Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

Why would someone sell their house 'on the quiet'?

22 replies

SecondhandRose · 16/06/2007 09:39

Just found out my neighbour has sold their house 'on the quiet'. Why would someone do that? Surely the idea is you advertise it to get the most interest and the best price.

OP posts:
MamaG · 16/06/2007 09:39

Maybe they didn't want everybody to know, to keep asking htem "where are you moving to" etc

Carmenere · 16/06/2007 09:40

Maybe they didn't want viewers tramping around or maybe they didn't want a particular person to know they were selling?

cece · 16/06/2007 09:41

We did that - no sign and didn't tell the neighbours (except for the immediate ones on one side.

Original poster
SecondhandRose · 16/06/2007 09:46

But if you are selling you are selling, doesn't make sense to me. I said to them I was sad to hear they were moving and can you believe he said 'we are testing the water' even though it is apparently STC, feel sorry for the poor sod who thinks he is buying it. When I asked where they were thinking of going he said he didn't know so he's either giving me a load of BS or I don't what.

OP posts:
daisyboo · 16/06/2007 09:48

people are odd...leave them to it and just think you might get some new, more normal neighbours soon!!

daisyboo · 16/06/2007 09:49

...didn't mean that thsoe who have done that are odd....just that your neighbours sound odd.

No offence meant to cece et al!!

charliecat · 16/06/2007 09:50

My neighbour did this. Didnt use estate agents, sold to another neighbours friend.

Original poster
SecondhandRose · 16/06/2007 09:52

daisy you have hit the nail on the head. Nowt as queer as folk.

OP posts:
admylin · 16/06/2007 10:16

I know someone who did that and sold cheap to spite ex-dh who would get half. When last dc turned 18, she had to sell and didn't care about the money, just wanted to spite him. Someone got a bloody good bargain though!

fattime · 16/06/2007 11:47

I know someone who did this they lived miles from me. They had to to escape some awful relations and I mean crazy awful who had been giving them a terrible time. You never know what trouble someone could be going through I would never have guessed it if I did not know them and some of what they had been going through.

littlerach · 16/06/2007 11:56

The people a few doors down did this a few months ago.
They had the for sale sign at th een do fth eroad, rather than in their garden, and didn't ever want a sold sign.
instead, they movedout over a 2 week period and then one day the new people turned up.
Very strange. But then they were a little odd all the time they lived here.

lisa111 · 16/06/2007 12:10

My neighbour after 14 years told me she was moving the day she left, its only rented propery but we were the first ones in.

I felt really hurt, she even got the ERIC sevice telephone number off me saying she was getting a new 3 piece suite, when really she was getting hers taken away, as her bf already had 1 in his home.

Well luckily for me my new neighbour is very nice, its just her and her 12yr old dd.

joash · 16/06/2007 12:19

Can't see whats odd about doing something 'on-the-quiet'. Perhaps they're just private people when it comes to something that really doesn't have anything to do with anyone else (IYSWIM).

ruddynorah · 16/06/2007 12:39

maybe they just don't want all the street knowing their business? i know as soon as a house goes up for sale in our area everyone goes on line to see the rooms, check how much it's on for etc, they all chat about it.

i sold my last house to the girl who rented a room from me. no estate agent, all very straightforward. i didn't have to show people round, keep the house 'staged' or have my info plastered on line. easy peasy.

cece · 16/06/2007 15:40

Mus admit there were certain people who I didn't want to know that I was moving, so kept it quiet, told no one. Apart from friends.

Also sold privately to a friend of a friend so the first most people knew about it is when the removal van turned up!

ChippyMinton · 17/06/2007 10:16

We did this - told a couple of neighbours but not the nosey man next door. Sold to first viewer, because we had a fab agent who knew his market. Not sure it was even in the newspaper. DH refused to have a sign up. The agent offered me £200 to put up a sold sign, which mamade me think , it's not to help sell the house, it's to advertise how succesful he is at selling.

edam · 17/06/2007 10:51

My neighbours have just done this but I think it was the order of events rather than desire for secrecy - sold to first viewer before board even went up.

MrsCurly · 17/06/2007 11:25

We've just done this, and at both ends - bought without an estate agent and sold without an estate agent.

Why? Because if you are lucky to find a house or a buyer without going to market you save a fortune on estate agency fees, don't have to do us your house like a show home, don't have do do viewings (yipee!!), and you can deal with the buyers or sellers directly if you wish, or through a lawyer if you don't.

I guess for some people - as you say - the idea is to get the most interest and hence the best price. For us the minimal hassle was hugely attractive. And I can't deny that not lining an estate agent's pockets also makes me smile.

Mirage · 17/06/2007 20:39

We bought our house like this.It was a deceased estate & the daughter was selling it.I think the reason for no sign up ect,was that a neighbour had approached her,wanting to do it up & rent it out.For her own reasons,she didn't want him to buy it (she lives in the adjoining semi),so it never went in the paper or had a board up.

We got it because she knows my family.I'm not sure if she regrets it now though,the walls are thin & my dd's can make a bit of a racket.

LoveAngel · 30/06/2007 09:01

We are (fingers crossed) abot to exchange on a house we found this way. We'd been looking for several months in one area, knew exactly what we wanted, had formed a good relationship with several estate agents.. and one of them told us about a house he knew we'd love which would be coming on the market in the next few weeks. He said if we put in the full asking price for it they wouldn't bother putting it on the market. We saw it, loved it, put in full asking price, got it. I think the fact we had a substantial amount of the asking price in cash also helped, as they wanted a quick exchange. They weren't out for every penny they could get - they had it valued and wanted that amount as quick as possible, rather than fannying about with loads of viewings and different offers.

LoveAngel · 30/06/2007 09:03

p.s. what I meant to add was that their neighbours didn't know ot was on sale until it had been sold. in their case, it was a sensible financial move.

In our own case, it was because we are private people to be honest. We didn't have a sign outside our house, put it on with one estate agent and it was sold within a week. We only told our immediate neighbours once it had been sold.

Nemo2007 · 30/06/2007 09:11

We bought our house on the quiet from friends of pil. They had lived here for 30 odd years as have our neighbours either side. We had been looking around this estate for a house as we really liked it then they told pil they were selling! They had inherited a larger house.Had the house valued and came in at £90thous but we only had £60 thous as Dh was doing his phd so was based on my wage..anyways they said that was fine so we got a complete bargain.Then they gave us £2000 back in cash to start our new life together..how lovely were they..well apart from the house practically falling down around us once we moved in..pmsl

New posts on this thread. Refresh page