What are Paul’s tips for people who want to sell privately?

If you’re going to sell privately then you need to do a lot of research.

Preparing your house for sale is the most important thing you will need to do if you want to achieve the best price in the shortest time with the least amount of inconvenience.

You need to put a ‘buyers’ hat on – go back to the time when you were considering buying the property that you are selling.

Have a serious think and write down all of the reasons why you chose that property and it’s location. When I’m coaching a seller we discuss between 10 & 15 unique selling points.

You’ll need to think about how you are going to promote your property to potential purchasers – write some descriptive advert copy and take some inspiring photographs – I’d recommend at least 20 which should include some location shots.

You might consider placing an advert on a property portal site that specialises in private sales, but make sure you do your research before you spend any money.

I would suggest that you design and create your own ‘For Sale’ board and place an advert in your local newspaper (you might get a special rate if you guarantee to insert an ad for at least six weeks for example).

You might even want to think about creating your own web page?

You can use the property portal sites on the internet to get an understanding of comparable properties and estate agents that you will be competing against.

I would suggest putting a procedure in place for the whole family to respond correctly to an enquiry.

Prepare an enquiry form that will enable you to assess the potential buyer i.e. their ability to purchase and proceed.

Don’t forget to bear in mind the security issues of showing someone you don’t know around your property.

In preparation for negotiating a sale I would also suggest you find a competent conveyancer who will explain the sales process to you – you don’t want to run the risk of a savvy buyer or their agent taking advantage of the inexperience of a private seller.

In current market conditions you really do need to think of everything.

Paul Campbell

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 at 2:41 pm and is filed under Buyer's Area, Latest News, Seller's Area, Wanted. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.