Selling your house privately

[Daniel Weston]

We are looking at selling and relocating to the Midrand area. Has anyone sold their house privately recently and if so, is it still quite easy to do this?
I'm not fond of paying an agent a huge sum of money as we are quite sure that our place would sell quickly.
Any advice?
Cheers.

[kamikazi]

Also put my place in the market this week. I looked at Private Property as it was quite a popular means back when I bought my first place. Not sure how good they are now and you have to pay them now to place an ad. Looks like they do add a few new value-added-services wrt media etc. Might be something to look at? The estate agents certainly haven't improved any bit I can assure you...

[Daniel Weston]

PP have been charging to post your ad for many years now so that's nothing new I don't think...
Where did you advertise btw?
I'm more interested in hearing how easy or hard it is once you have a buyer in terms of lawyers and all the paperwork attached to the sale.

[audiomuze]

There's nothing stopping you writing your own sales agreement - I've done it on two occasions where I've bought investment properties.  You can even go to CNA and purchase a standard contract.  One thing though is that the CPA wasn't in force yet in those days and as you're the seller you'd best understand if/how it impacts you.  I'm guessing the standard form property sale agreement covers it these days.  In any event, after concluding the sales contract it's subject to stamp duty and then you need to get a conveyancer involved - the conveyancer is usually at the buyer's expense.

[Daniel Weston]

Cheers AM. Yep, I reckon it can't be so hard if you understand the steps to follow....

[Byrd]

One thing though is that the CPA wasn't in force yet in those days and as you're the seller you'd best understand if/how it impacts you.

CPA only targets transactions where the seller is selling as part of their regular business activities.

[Rodney_gold]

What makes you think your property will sell quickly - 4 months on the market is the median these days...

[Juggy]

CPA only targets transactions where the seller is selling as part of their regular business activities.

Correct, private transactions are not affected by the CPA.

[Rodney_gold]

http://advice.privateproperty.co.za/?p=2385

[Daniel Weston]

@Rodney- I have a dedicated HT room. Who wouldn't want to buy it quickly!
No seriously, I stay in an estate that is very popular and my place is one of those that is a case of 'move in and live without spending a single cent. Anyway, hold thumbs for me that if we do sell, that it sells quickly!

[kamikazi]

If its a good area or estate you should have no problems selling it, but does depend on the price range. There is a shortage of good/well cared for homes out there and anything good sells pretty quickly. We sold our home within 4 days.. You can negotiate with estate agents on what you want to get out of the deal. I was surprised by the agent we used, she was really on the ball from day 1.

[tangmonster]

I am convinced that being an estate agent is one of the easiest jobs ever.

Yes , your income is not stable.

But heck getting 6 odd % on a place you sold for spending roughly 5 hours to prospecting buyers . really!!!?

[Atjan]

/\ If it really was that easy I'm sure more people would be at it...
I've dealt with some really bad agents and some excellent ones.

Avg registration takes longer than 4 mths at the moment.

[Daniel Weston]

@Kamikazi- where you based? Aren't you in Centurion too?

I agree with you on the shortage of well looked after homes. Our place is around 7 years old and I reckon it looks better than it did when it was first built. It's all the small things like properly painting window frames, doors and door frames that make a difference. The developers just slap a cheap coat of paint on and that's it....

We stay in Thatchfield but are very fortunate to have a place that was cleverly built to make the most of the land. We also have amazing privacy for estate living as we have a row of conifers against the one neighbour and a row of silver birch and other trees against the other. Our walls have also been raised by 3 bricks so it is impossible to see into our yard. I have a jacuzzi in our garden and I reckon the only time I have ever worn my costume is at Xmas when everyone is in the tub. Apart from that, it's been au naturel all the way hah hah.

[tangmonster]

/\ If it really was that easy I'm sure more people would be at it...
I've dealt with some really bad agents and some excellent ones.

Avg registration takes longer than 4 months at the moment.

I don't think there is enough houses being sold to accommodate more agents. that is why not everyone is doing it.

It is my understanding the the lawyers does all the hard work? That is how it worked with my house buying experience.