by admin Would you consider buying or selling a house without an Agent?
There is an increasing trend of buyers and sellers who sidestepped estate agents to go it alone: Rising property prices and fees mean many feel it necessary to cut out the middleman – but is it a practical move?
With rising, house prices, estate agents now charge around €14,000 for an ‘average apartment sale’ of €250,000. This is just a starting price for the Maltese market; many properties sell at multiple times more than this amount.
Property prices rose steeply over the past five years, and property sellers have been handing over larger sums to agents. It is possible to do it yourself – although there will be more work involved.
We spoke to a few people who sold homes agent-free and most said they would do it again
Agents would tell you that people who sell their own homes usually don’t get the best price. They argue that their expertise and negotiating skill helps vendors get more money for their homes. There might be some truth to this. A larger agency might give your property more exposure and negotiate on your behalf a fair selling price.
With the housing market so busy, each customer is receiving less attention than they normally would from their Agent, while the costs involved keep getting higher.
For those who are stretching their budget to the absolute limit (*link below), and for the buyers and sellers who have perhaps had a bitter experience with some agent, the better option is to go agent-free and take on the job themselves.
It is perfectly legal to sell – or buy – a home without involving an agent. But whether or not it is a good idea is a matter of opinion.
When you use an agent, it will be more expensive, but the agent will take responsibility for advertising, showing potential buyers round, and negotiating a price for the house. How much is actually spent by the agencies on advertising your property is another topic for discussion!
If you decide to find a buyer yourself, it will be cheaper but you will need the time to make all these arrangements and deal with any problems that might arise.
Buyer and seller experience when selling a house without an agent is not always the same. Some buyers said that being their own agent gave them more control and that they were able to ask more questions and get more information about their new homes by speaking with the sellers directly rather than going through a middleman.
One even described the process as ‘enjoyable’.
If you are determined to buy or sell your house without an Agent, here are some steps to follow:
- Get the proper value of your property.
There are some circumstances where selling your house without an Agent might make more sense, especially if you are selling a home that already has an established market value.
Not using an agent to sell your home may be worthwhile if you are selling a property which is very similar to many others and you can easily determine the value by seeking similar properties for sale online. On the reverse side, selling a more unique property with plenty of outdoor space might be more difficult to value but would be easier to sell as it stands out from all the property adverts published on social media.
Keep in mind that buyers often offer under the asking price, at least initially, so you may want to price it slightly higher than what you would like to get.
Visiting property websites will give you a good idea of what similar properties are selling for. Be careful to understand that not all advertised properties actually sell for the listing price. These property websites can give you an idea of how much your home might be worth, but they should be used with caution. Try to look at the asking prices of other, similar homes in your local area.
Before deciding to go for it on your own, you might also want to invite some Agents to give you a valuation and other advice. Estate agents often offer free valuations, though with some expectation that you will then list your property with them.
Before deciding on a selling price, check if you can get planning permission to extend your property. You might have potential to build further floors on the airspace you own; this will increase the potential value of your property.
2. Advertise your property as much as possible.
One of the biggest drawbacks of selling your home without an agent is that you won’t be able to use the main property portals from other Agencies.
Instead, you might look to advertise it on Social media sites and groups, local newspapers, shop windows, the local council website or magazine and other dedicated websites available to private property owners like www.homesinmalta.com.
Facebook, in particular, has groups you can join if you are looking to buy or sell a home in a certain area, although many of the property sites are so full of property ads that you would need some skills to advertise in a way to attract maximum attention. For more info on how to stand out in your advertising, you can ‘contact us’
Websites like this site, dedicated to selling your home directly, offer promotional discounts and also free listings. You can also pay a premium to feature more prominently on the site.
In general, if you decide to sell your property without an Agent, you should use as many different marketing methods as you can. Sellers, who use only one media outlet like Facebook, are only exposing themselves to one core area of the market.
Once you decide to sell your house without an Agent it is very important to market it extensively and in different ways. This is the way to reach out to the maximum number of buyers.
When you sell your home which is your biggest asset, you want to expose it to the widest possible audience to get the highest price from the best buyer.
There are many online links to help you describe your property when you advertise without using an agent, I will list some important details to include in your advert here;
- Hook your readers with a catchy headline
- Describe your property accurately, choose your adjectives wisely
- Start with highlighting the best part of your property. Does it have outside space? Views?
- Unless they are added elsewhere in the listing, you should include the basic details of the property, how large, how many bedrooms and what type of property it is.
- Avoid negative descriptions like “fixer,” “TLC,” and “cosmetic.” As these words imply the home requires a lot of work. If it is indeed “unconverted” your photos will soon show this.
- Include words that add value like “luxury” “spacious” add all the extras that would add value to the property
- Use great photos. Clear crisp photos of your property without clutter and with open curtains or lights on to let in as much light as possible. Where possible add a video. (contact us to help with this).
- Close your advert with a ‘Call to Action’
3. Decide on which offer to accept
If you decide to sell your house without an agent, you will have to negotiate yourself. You don’t have to accept the first offer that you get or even the person who offers the most money. Don’t feel pressured to accept any terms that you are not comfortable with.
Consider whether the buyer is in a chain. Selling to a first-time buyer or someone who has already sold their home and is temporarily renting can be much quicker.
To reduce the risk that your promise of sale falls through, you should also be confident that the offer you accept is from a buyer that is committed to buying the home and in a position to move forward. You should keep in mind that the potential buyer can also withdraw from a promise of sale if, for example, they may not get a mortgage, or the survey you agreed to have may show up some structural or permit problems.
Try to keep a shorter time-frame for your buyer to get their loan sanctioned. Survey reports should also be completed in the shortest time possible. This way, if your buyer fails, you would not have wasted the whole period of the promise of sale.
If you are selling, keep the names and contact details of all potential buyers who showed interest or made offers, in case the one you accept falls through.
Before signing a promise of sale, find out all the terms and conditions; whether your buyers are paying cash or taking a loan will affect the duration of the sale. Have they already found a buyer for their own home? Are your moving timelines aligned? You or your buyers may have a fixed deadline. Plan beforehand when you need to move out and hand over the keys, which are normally exchanged on the final contract.
- Keep the promise of sale moving.
Once you accept an offer and agree to all the terms and conditions, you will have to meet up with the buyers and a Notary and sign a preliminary agreement. This is by no means the end of the process. Once you have decided to sell your property without an Agent you will have to follow up on all the legal processes and make sure surveys, permits and bank loans are all being processed and completed in the agreed time, which is usually between 3 and 5 months.
Is the property transaction subject to a building survey? Do you need to contact architects or surveyors? Are the building permits in order? Are you, as the vendor, responsible for sanctioning part of the building?
Are there any bank loans involved? You will need to follow up with your purchasers that their application for a mortgage and eventual approval is moving on.
It is important to keep your communication lines open with your buyer – so be prepared to be on hand to answer questions or provide information when needed.
Deciding to sell your house without an agent might be the cheapest option, but it won’t be the easiest. You might want to write down the amount of commission you are saving in a prominent place to keep your nerves calm and motivation high enough until the transaction is complete.
A personal experience of buying property without an agent.
“I found my dream home by posting a ‘wanted ad online’”
“The day after we lost a property because the agent involved didn’t get back soon enough to my inquiry, I decided I was going to search for a house myself so that I could have full control of the situation. I posted a ‘property wanted’ online and on different Facebook pages. To be honest, I got numerous replies, mostly, from more agents, but after sifting through my replies, there were a few interesting options”.
“In all, five property owners got back to me, including one vendor who was also disappointed with some of the agents she dealt with”.
“The seller of the house we eventually bought said she had offers from people who were unqualified and were unable to get a mortgage. So she was happy to deal directly with us since we could assure her that we could complete a hassle-free sale”.
“It was actually a very positive and enjoyable experience. We had direct contact with the sellers and we were on the phone and chatting on WhatsApp regularly asking all sorts of questions. It was so much easier than going through the agent each time and waiting for them to get back to us. We were even able to arrange multiple viewings to the house to measure up things before moving in”.
