Family saves £5,000 by using adverts hand-drawn by their children to sell their home

Potential buyers posted offers for the house in a box the children had left on their front lawn

A 'For Sale' sign is posted outside a home in the US. The Penny family managed to sell their house without help from estate agents by recruiting their children. (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Anyone who has rented or bought property knows how notoriously expensive estate agent fees can be.

But an ingenious couple from Taunton, Somerset, saved themselves stress and £5,000 by letting their children hand-draw adverts for their home.

Less than a week later, Dave, 47, and Liene, 32, Penny had sold their house and are now planning to move into their dream home.

Mr and Mrs Penny had put in an offer on a new house on 2 January, but were concerned that it would fall through while they waited to sell the property they already lived in.

The couple told their local newspaper that they were also worried that their children would not respond well to the news that the family was moving.

But within hours the their eight-year-old daughter Ella, and six-year-old son Tomass had drawn-up 40 leaflets featuring a cartoon of their house.

“If you know anybody who wants to buy a new house phone them up and say “11 French Wier Avenue is for sale,” the leaflets read.

Their children’s sales tactics also included posting flyers door-to-door, and putting up a cardboard letter box in the garden for interested buyers to put their contact details.

They also pitched a “For Sale” sign outside the house, which gave the property a five-star rating, and told passers-by that its facilities include a 'conservitry[sic]'.

In the process, the resourceful children saved their parents £4,500 in estate agency fees - 1.5 per cent of the sale price plus 20 per cent VAT.

The couple were shocked when they found two £250,000 offers for their four-bedroom home in the box. The family is now set to move to a different house in Taunton by the end of February.

“We were a bit apprehensive about telling the children because it is a big change, but right away they were so excited,” Mrs Penny told the Western Daily Press.

“Without even saying anything else within ten minutes they were gathering materials to put together the leaflets - it was wonderful to see."

Tomass added: "We did a lot of thinking and spent an hour making everything. I might be an estate agent one day."