Save on your house sale with an online agent
Last Modified 16th of February 2021
Savvy shoppers know very well by now that the best way to save money is to carry out a little research and to shop around on the internet. Some of the very best prices for products can be found online. But it’s not just about finding the cheapest DVDs any more – now services can be found cheaper online too; one of these services is estate agency.
How do online estate agents work?
Even though hundreds of thousands of people use them every day, it can be hard to imagine how an online estate agency works. Local high street estate agents are prolific in most UK towns and we have long accepted that this is where we go to buy and sell homes. This is because most of us need help and guidance when selling a property, so we feel obliged to seek out an estate agents and reluctantly accept their high commission rates and often sub-standard service. If you have ever searched how to sell my house online, you may have seen a list of classified ad sites on which to place an advert.
What’s the difference between a high street agent and an online agent?
Placing a classified advert is often expensive and limited to a certain local audience. Online estate agents are able to offer national marketing via one large central website, and using well known “property portals” such as Right Move and Zoopla. As well as huge marketing benefits, online agents do still provide the same services as high street agents such as the negotiating process and administrative paper work. The only real difference between online estate agents and high street estate agents is the price. Homeowners looking to sell a property can save thousands by doing it online.
What are the extra benefits of selling online?
As well as offering a comprehensive estate agency service via the Internet, including telephone support, web based reports and professionally written property descriptions, most online agents can also offer lower priced conveyancing fees because this is also a service that can be offered remotely.
The real savings can really add up if you are thinking of selling online. With the average agent’s rates being 0.5% – 3% of your property sale price, you could be paying out £6,000 to sell an average sized 2 bedroom flat. Add on solicitor fees of around £750 at the cheapest, and that’s a huge chunk of the equity raised from selling your home already disappeared. The cost of the average online estate agent is around £500, with conveyancing services starting at £495, so that’s a whopping saving of £5,000 on average, which could even be the difference between affording an extra bedroom!
