Why more of us are selling our home discreetly off market and how it works

There is no doubt that this way of marketing has brought benefits. Estate agents can post a listing and add as many pictures of the property as they like and anyone searching for a home can target a specific area.

There are also downsides in that any Tom, Dick or Harriet can have a nosey at your home inside and out, which can leave you feeling exposed, especially if you have a high value property with valuables in it.

For that reason and others, selling homes “off market” is becoming more common.

Blenkin and Co. estate agents have embraced this concept and, along with traditional selling methods, it has had a private listing service that is bespoke, confidential and secure.

They also have a dedicated private sales broker, George Metcalfe. Blenkin and Co. MD Edward Hartshorne says: “We have been doing this for 15 years and over the last ten years we have sold around £100m of property off market, and in the last 18 months that accounts for 32 per cent of our portfolio.

“Our private listings can only be viewed by proceedable buyers who have been carefully evaluated and access to those listings is strictly password encrypted and buyers can only see what is within their price range.

“This service is bespoke and tailored to suit individual clients’ needs, and is managed with the utmost care, mindful of the need to be discreet and security conscious.”

The firm’s marketing director Hilary Pegrum adds: “There are lots of reasons why people might not want a property on the portals.

“They may not want their neighbours to know they are selling, some people have second homes that are empty and so there is a security risk, they may be high net worth individuals or the property may be a country estate where there are tenants and employees and discretion is needed.”

She adds: “It could also be someone who has lived in their country house for over 50 years and who is nervous about putting their home on the open market. There are multiple scenarios.

“Sometimes we will take an off market approach for a limited time of two or three weeks and if there is no interest we will launch the property on the open market, which without question has its advantages.

“In other cases, there are properties that will never ever be on the open market.”

Marketing a home that is not on a property portal can include adverts in carefully chosen publications, including The Yorkshire Post, which can hit the target buyer.

“We might also use social media but if we do, we will choose a picture that does not identify the property or the location but gives a sense of what it is,” says Hilary.

Recent off market properties with Blenkin and Co. include an outstanding family house in the Howardian Hills with a guide price of £1.25m. There have been a number of vetted viewings to date and a sale agreed is anticipated.

Contracts have been completed on a country house in North Yorkshire, sold privately with an achieved guide price of £1.5m, and a period townhouse in York, marketed privately for six weeks, got two bids and a sale at the price of £1m.

Charlotte Watson and her husband sold their home near Tadcaster with Blenkin and Co. off market and she says: “We did it for privacy reasons. We didn’t want every man and his dog to know we were selling and we didn’t want time-wasters looking round the house.

“We were very lucky because Blenkin and Co. found us a buyer immediately.”

Jordan Yorath, founder of Monroe Estate Agents in North Leeds and Boston Spa, also operates an off market sales service that is password protected and vets who can see the properties and check that they have proof of funds.

The Off Market Collection at Monroe is restricted to the price point of £800,000 plus and says Jordan: “We work with sellers who have a reason why they don’t want to market their property openly. They may be getting divorced, they may have status, whatever it is, they don’t want to be exposed to the open market.

“We take pictures and make a video of the property and we can cross fertilise with would-be buyers we meet with and those who are selling with us and want to stay in the areas we cover.”

Martin Williams sold off market via Monroe and says: “The house is quite unique and I didn’t want to list it on Rightmove because it’s a bit like selling a car, there are a lot of tyre kickers around and I didn’t want a For Sale sign up.

“Jordan came to see the house and said he had clients who might be interested. They saw his video of the property, viewed it and said they wanted to buy it.”

Off market is not for everyone but it is an option if discretion is needed when selling a home.