Can I sell my home without an Estate Agent?

 

Selling your property without engaging an estate agent may seem like an option, but unless you have experience in property sales then there are few things that you should be aware of. 

 

The first thing to think about is how to reach a large audience. The portals Rightmove, Zoopla and OntheMarket.com. Are only available to agents and do not allow the general public to upload content directly. Your best option would therefore be something like Facebook or other social media platforms. We occasionally come across vendors who have bought their property after seeing it advertised on social media. 

 

Case study: We did a market appraisal for a young woman who had bought a house for £225,000. She told our agent that she saw it for sale on Facebook and fell in love with it. She had been there for less than a year and due to a change of circumstances she needed to sell. The problem was that our agent did not think it would achieve as much as she had paid for it. She told him that it was valued at £225,000 by an agent when she bought it, or so she had been told. We later discovered that the person that sold it to her had lied about the valuation, in fact it was £200,000. This type of story serves to illustrate just how difficult it can be to get to the truth and why most buyers will be nervous when there is no agent involved. 

 

It is possible to achieve a sale without an agent involved and perhaps save money in the process. However, you are far more likely to lose a buyer in the process and waste time and energy. This can become expensive because solicitors will still charge fees for their services even if the deal breaks down. If the deal has been done through and agent it is far less likely for this to happen. 

 

Agents do actually bring value to the transaction. A good agent will advise you and act for you and in your interest. Buyers will speak more candidly to an agent than they will a vendor, which is human nature. During the conveyance the agent will make sure that the ball does not get dropped, solicitors need to be able to access information and often the agent can provide this. The agent will check the chain regularly and work with other agents in the chain to make sure that everything is moving forward as planned.