Best way to sell a house

[The Darkness]

I'm currently looking to sell a house, and would love opinions, stories and advice on the best way to sell it.

There are many options; from selling privately, having an agent be sole mandate, websites that sell your house etc.
What things should I look out for/avoid? Is it an idea to place the listing privately, and have agents 'war' it out to conclude the sale? Should I be only offering a fixed amount for the agent's fees? What's the best process to end up with a seamless sale (lawyers etc).

I'd really appreciate the advice, and in advance I apologise if this has been discussed already.

 

[diapason]

having an agent be sole mandate

If you decide to go with just one agent make sure that your contract is for sole AGENCY, not sole MANDATE.

The sole mandate would preclude you, as principal, from selling the house yourself should you find your own buyer, eg family, friend, colleague. You would have to be able to prove that you were the cause of such a sale to avoid payment of commission.

 

[maumau]

If you decide to go with just one agent make sure that your contract is for sole AGENCY, not sole MANDATE.

The sole mandate would preclude you, as principal, from selling the house yourself should you find your own buyer, eg family, friend, colleague. You would have to be able to prove that you were the cause of such a sale to avoid payment of commission.

Excellent point, thank you.

 

[cguy]

Not exactly answering your question, but have you crunched the numbers for whether or not renting makes sense instead?

 

[The Darkness]

Not exactly answering your question, but have you crunched the numbers for whether or not renting makes sense instead?

This property has doubled in equity, and yes we'd easily be able to rent it out for a profit (i.e. cover the existing bond etc). However we've decided to sell this one due to risk of damage and/or a bad tenant, and at with the current situation in SA I'm more inclined to move the profits over to offshore investments.

 

[L-Dog]

Market is really tough at the moment, leadhome take the smallest commission and have a pretty decent website. They also send a photographer. Selling privately will get you a bit more the most important thing is pricing your home right if you are serious.

 

[Zoomzoom]

Market is really tough at the moment, leadhome take the smallest commission and have a pretty decent website. They also send a photographer. Selling privately will get you a bit more the most important thing is pricing your home right if you are serious.

Easy enough to get an agent to do an evaluation for you.

 

[The Darkness]

Thanks everyone. Advice on lawyers?

 

[rietrot]

Thanks everyone. Advice on lawyers?

Pick your own random one, that can work with your bank. (is on the panel of attorneys the bank use)

 

[L-Dog]

Easy enough to get an agent to do an evaluation for you.

Correct but everyone always thinks their house is worth more than it is or just wan't a little extra cash (myself included). If you are not in a rush rent it or put a good price on the table as a house should sell in 30-40 days.

 

[My_King]

Thread ninja - When you rent out, do you ask the same for which the repayment amount is or more than that?

 

[The Darkness]

Thread ninja - When you rent out, do you ask the same for which the repayment amount is or more than that?

We worked out the median in our area, and worked backwards from there, including all expenses (insurance, rates etc). If you end up needing to pay in it's not an investment

 

[My_King]

We worked out the median in our area, and worked backwards from there, including all expenses (insurance, rates etc). If you end up needing to pay in it's not an investment

Now I need to ask this: Do people really pay R17 000 for rent?

 

[saturnz]

Now I need to ask this: Do people really pay R17 000 for rent?

my rental for a not so hot property is R15 000pm

 

[My_King]

my rental for a not so hot property is R15 000pm

Thanks for info. I really wanted to know.

Why not buy then?

 

[The Darkness]

Thanks for info. I really wanted to know.

Why not buy then?

Many reasons. But from my experience you can rent a R2,5mil house for around 17K. If you bought that same house and bonded it for 20 years, you'd be paying the bank nearly the same in interest, and your initial layout to buy the property (with transfer, deposit, lawyers etc) would take you for about R450k. For this you'd throw away 180k at least on bond transfer and reg costs (possibly more due to lawyers etc) and you'd require a 70k plus income to do all of this. For that property you'd then need to pay R22k/month. It really are the banks, lawyers and parasitic agents who win in this deal.

Renting is easy.

Factor in too that renters don't pay rates and taxes, house insurance, maintaining costs etc, plus have the freedom to move around at will. The value is clearly there. Ever had to re-line a pool? Paint a house? Houses suck cash.

Banks sell debt. Best way to sell debt is to attach property to it. And with our current unstable rand and high interest rate, it just chews through hard earned money.

Then the other big elephant in the room is that of RSA's current disrespect for property rights, and a failing economy with no long term certainty in terms of stability and growth. Property should be seen as a long term investment, and I don't see a long term here.

Cash invested offshore is a safer bet for me for the time being. I don't trust SA at all anymore. Banks love to tell you though that you're throwing away your money by renting. You're not, you are getting a property to use, and have all of the same rights as any property owner. If you just take primary property out of your portfolio, and still invest cleverly, there's more freedom and cash to be made in the long run. Convincing your wife of this is another story.

 

[Lupus]

Many reasons. But from my experience you can rent a R2,5mil house for around 17K. If you bought that same house and bonded it for 20 years, you'd be paying the bank nearly the same in interest, and your initial layout to buy the property (with transfer, deposit, lawyers etc) would take you for about R450k. For this you'd throw away 180k at least on bond transfer and reg costs (possibly more due to lawyers etc) and you'd require a 70k plus income to do all of this. For that property you'd then need to pay R22k/month. It really are the banks, lawyers and parasitic agents who win in this deal.

Renting is easy.

Factor in too that renters don't pay rates and taxes, house insurance, maintaining costs etc, plus have the freedom to move around at will. The value is clearly there. Ever had to re-line a pool? Paint a house? Houses suck cash.

Banks sell debt. Best way to sell debt is to attach property to it. And with our current unstable rand and high interest rate, it just chews through hard earned money.

Then the other big elephant in the room is that of RSA's current disrespect for property rights, and a failing economy with no long term certainty in terms of stability and growth. Property should be seen as a long term investment, and I don't see a long term here.

Cash invested offshore is a safer bet for me for the time being. I don't trust SA at all anymore. Banks love to tell you though that you're throwing away your money by renting. You're not, you are getting a property to use, and have all of the same rights as any property owner. If you just take primary property out of your portfolio, and still invest cleverly, there's more freedom and cash to be made in the long run. Convincing your wife of this is another story.

Renting like you're doing only works if you're taking that savings and putting it away, otherwise in 20 years time what do you have? You've rented for so long and don't have a property in your name.

 

[The Darkness]

Renting like you're doing only works if you're taking that savings and putting it away, otherwise in 20 years time what do you have? You've rented for so long and don't have a property in your name.

Of course. Alternate investing is essential, and the same austerity applies. It just means that one has more options in the long run. We still have other properties (cheapie flats etc), just choose to rent a better house without the need to bond it.

 

[saturnz]

Thanks for info. I really wanted to know.

Why not buy then?

thats what my tenant pays me

 

[GhostSixFour]

Of course. Alternate investing is essential, and the same austerity applies. It just means that one has more options in the long run. We still have other properties (cheapie flats etc), just choose to rent a better house without the need to bond it.

Also, bear in mind - your property has doubled in value. If you were renting, you'd have spent money for no benefit to yourself.