Selling Own Home Pros and Cons

The DIY Guide To Selling Your Own Home

Pros & Cons of Selling Your Own home

At this stage, before you make too many irreversible decisions, it would probably be a good idea to look at the pros and cons of DIY selling.

The biggest pro is of course that you don’t pay commission when you sell your own home.

Estate Agents charge anything between 2% to 3.5% of the sale price (plus vat) which, at today’s prices, is not to be sniffed at. (So it will easily cost you at least £2000 for a £100,000 house).

The biggest con is the work you’ll have to do.

Summary of PROs

You can save thousands in commission when you DIY

Avoid relying on Estate Agents - who are often inefficient.

Advertising is cheap & easy on the internet.

Selling yourself has become increasingly popular. Thousands of people are doing it !

Summary of the CONs

Time. Showing people round; if you work all hours it might be better to let an agent take the strain. (But you will probably find you have to do the viewings yourself anyway as the agent may be "busy".) See Ideally You shouldn't attend your viewings anyway for how to get around this.

Security. Are you happy letting a perfect (or, more likely, imperfect) stranger into your home? (But simply follow our security tips for home viewings and you should be fine).

Negotiating. Haggling over the price can be stressful. Some people seem to be better than others at getting their way. Will you relish the battle or cave in too easily? (Follow our negotiating tips and learn the simple golden rules of negotiating. You'll wonder what all the fuss was about).

If your property is jointly owned, if there are sitting tenants or if there are any other legal complications take advice before deciding to sell yourself.

OK, assuming you’ve decided to go ahead and sell your own home, the first step is valuing your property ie to see what price you should set.

How to sell Your Own Home Guide Contents

How to Sell Your Own Home Guide - Summary

The Pros & Cons

The Valuation - How to Set the Right Price

Legal Advice When Selling Your Own Home

Marketing Your Own Home Without an Estate Agent

The Description - How to Describe Your Property

Preparing Your Home to Sell

Viewings It's showtime folks

Dealing with offers - Tips and the Golden Rules to Negotiating

Exchanging Contracts and legal stuff

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX – Selling options