The Pros and Cons of Selling a House Without Estate Agent

We often get frustrated with the lack of transparency, jargon and availability of estate agents. When you go to sell your house, you feel like you have no choice but to sell with them, even if you've had a horrible experience in the past. That used to be true, but not any longer. 4walls enables and empowers you to sell a house without an estate agent in the UK.

The following is the reality regarding estate agents:Unless you are extremely wealthy and own a property worth more than £1 million (£1.5 million in London), the greatest estate agents will not sell your home. People advance in their careers, and the finest estate agents earn their way to the top by selling the most costly houses for the highest commission. As a result, the majority of estate agents are young and inexperienced, and they frequently struggle to coordinate many responsibilities and disciplines within the role. Time management, people skills, marketing strategy, communication skills, negotiation abilities, and valuation skills are all required.

This is why selling a house without an estate agent in the UK is typically a superior plan.

Let's look at the disadvantages of using an estate agent. Estate agents will not be as familiar with your home as you are. They work on a lot of residences at once and must travel to all of these different houses they haven't lived in. Finally, you lived in your house, and no one knew it better than you.

• Cost: Estate agents often charge a commission fee, which is either a percentage of the sale price or a flat cost. This fee is normally between 1-2% in the United Kingdom. Using the average house price (£297,000 x 1.5%), you can receive an average cost saving of £4,445 with 4walls.

• Lack of control: When you employ an estate agent, you are essentially entrusting them with the sale of your house. They work on a lot of residences at once and must travel to all of these different houses they haven't lived in. Finally, you lived in your house and are thus an authority on it.

• Potential for delays: Estate agents may not always be as proactive as you would like them to be when it comes to selling your property. There’s many factors that motivate people and you need to find someone who is motivated to sell your home. This means they will be proactive in their sales process and not just wait for the phone to ring. There’s no one more motivated to sell than you, the owner.

• Lack of transparency: Some estate agents may not be as forthcoming about their costs and services as they should be.Hidden costs, such as VAT or document fees, are common. Aside from exaggerating their buyers''ready and waiting,' how is the market in your area performing, or genuine buyer inquiries? Because you are one step removed from any contact with possible purchasers, you must believe that the person representing you is being completely transparent.

• Lack of flexibility: Estate agents frequently work during regular working hours, but the truth in the current working from home age is that people want to see houses at various times. The great thing about being at home is that you don't have to leave. You can tour guests around in the evenings and on weekends.

The pros': There are a few things that a competent estate agent in the UK may provide value on.

• Expertise: Estate agents offer a lot of property market information and expertise. They can advise you on the finest marketing strategy and how to generate the most interest in your property from the start.

• In both sides' best interests: Estate agents are legally expected to operate in their customers' best interests, which means they will work hard to ensure that both parties are satisfied with the conclusion of the sale.

• Negotiating: Estate agents may assist with the bargaining process, allowing you to create FOMO among possible buyers, which can help push up the sale price.

• Convenience: Using an estate agent can save you time if they are flexible and work with you to show people around at the most convenient times of day for you.

At 4walls we have all the tools to enable you to sell a house without an estate agent in the UK. It’s what we focus on and we give you all the positives of using an estate agent without the con’s. A simple, fast and transparent service. Take a look at some of the amazing features

• Listing: We create your listing in four simple and quick steps. You don’t even need to write your description; our virtual estate agent automates this based on your information to make a feed-stopping overview of your home

• Manage all your viewings in one place: Scroll to my appointments on the home page to see all of your appointments. Easily see who’s visiting and when.

• Messaging Hub: Once you’ve accepted a viewing request, you can communicate directly with your buyer.

• The Virtual Estate Agent is a chat feature that will answer buyers FAQs to speed up communication. There's no need to answer questions like, ‘Where’s the nearest station or school?’

• Documents: We store all your documents in one place, so whenever we ask for anything, we’ll ask you to upload it here. It’ll make it super easy for you and our agents to access, so nothing gets lost in an email chain.

• Negotiation: A simple flow that lets you accept, reject, or counter any offer.

We go into further details on how to sell your house without an estate agent in our new blog

Book a valuation today and see how much your UK house is worth. We only need an address to get started. Selling a house without an estate agent has never been easier.