r/PersonalFinanceZA • u/slingblade1980 • 4h ago

Estate Planning First time home seller advice

Hi all,

I will be a first-time home seller in ZA the home will be sold as part of my mother's estate.

I would like any advice, tips and resources to put myself in as much of an educated position as possible.

I am especially looking for advice on tactics lawyers and real estate agents use to maximise their profits or to otherwise dupe novice sellers. Basically I want to avoid falling victim to any skullduggery.

TIA

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

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5

u/Far-Policy5814 3h ago

One trick I have experienced is the Sole mandate. You can only sell through them. Once you sign it you're stuck with them for 90days, 120days in some cases. They then try and force you to accept a lower offer since you can't get out of the deal.

1

u/slingblade1980 3h ago

I'm aware of this one. Very very wary of deceptive practices these particular groups of people use to extract gold from novices.

4

u/Pitch-Curious 2h ago

Also be aware of multiple agents. If someone introduced you to a buyer and that buyer ends up with another agent they can double charge you commission so be weary of sellers agents as you will possibly pay double commission.

Get an evaluation from a third party to determine what the house is actually worth as agents will give you inflated prices to get you to sign with them and then turn around and say no the market is bad, but they actually overvalued your property.

Lastly try and advertise yourself first. Private Property is great for private sellers.