Is it a good idea to sell your property yourself ?
http://www.iolproperty.co.za/roller/news/entry/is_it_a_good_idea
“I usually advise against going the DIY sales route, not because I am an agent myself but because it has over the years time and again proved less than satisfactory.” – so says Anton du Plessis, CEO of the Cape Town estate agency, Vineyard Estates.
The advantage of selling for yourself, says du Plessis, is that the seller will save the 5 to 6% commission which would normally be paid to the agency -and this may enable him either to make more profit or to price the house more competitively. However, the seller will have to pay for his own advertising and this can easily amount to many thousands of rands over a three to six month selling period. Furthermore, the buyer, knowing that the seller is operating alone, will often use this fact to negotiate the price downwards. “Bargaining now starts from the sales price less 5% – it does not include the 5%.”