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Property/DIY

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Original poster

Has anyone ever bought privately?

14 replies

DaisyNGO · 30/10/2021 17:12

Hi
Just wondered if anyone had done this
Is it a problem to buy without an agent as a buffer?

Does anyone ever respond to a note through a door?

Thanks.

OP posts:

Holidaytan · 30/10/2021 17:16

Our buyer is buying from us without an agent. He popped a note through our door.

BluebellsGreenbells · 30/10/2021 17:20

As long as you both have solicitors it’s no different to using an agent.

TheEconomista · 30/10/2021 17:25

We’ve done a private sale (completed), attempted one private purchase (failed) and in the process of another (progressing but I won’t relax until the keys are in my hand).

Yes people do respond to a letter through the door, if worded well, and if they are actually thinking of selling. You might need to do a lot though.

The lack of agent can be painful depending on the personalities. Our current vendor is professional and straightforward and it’s fine. Our previous private vendor was a NIGHTMARE. The woman who bought our house privately was highly emotional. I got shouted at a lot in both cases, and the stress was such I said I’d never do it again, but here we are. If you are very thick skinned and experienced in what needs to happen (or can really thoroughly educate yourself on it) you’ll probably be fine.

Be prepared that you’ll have to a lot of the chasing of the chain yourself (what the agent would normally do), and that people behave in the most extraordinary ways in house selling.

XingMing · 30/10/2021 17:37

We did so, many years ago. There was a home-made board outside so we rang, and viewed and offered almost the asking price. We were happy to wait until they found another house to buy which ended up taking nine months. It was all very amiable.

RitaFires · 30/10/2021 17:37

A relative bought a house from a neighbour and the vendor was extremely difficult, constantly ringing and complaining about the sale not being through yet. In the end the sale was actually delayed by a few weeks because the vendor didn't have all their documents ready, but they really hounded my relative and it took a little bit of the shine off the sale for them so proceed with caution.

I have never bought without an agent involved but I viewed a few that were for sale by the owner and they were often quite overpriced as some people see their stuff as intrinsically more valuable than other people's.

Original poster

DaisyNGO · 30/10/2021 18:08

thank you
those are all very helpful stories

it sounds like a lot of hassle

it was just an idea but perhaps one best left that way!

OP posts:

daisypond · 30/10/2021 18:09

I did. It was no problem. I bought the flat I was already renting from the landlord.

Justlovedogs · 30/10/2021 18:23

We bought privately from a then work colleague of DH. Wasn't any more or less trouble than with an agent.

LittleOverWhelmed · 30/10/2021 23:53

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

Justcannotbearsed · 31/10/2021 03:43

We sold privately. It was no more hassle than any other sale. It was lovely not having the house on the ,market. And we’d respond to a note through the door.

allfurcoatnoknickers · 03/11/2021 00:38

We did - we "swapped" with a neighbour who wanted to downsize and we needed a bugger place. It was really easy - all done through the lawyers and we didn't have to pay any fees to an estate agent.

allfurcoatnoknickers · 03/11/2021 00:38

*bigger

Wingedharpy · 03/11/2021 00:58

We did, many moons ago.
We're still here.
Went to view house next-door-but-one, which was up for sale with an agent.
It wasn't the one for us, for a variety of reasons, but showed us how deceptively big the properties were.
Noticed the home made for sale sign on this one, and made arrangements to view.
Loved it and offered asking price but they had already accepted an offer from someone else.
They did tell us this at the end of the viewing and also said as they weren't using an agent, they weren't interested in starting up any sort of bidding war.
Said they would bear us in mind if it didn't work out with 1st buyer.
It didn't, they phoned us and said it was ours if we were still interested.
We're still here 34 years later.
No hassle at all.
We were up front with vendors and, from the outset, they were upfront with us.
As with most things in life, it depends on the people involved.

Bells3032 · 03/11/2021 12:39

We did last year via a facebook group. was so nice and easy as we could just chat directly and let each other know what was going on. But we were lucky as they were great sellers who didn't take the piss and we were flexible buyers so it worked really well.

We're still in touch today which is nice.

At the same time i was selling my flat via an estate agent which was a nightmare. It wasn't the agents fault but the buyers were really difficult and i couldn't just contact them to see what was going on. but i think it would have been worse without the agent chasing them and pushing them along.

So can be really good just depends on the circumstances

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