Benefits to buying off market?

[KobaniDaughters]

Very slight potential we could buy a house from someone who hasn’t put it on the market or registered with estate agents AND a chance we could just sell our flat to friends of friends who are interested also without having to go through an estate agent.

We’d obviously otherwise go fully above board, solicitors and surveyors etc but any major cons to NOT using an estate agent and just cutting out the middle person?

Well the obvious con is not being sure that the price you are paying/receiving is true market value.

For this reason private sellers quite often ask a few EAs for valuations, even if they have no intention of selling via the EA as they have a buyer lined up.

Another con is that if your buyer pulls out down the line, you don’t have other potential interested buyers waiting in the wings, or even a listing/EA up and running, so it’ll take you longer to find an alternative buyer.

On the other hand everyone saves on EA fees and there’s no endless viewings to prep for.

I started a similar thread in case it's useful

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/4388798-Has-anyone-ever-bought-privately

Oh crap Thankyou @DaisyNGO !! Should def have searched first!

Disclaimer: I have absolutely no legal expertise or qualifications.

Sounds great of you can achieve it safely and legally and a good deal is gained all round.

EA have potential buyers register with them before they show them around the clients houses. Have you thought about how you will show 'friend of friend' or anyone else without their ID / address/details?. Will you have someone with you in the house?

Just thinking of Suzy Lamplugh is all. For your safety. I realise that she was an estate agent but be very very careful. Especially around friend of friends. Everything double stamped with a solicitor.

You could do a 'House Swap' to avoid stamp duty ask your solicitor about how the balance would be determined if there is a difference in valuation. I think that this process involves two financial transactions on one day instead of one transation which is the case in a chain or normal house sale through EA.

Or do an 'Attended Exchange' where all parties book a 1hour slot or 2hour etc and sit around the table with their solicitors instead of twoing and froing back and forth months of chains etc.

I sold my flat off market, and in many ways it was great. BUT, what I hadn't appreciated is how much the estate agent does to chivvy every one along and get the sale over the line. Abs the people I was selling to had a useless solicitor, who would never answer my solicitor etc., so I was constantly having to chase which was a bit stressful. But also totally worth the £15,000 we saved in not having an agent...

I’ve done the same, sold privately and tried to buy privately in the same chain. It was a bit of a nightmare. You have no barrier between you and the personalities of the buyer/seller, and have to do all the chasing yourself. I got shouted out a lot. Our seller lied - a lot - and eventually pulled out at the last minute leaving the rest of the complete chain in the lurch. An EA insulates you from all that and has the experience to see a time waster a mile off. Make sure you know where the seller intends to go, get to know them a bit if you can, and make sure you see hard proof that your buyer has the finance to buy.

We did exactly this, in a three chain, just got a non obligation valuation done and negotiated between ourselves.

Obviously used solicitors and everything above board. It was nice not having to have the line of viewers going through the property and having to deal with an estate agent (and paying them) or too many people being involved.