Selling without an agent is not saving the commission. It is taking on all of their work
People who decide to sell privately are usually thinking about one thing: the commission they will not pay. It is a substantial sum and a perfectly sound reason.
What comes next is the part to think through. The commission is not payment for showing people around. It pays for a set of jobs that happen before and after the viewing.
Do those jobs well and selling privately genuinely puts more money in your pocket. Do them badly and the house sits on the market longer, then sells for less than it should, by more than the commission you saved.
This is not an argument against selling privately. It is a list of what selling privately actually involves.
What an agent does, and what you now do instead
There are six jobs, and most private sellers do two or three well and let the rest slide.
- Pricing from what has actually sold, rather than from what other people are asking.
- Making the house look right in photographs, because everybody sees the photos before the house.
- Writing a listing that answers what buyers filter on.
- Screening enquiries, so your time is not spent on people who are not buying.
- Carrying the deal through the buyer's mortgage, which is where deals collapse most often.
- Preparing documents and getting to completion at the Land Office.
The first has its own article. How to find the price that actually sells is in how to price a house to sell, which is worth reading before anything else.
Because no amount of good photography rescues a house priced wrongly from the start.
The photographs decide whether anybody contacts you
Buyers scroll through hundreds of listings and decide within seconds whether to open one. The only thing they judge on at that moment is the first photograph.
The good news is that phones today are good enough. Almost none of the problem is the camera. It is these three things.
Too much stuff. A room with things piled in it looks immediately smaller in a photograph. Clear the kitchen counters, the tables and the floors, along with family photos, collections and everything on the bathroom shelf.
The aim is not to make the house look uninhabited. It is to let a buyer picture themselves in it, which they cannot do while looking at your life.
The wrong light. Photograph each room when that room gets its best light, which is not the same hour for all of them. East-facing rooms in the morning, west-facing rooms in the late afternoon.
Open every curtain, switch on every light, and turn the flash off, because phone flash flattens a room and throws hard shadows.
Angles that show nothing. Stand in one corner and shoot towards the opposite corner so the depth of the room is visible, rather than standing in the middle and photographing one wall.
Hold the phone at roughly chest height rather than eye height, because that angle makes the floor read as larger without distorting anything.
The minimum set is the frontage, the living room, the kitchen, every bedroom, every bathroom, the laundry area, the parking, and the view from the living room window.
Do not photograph only the good corners. A listing with five photographs makes people assume you are hiding something, and whoever does visit will be more disappointed than they need to be.
Write for what buyers filter on, not for what you love
Most listings are written from the seller's side, explaining why the house is good.
Buyers do not read that way. They read looking for a reason to eliminate the house, because there are twenty more to see.
So answer what they eliminate on, right at the top.
- The price. Listings without one are skipped almost entirely.
- A specific enough location, at least the soi or the development, not just the district name.
- Usable area and land area, as numbers.
- Bedrooms, bathrooms and storeys.
- Parking spaces, which people ask about constantly and listings rarely state.
- The age of the house and the year of the last renovation.
- Which way the house faces, which a great many Thai buyers filter on.
- Whether it is mortgaged or clear, and when it can transfer.
The other thing worth stating plainly is any drawback that is visible anyway, such as sitting on a main road or having an unmodernised bathroom.
Because people who can live with it will still make contact, and people who cannot will not come, which saves both sides a wasted afternoon.
And once you have named a drawback yourself, everything else you say becomes more credible.
Enquiries come in three kinds, and screening comes before the appointment
If the listing works, you will get a lot of messages, and most of them are not buyers.
The first kind is agents offering to sell it for you, heaviest in the first week. Take them on or not as you prefer, but decide in advance which arrangement you would accept, because an open listing and an exclusive one behave very differently. The comparison is in exclusive against open listing agreements.
The second kind is people looking rather than buying, not moving this year but curious. Nothing wrong with that, but you want to know which kind somebody is before they are inside your house.
The third kind is genuine buyers, and there are far fewer of them than you expect.
The way to tell them apart without being rude is three questions in the chat before agreeing a time.
- Roughly when are you looking to move?
- Cash or mortgage, and if a mortgage, have you been to a bank for an indication yet?
- Which areas are you currently looking in?
Those three answers tell you almost everything. Somebody who has never spoken to a bank and does not know when they are moving is a long way off.
That does not mean refusing them. It means not taking a day off work to open the house for them yet.
Safety when strangers come into your home
Private sellers rarely think about this, because with an agent there is always a third person in the house.
Do all of these every time, without feeling awkward about it.
Never be alone. Arrange viewings when at least two people are home, or ask a neighbour to sit in.
Daytime only, not after dark. It is safer, and the house also looks better.
Get a real name and number and ring it to confirm before the day.
Put valuables away: jewellery, documents, medication and anything easily pocketed, before every viewing.
Follow rather than lead. Let the visitor walk into a room first while you stay near the doorway, rather than ending up in the far corner.
Tell somebody. Send the name and the time to a family member each time.
Private sales collapse most often at the buyer's mortgage
You agree a price, take a deposit, and six weeks later the buyer says the bank refused.
Your house has been off the market for six weeks with nothing to show, and the other interested buyers have bought elsewhere.
This is what a good agent prevents, and it is now your job.
The first thing is to ask about their financing before taking a deposit rather than after. A buyer with an indication from a bank is in a different category from one who has never asked.
The second is knowing there are two different valuations, which people confuse constantly.
The Treasury Department's appraised value determines the fees and taxes at the Land Office. The buyer's bank sends its own valuer to decide how much it will lend.
If the bank values below the agreed price, the buyer can borrow less and has to find the difference in cash, which is where a great many deals end.
The third is writing the financing condition into the contract properly: the date by which the buyer must have an answer, what happens if they do not, and whether the deposit is returned in which circumstances.
Those clauses are covered in what to read in a sale and purchase contract, written from both sides.
Set a limit on how many banks the buyer may apply to and a final date for an answer, because some buyers apply to one bank at a time in sequence, which runs for months.
If the buyer is self-employed or freelance, allow more time, because proving income takes more documents and longer. The reasons are in home loans for freelancers and traders.
Documents to have ready in advance, not on the day
Everything needed on transfer day should be assembled the day you decide to sell.
- The original title deed or condominium ownership certificate. If it is mortgaged, arrange the redemption with your bank well in advance.
- Original ID cards and house registration books for every seller named on the deed.
- Marriage certificate and spousal consent where the property is marital property, or a divorce certificate if divorced.
- Name change certificates where the deed does not match the current ID.
- A power of attorney on the Land Department form, completed in advance, for any seller who cannot attend.
For a condominium there is an extra document you cannot complete without: the debt-free certificate from the juristic person, which registration of the transfer requires.
Under section 29 of the Condominium Act, the manager must issue that certificate within fifteen days of receiving the request, once the co-owner has settled the common area charges in full.
And where the manager fails to do so, the law provides a fine of up to fifty thousand baht plus up to five hundred baht per day for as long as the failure continues.
Worth knowing, because some offices will say they need a while, which can force the transfer date you agreed with the buyer and the bank to be moved.
Last, on receiving the money: do not accept a large sum in cash. Have the buyer pay by cashier's cheque made out to you, and check it before signing anything.
If there is a mortgage, your bank attends on the same day to be repaid and release it. Coordinate at least a week or two ahead on what they need and which dates they can attend.
As for who pays the fees and taxes on the day, agree it in writing when the contract is signed rather than arguing at the counter, because the amounts are not small and it is what people fall out over most on the day.
When an agent is worth it anyway
Selling privately suits a house with a broad market, in a price range where buyers are plentiful, in an area people know, where you genuinely have time to answer messages and show people around.
An agent tends to be worth the money when:
- The house is expensive or unusual, so buyers are few and have to be found rather than waited for.
- You live in another province or abroad and cannot show it yourself.
- You need it sold by a particular date, such as needing the money for the next purchase.
- Two months of private marketing has produced almost no enquiries at a price that should be generating some.
The middle path many people take is marketing it privately for two to four weeks, seeing what genuine interest arrives, and deciding from that. It replaces a guess with actual information.
Frequently asked questions
How much does selling privately save?
The commission, which is substantial, but weigh it against the price achieved and the time taken, because a house that sits on the market usually sells for less than it should.
Can I photograph the house myself?
Yes, a phone is enough. Clear everything away, shoot each room at its best hour, turn off the flash, shoot from one corner towards the opposite one, and hold the phone at chest height.
Should the listing mention the drawbacks?
Mention any that are visible anyway. It filters out people who cannot live with them and makes everything else you say more credible.
How do I tell a serious buyer from a browser?
Ask three questions in the chat first: when they plan to move, cash or mortgage and whether they have been to a bank, and which areas they are looking in.
Why do deals fall apart at the mortgage stage?
Because the bank runs its own valuation to set the loan amount. If it values below the agreed price, the buyer must find the difference in cash. Put the condition and a deadline in the contract.
What extra document does selling a condominium need?
The debt-free certificate from the juristic person. Under section 29 of the Condominium Act the manager must issue it within fifteen days of the request once common charges are paid in full.
How should I receive the money on transfer day?
By cashier's cheque made out to you, checked before signing the transfer documents. Do not accept large sums in cash.
In short
- The commission you save is payment for six jobs you now have to do completely.
- Get the price right first, because good photographs cannot rescue a wrong price.
- The first photograph is the only thing deciding whether anybody opens the listing.
- Answer what buyers filter on, and name the obvious drawbacks yourself.
- Screen enquiries with three questions, and never show the house alone.
- Ask about financing before taking a deposit, and put the condition and deadline in writing.
- Assemble documents early, and request the debt-free certificate in good time for a condominium.