Four Different Ways You Can Sell Your Property

30 April 2018

For most people, selling their home is one of the largest single money transactions they will receive during their lifetimes. This is why it is imperative for homeowners to know and understand the different ways they can go about selling their homes and then pick one that suits their circumstances and personal needs.

Below we’ve highlighted 4 of the most common ways a homeowner can go about selling their property.

1) Selling via an estate agent

Estate agents have been around forever and remain one of the most popular ways to sell a home. Below is a general 5 step process on how a home is sold when using an estate agent.

• Pick an estate agent and get your property valued
• Appoint a property solicitor to take care of the legal work
• Market your property
• Consider and negotiate any offers
• Accepting an offer and the exchanging of contracts

Be sure to do your due diligence before choosing an estate agent. Pick a firm that caters for your specific requirements so you know exactly what you’re getting.

2) Selling at the auction house

Selling via auction is another great way to go about selling your property.

Auction houses in general sell a wide variety of properties and are a great way to market quirky and odd homes. Even if you’ve never been to an auction before the process is fairly straight forward and easy to follow.

Selling at an auction house can be a little risky as you rely on people bidding against each other to achieve a higher price, so if your property doesn’t get enough attention you could lose out. That said, you are able to set a minimum reserve price beforehand.

Another important thing to remember is the additional fees you get charged when selling at auction. The fees come in different forms and prices can vary but can include: Commission fees, advertising fees, admin fees, room hire fees and legal costs.

Be sure to confirm everything with the auctioneer and auction house before proceeding with any sale.

3) Selling privately

If you’re not a fan of using estate agents, then selling your property privately might be the perfect solution for you.

When selling privately you don’t have to worry about things like additional estate agent fees or auction fees. You are in control of everything, including the whole selling process, and can use that to your advantage when prospective buyers come to see your property.

However, it can be a downside as well because you have to organise everything from viewing arrangements to appointing solicitors all by yourself. The whole process can be very demanding so make sure you’re prepared and have enough time and patience to deal with it all!

4) Selling to cash home buyers

Cash home buyers have not been around for that long but are definitely a good option if you’re looking for a quick house sale.

The key when searching for one is to find a reputable firm that operates as genuine cash buyers and have the funds available to purchase your home at any time. This is important if you’re looking for a quick sale as the only way a firm can complete a sale within 7-14 days is if they are true cash buyers.

If you’re unlucky you may come across rogue firms who claim to be cash buyers but in truth are just middle men looking to sell on your details to a real firm – these people are essentially scammers.

We buy any house‘ firms generally offer below market value for properties but many of them do not charge additional fee’s like estate agents and auction houses do, so you could end up making a similar amount of money whether you sell via an estate agent or a cash house buyers but you also get the added bonus of a faster sale.

Just be sure to confirm that your chosen firm are true cash buyers and don’t charge any fee’s before proceeding with any sales talk.

We hope our article has given you the information and confidence you need to proceed with the sale of your house. Good Luck!

* Any views or opinions represented in this article are personal and belong solely to the writer and do not necessarily represent those of people, institutions or this organisation unless explicitly stated.

Jonathan Rolande

Jonathan Rolande (MNAEA MICBA MARLA) began in the property business in the late 1980’s and is a Director of House Buy Fast and helped to found The National Association of Property Buyers in 2013. He has worked closely with The Property Ombudsman to develop a Code of Practice for Residential Property Buying Companies.