I have made a good profit, and I am selling to a lovely couple who have already enjoyed living there, so there is an element of sentimentality, but not too much!

Good for you - seems painless so far - hope you get it all locked down soon. Were you not miffed that they initially came in well below your minimum figure - or had they not seen the valuations at this point?

They let the agents in to do the valuations, so probably did get a sense of what they were saying. They made a low ball offer, fair enough in the current market. They immediately upped it significantly when I said what we needed to achieve as a minimum. They have been fab tenants, let's hope they are as good buyers!

Bit off topic but did you find the tenants yourself. Sometimes if an agency find them they can be legally entitled to some kind of fee (if there was a contract)

Hopefully this doesn’t apply!