House prices in the UK are on the rise and more money than ever is being made available for mortgage lending, so homeowners are growing increasingly interested in selling their houses. However, the higher the value of your property, the more you’ll pay to an estate agent. With the advances in technology and the Internet’s connectivity, many people are now considering online property sales, thereby saving themselves thousands of pounds in fees.
Should you consider selling online?
It was always the case that an estate agent was your go-to person to find a range of buyers eager to look at your home. They’d take charge of the process from valuation, to arranging viewing, to negotiating the highest possible price for your property. In many cases you were not involved in the sale of your home at all – you’d leave the house for open days and viewings, and might not ever meet the person who’d bought your home until the papers were signed.
If you go the online route, you’ll be more involved in the process, but this might be something you’d be very happy with. Depending on your needs, an online business specializing in selling homes can also conduct a free valuation of your home, and can be the primary negotiator with a future buyer. They will be involved in comprehensive marketing of your home by placing it on numerous websites so that your home is exposed to the widest audience possible – this very often means reaching literally millions of potential buyers.
As to viewings, you’d be able to decide whether you wanted an online partner to handle responses and schedule viewings for you, or whether you’d like to do this yourself. Of course, you would need to show people around your home and answer their questions yourself, but you’d be best placed to do this. Feedback from viewings can be made available immediately to you through your online account.
Fixed fees – no commission
Ultimately, while the service between a regular estate agent and an online sales business such as Mouse House will be very similar, the big difference is the price. When you consider the amount of commission that you pay an agent, and that there’s invariably VAT on top of this sum, the savings are tremendous. With an online company, you’re paying a fixed amount and sometimes this is charged only on completion of a sale. These companies will issue both parties with a memorandum of sale and will hand this over to solicitors on your behalf. You would then need to ensure that the transfer goes smoothly, but this is probably something that you would be happy to do, while keeping a finger on the pulse of your sale.