Like most things in life, selling your house doesn’t come for free. At the very least there are costs involved in advertising your home. If you want help with finding potential buyers, viewings, negotiating and liaising between parties you’ll pay more.
While there are now a range of alternatives, most people still use a traditional estate agent to sell their home. The minimum they charge in fees is 1.2% of the sale price, which means you pay £1,200 for every £100,000 you get. However, there are less pricey options.
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So, what is the cheapest way to sell a house? While there are a number of cheaper alternatives to using an estate agent, which one is cheapest for you overall depends on a range of factors. These include the value of your home, how quickly you need to sell and how much demand there is for your home.
In many cases, there are trade-offs and risks involved. The cheapest way won’t necessarily be the one that leaves you with the biggest profit.
Doing it yourself
In terms of the fees you pay, selling your home yourself is the cheapest option. Unless you already have a buyer, you need to advertise your property. You can do this for free on social media, in shop windows and on free property listing websites, or you can pay a small fee to advertise it in the local paper.
You need to photograph your home and compile the property details yourself, organise and carry out viewings, negotiate the price with interested buyers and liaise between the parties to keep the sale process progressing.
Apart from the extra time you have to spend versus using an estate agent, the process is likely to be more stressful if you do it yourself. You also may not end up getting the highest price possible for your property as you may not reach as many potential buyers or be able to negotiate as well.
There could be delays in the process or the sale could fall through if you’re not experienced enough in selling property to know how to keep things moving.
Online estate agents
Using an online estate agent can be a halfway house between using a traditional estate agent and selling your property yourself.
There are now a number of companies that offer this, including Sold.co.uk, Purple Bricks and Yopa. They offer a range of different packages depending on how much support you want and charge fixed fees.
For example, with Purple Bricks you can sell your house for free but you have to take your own property photos and host your own viewings, and you won’t get a professional floorplan or virtual tour to use in your marketing. Its full package costs £1,499 and includes all the services you would expect from an estate agent.
The disadvantages of using an online estate agent are that, depending on the package you choose, you may still have to do some things yourself. There are also no physical premises, which could mean reaching fewer local buyers or a less personal service.
As you pay the fee upfront in many cases, the online agent may be less motivated to sell your home and the fixed fee means there’s less of an incentive for them to get the best price. If you decide to take your house off the market, you may not get your money back.
You should read all the terms and conditions carefully before signing up with an online estate agent.
House buying companies
These companies buy your home fast for cash, which means you don’t have to pay estate agent fees to sell it. You may also get help with legal fees. They value your property and make you an offer. Once you accept, they purchase it straightaway, with some saying they can buy your home in seven days.
It’s the quickest way to sell your home and as there are no viewings to carry out or property chains holding up the process, it can be relatively stress free. They also buy properties in any condition, so you don’t have to worry about carrying out repairs before you put your home on the market or presenting it in its best light.
The downside is that you won’t get the full market value of your home so you’ll be worse off overall. You may only get around 80%, although some companies say they offer up to 85%.
These companies are unregulated and there are unscrupulous ones out there, so do your research carefully and read reviews before choosing a company if you decide to go down this route.
Other ways to save on selling
If you decide to use a traditional estate agent, there are still ways you can cut your selling costs. Shop around to find the agent offering you the best deal and negotiate to pay lower fees. Also compare the costs of solicitors and licensed conveyancers as well as other services, such as removals, so you’re not paying over the odds.