HouseWeb Testimonials

”From previous dealings with estate agents, they really do very little!” Pritesh Mistry sold her flat privately and moved to a family home. ”We have a growing family with one small child and one on the way and we needed more space. From previous dealings with estate agents, they really do very little. I did have my reservations about selling privately as we hadn’t done it before, but we thought we would give it a try. We saw the HouseWeb site mentioned in a TV programme about a year ago and we kept a note of the details ‘just in case’. We put the advert together using previous details of flats sold in our block as well as the original one from when I bought the place, together with some new pictures. We first compiled the text in Word, so it was a straight forward cut and paste job.  We chose the top package, the Platinum one, which included a For Sale Board. My father in law is a printer, so he made us a second sign, which we put more detail on and used on the side of the flat, next to the main road. I put the flat on the market around October, and by the end of December we had accepted an offer and we completed mid March 2008. We’d had a valuation of £145,000 last year but based on the work we had done to the flat and all the mod-cons, we put it up for £169,995 and sold it for £166,000. We saved between and £1660 to £3320 i.e. 1 to 2%. It was great to be in full control of the sale and because I had a clear line of communication with the buyer, we essentially kept each other up to date with the progress of our solicitors and the sale. I think anyone can sell privately but especially if you have a very desirable property in the right location. There are definitely some tips for a quick and easy sale:-  Make sure you include plenty of details in the listing and make sure the photographs are good. We used the picture of our lounge as the first picture, as all other agents used the front of the block of flats. This created more interest as it showed off the great interior.  Make up a floor plan of the place with all the details and include information about local amenities, shopping, transport links, with pictures, so that anyone that does come to view can take this away to review at their leisure. Remember, if they have come to view the place that means there is some interest there. Take time to chat to the buyer and find out what else they have seen and how yours compares. Remove anything you do not require in the immediate future and store it at a friends, or relatives place, or in secure storage, it makes your home feel more spacious, we found that the more floor space you could see around the furniture, the bigger it felt. We also found our low furniture in a flat helped the illusion of more space. Don’t delete your advert when you accept an offer. I kept the flat on HouseWeb and we had several other interested parties call us, whose numbers we kept, just in case the sale with this buyer did not go through.”     More Case Studies Selling or renting a property? Click here to find out about advertising it on HouseWeb. To see how easy it is to advertise, try out the one minute demo. View the current properties.