Estate Agents

You can get someone to do most of that for you relatively cheaply. I think Doorsteps charges about £200 for example. You just need to do the viewings yourself.

 

wow Helen! I'm curious as to how many houses do you have now then if you've never sold them!

 

Did it yourself 100%

market is very buoyant at present due to stamp duty

great time to sell

 

Just one! Actually reading it, it comes out wrong. Just bought a first one and then did part exchange after that so never needed an estate agent to sell.

 

A friend of mine put their house on the market at 9 am last Thursday it sold by 4.30 the same day for more than the asking price I can’t believe how well the housing market is doing in the current climate

 

I wonder how long for?

 

This is what I'm thinking tbf.

 

You just need to think whether the estate agent’s lists of people on their books, extra advertising etc. can increase the amount you get for the house by more than they charge you, minus the amount you’re willing to pay to reduce the work involved by yourself, and how important a potentially quicker sale is to you.

 

We recently sold/bought and only ended up a little chain but still found the estate agent very useful for chasing things up and keeping everyone informed. My experience was one solicitor was horrifc.
Warning to all avoid norrie-waite solicitors.

 

@Dyson -What are you going to do with all the S&M stuff you installed?

 

TBH I used one of the big boys. Fecked em off after the initial period of no charge. No viewings no communication. Got in Nestledin. Sold within a couple of weeks. Both them and tbf Roebucks the one we were buying from were excellent, especially Roebucks who kept in touch on a regular basis.

 

My mum moved 4-5 years ago and her house had been on the market for years and had used several agents. She'd tried allsorts and was about to give up and stay put. But she really wanted to move as the house was far too big for her. She gave a final go to Gates Estates and they shifted it in about 2 months.

If the market is right, I do think you can save a good amount on agents fees, and if you get numerous valuations anyway, you can land at an asking price pretty easily. You could also try haggling and see where that gets you.

What I would say though... if you're moving up the ladder, you're probably likely to be buying at or near the top of the market with a crash being pent up prior to large scale redundancies once government support ends. If you're trading down, it is a good time to buy though. But if you want to trade up. Hold fire. Wait for the crash and the net difference in what you lose on your value will be more than offset with what you can get for your money.

 

I think folk have been waiting for house prices to go down for ages now and it doesn't seem like they have or will do. We actually made a loss when we moved house first time but it got us to where we wanted to live so I still think we made the right decision. For me a house is a home not an investment and I'm lucky to own one.

 

The new cellar would be bigger.

 

I know a few people in the Banking industry. The Mortgage arms of some of the major High Street Banks have been heavily recruiting people to work in their repossession teams, one bank in particular have employed over 500 people for what they perceive to be a massive repossession market in March/April.

Housing prices are likely to take a battering once furlough becomes a thing of the past. We could be on the verge of one of the biggest recessions in history and furlough is just suspending the inevitable.

 

Always think when prices go up it doesn't make a lot of difference if you are only selling to buy another one.

 

Thanks for all the advice. Will see where we get to. Ta.