When making the choice to sell their home, most people immediately decide to use the traditional route - An estate agent.

There are various reasons why this is often seen as the best, or indeed the only viable option out there with people often assuming it is the fastest way to sell a property, the easiest way, and the way to get the best price for the property you can. Whilst it is true, estate agents do have their advantages, they also come with a whole lot of disadvantages. Not only this, but they are also surprisingly not always the fastest, easiest or most cost effective way to get a sale. In fact, they can become quite the opposite in the long run.

Many people assume selling via an estate agent will give their property more exposure and therefore a faster sale. Whilst this is true in theory, you only need one person to want your property for it to be sellable and the fact is you could advertise your house to the whole world, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you will come across that one person who matches your exact taste and wants a property in your exact location – that person might not even exist!

Selling property is hard work and estate agents charge hefty fees to compensate for this, and even once a buyer is found, assuming that the sale does not fall through for any reason it can still take on average at least 17 weeks (over 4 months) to complete the sale.

This is not exactly the fastest way to sell a property, especially when compared to an alternative such as a property buyer. Despite the advantages of selling directly to a property buyer, they are a much lesser known way of selling a property.

So, what is a property buyer and how exactly do estate agents compare to selling direct to a one of these companies?

1. A property buyer will generally purchase your house within 28 days from start to finish. / An Estate Agent could take between 17-24 weeks to complete the sale.

2. A property buyer will purchase the property no matter what condition it is in. The style you have decorated your home in does not affect their decision to buy your home. / An Estate Agent can only market your property to a vast audience of people in the hope that someone will either match your taste, be prepared to give the whole house a makeover upon completion or even be willing to renovate the property if necessary.

3. A property buyer will charge you no fees and no hidden charges; they will generally pay up to £500 towards your legal fees for you. / An estate agent will typically charge you 1.75% + 17.5% VAT of the sale price in fees (amounting to at least £2000 in most cases), you will have to pay out for legal fees (usually around £500) and you will also require a HIP, around £200. Other costs include valuation and survey fees.

4. A property buyer will make you an offer which will be the final price you actually receive for your property – typically up to 82% of the open market value. There will be no fees or charges taking value away from this. / An offer made and accepted through an estate agent is typically only 90% of the open market value of the property. When you deduct from this all the extra fees and charges associated with a sale through an estate agent, and the fact that re-negotiation of around 2.5% is commonplace following the survey it becomes clear why a sale through an estate agent may not actually be the most cost effective (or speedy) way of selling a property!

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