Selling home privately?

Best not to go down that route, but stick with the estate agents. With friends, family, neighbours, you can so easily get delays while they sort out what will be best for them, and not necessarily for you.

I bought a bungalow near us for my parents privately.The old lady who lived there had just died. Her god- daughter was selling the house. I put a note through the door and said I heard it was likely to go on the market.She approached me. I offered a couple of thousand less than the price she suggested. She accepted. It was all so amicable.

I've sold a house privately. it's not the selling privately that's the issue (I've sold privately before) it's whether this elderly gentlemen really wants to move just after the death of his wife, who is still alive.

I think the 4-week delay is a good idea eddie

now I'm repeating myself

Another question is - do they need to sell the father's house before they can buy the bungalow? If the answer is 'no' they would be able to go ahead and get the bungalow ready for him and he could go from home to home.
If they need to sell first it could be very traumatic for everyone - or maybe they could rent from you for a period until their sale goes through. You would of course need to decide if you would be willing for a rental to go on indefinitely if the don't sell for some reason.

I assume you will need the money raised on the sale to fund your father in his care home - I would put the property on the market (privately first and then with agents if you are having problems selling) and then sell to whoever can exchange contracts first. Whilst your wanting to help this family is very laudable you really must look to the needs of your Father first.

Agree with others eddiecat your needs come first.
Nobody could expect the elderly man to move the minute his wife has just died, after all.His own larger house may be in a 'state' and could take ages to sell.
The good thing about an agent ( I think fees are worth it) is that they maximise your chances of a good sale, and know the status of any potential buyers, and can keep you informed.Plus of course, they do the showing of your house ( always best to steer clear yourself of buyers.)
Relaxed sales to somebody you know may work out, but equally contain many unknowns going down that route.

Thanks everyone. I`m pretty sure they would have to sell his property first. I think they are a fairly ordinary family (like most of us) and not likely to have that amount of money available without a sale. It is a larger house in the same village as my father`s so I know it would make more than enough - but it could take ages. We don`t need the money urgently to fund Dad`s care but I live a couple of miles away and don`t want to be popping down frequently to check all is ok and do the garden etc etc.
I have very limited experience of house buying and selling. A local solicitor has been recommended to me for conveyancing - I`m wondering if I should try to have a chat with them about the pros and cons of selling privately before I put an offer to the neighbour?

Good idea!

If you don't need to sell immediately to fund your father's care, would it be possible to let the bungalow for a short time, by which time your options might be clearer?

We have sold all the 6 houses we lived in before this one, privately and had no problems at all. The last one was to the daughter of a friend in 2012. We must have saved thousands in estate agents'fees over the years.

Once you have agreed a price you just exchange solicitor's details and they set the wheels in motion. In my opinion estate agents do next to nothing to earn their fees and I prefer to show my home to prospective buyers myself so that I can answer any questions and emphasise the good points.

My neighbours bought the house opposite when the gentleman sadly died, they left a note for the daughter to get in touch with them if she wished to sell the house in her own time. They made her an offer which was accepted and the whole thing went through really quickly.

I think it is very considerate of eddiecat to think of the neighbours and hope there can be a way to arrange this to everyone's satisfaction. The problem with letting might be getting tenants to move out when the time comes and the elderly gentleman might be unwilling to leave his home when his wife passes away. How about you sit down with the neighbours and see if they have any suggestions? The value of the house is unlikely to drop so you should not lose out either way.

Thanks again everyone. I`ve been speaking to my Dad this afternoon and I think he does feel things are moving rather quickly - although he understands that it is not good to have the bungalow standing empty for long - for one thing we are having to pay out on water, elec, insurance etc. Today he did say that he wondered if we should be renting rather than selling - for the short term anyway - but I wouldn`t want to go down the renting route - we`d have to smarten it up quite a bit before letting - and Dad would be really upset if any damage was done by tenants. I think I will try to have a word with the solicitor next week and take it from there.

Re renting versus selling, we have been in this position twice, having to sell for care home funding, and TBH although we did briefly consider it, we soon ruled out renting them. Although perfectly liveable, they would have needed quite a bit of modernisation/redecoration in order to achieve good tenants at a reasonable rent.
Plus there was always the possibility of problem tenants, void periods, who was going to manage them if we didn't pay a hefty whack to a letting agent...

Personally I would just get on and sell asap, privately if you can, if not, by a good, active agent who will price realistically, so it's not sitting there for ages getting more forlorn and unloved, as houses that are not lived in tend to do.

If the person who's already shown an interest can proceed with the purchase, well and good. If not, then I wouldn't feel at all bad about saying sorry, but we really can't delay this.

I agree Witzend selling a house is a business matter and is the biggest transaction you will ever make.

We bought from our neighbours without any problems.
However, we were in a position to buy and our neighbours were convinced of that.
Can you find out what position they prospective buyers are in and how they want to proceed?
My mother found a bungalow before even putting her home on the market and was desperate to live near my sister. I have 3 sisters so we found a deposit and bought it as a buy to let till she had sold hers. There are ways round things if you are determined to make them happen. Find out if your fathers neighbours really want this.
On the renting question- I am dealing with a problem tenant this very morning. Not fun but we have been doing this for years as a pension investment. Some tenants are fabulous some are a pain, to do it for a short time seems like too much hassle to me

It may not be a bad idea to tart the house up a bit for sale, spending the minimum amount.

I also agree that tenants can be a problem, the previous tenants in the house next door to mine caused so much damage that the entire house had to be repaired after they left. Some work needed doing but doors which had been kicked in should not have had to have been replaced to give you an idea.

Good luck.