Selling a property without an agent

[CaraCruise]

Hi any property experts out there?
I put a tentative advert out on social media yesterday announcing that our property may be coming onto the market in the coming weeks. I have had a phenomenal response and now wonder if I really need the services of the agent at 1.25% commission?
Can we conclude the sale ourselves with lawyers or is there a loophole where you have to use an agent? I have priced the property over what the agent recommended and I know he may get more than we have advertised for but we would still have approx £6.5k in fees to pay!

You could just use one of the online agents, some are better than others. They get the advert on rightmove etc and do a floor plan. Think they charge around £1000

Agreed. Just use an online agent for a few hundred. We’ve used Property Eagle before. They did the floorplan, v good photos, posted the listing on Property portals, booked viewings, checked offers and negotiated etc.
Basically everything expect we did our own viewings for a few hundred pounds. Social media is great but being on Rightmove, Zoopla, Prime Location etc will make you visible to serious buyers who are currently looking in your area.

Remember the 1.25% excludes VAT. It'll increase once VAT is added

You don’t need an estate agent. Our last property was privately advertised. I can’t remember what we had instead of a memorandum but I know that both solicitors just started communicating with each other and it was fab!!

We managed without an agent too.

Both parties instructed a solicitor and everything was done between them and us privately.

No problems at all.

Definitely worth doing, I've managed to sell very quickly without an agent. Agents only exist because Zoopla and Rightmove make it practically impossible to list properties independently and people prefer convenience over savings. Agents typically add zero value, many can't even manage to produce an accurate floor plan.

TBH i am selling with an agent and buying without. I am finding the purchase without the agent sooooo much easier. but depends if your property will sell easily without some networking.

My sale has been a nightmare with the agent passing on completely incorrect info and things that would have taken 5 minutes to clear up if i could talk directly to the buyer taking days and never really knowing where they are.

My purchase has been so pleasant. We have a little whats app group and just ping a message across whenever there's an update (mortgage approved etc) or when there's been a question we've needed an answer to e.g. age of building etc.

But we also aren't a long chain and if there is a chain i imagine an estate agent is invaluable.

I sold without an agent - well, they would have been my agent had I not sold to an acquaintance before the agent had even taken photos! But the same agent was also selling the two houses below me in the chain and they were a godsend during the whole process. I would have happily paid them the 50% of the 1% fee they suggested as they hadn't done anything but they never invoiced me.

The advantage of an agent is that they can speak to all the different solicitors which you as a buyer can't! They can push the solicitors from 3 tiers down instead of your solicitors asking your buyers solictior to ask their buyers solicitor etc. Of course, this particularly agent is exceptional and has all sorts of awards - many aren't this good and once the sale is agreed don't do anything more.

I am looking to buy house. Could you tell me where can I find houses on the private sale please? Really interested on this thank

We found ours on a local property group on fb. Just search for properties and area and you should find them without too much hardship

You don't need an agent if you have a buyer. I'm selling my parents house atm to one of their neighbours. We agreed a price, organised solicitors each, and the solicitors have dealt with it from there