This post headline could read, can I sell my house in Doncaster online, or can I rent out my apartment in Benidorm online. I’ve been getting a lot of emails from all over the place about the how’s and whereto’s of selling a house privately online.

It seems that a lot of people are finding out about the benefits of selling a house privately (private property sales sites are the quickest way to sell your house) and discovering the reasons why not to use an estate agent (mistrust, high commissions), but they want practical advice, the nuts and bolts if you like, of how to advertise their property online.

I’m quite happy to receive these emails (and letters), but pretty much all of their queries can be answered on our website www.mouse-move.com

Having said that, keep the correspondence coming; in this cyber-age, it’s still nice to communicate one-to-one, and remember, there’s no such thing as a silly question - only a silly answer.

Fire away to davidwood@mouse-move.com and Helen, the team and I will do our best to give you all the information you need.

A recent survey by Alliance & Leicester has shown that selling your house privately with an FSBO website such as Mouse-Move actually leads to a quicker sale than with an estate agent.

Of the 2,384 people polled, Alliance & Leicester found that sellers who sell a house privately make a sale in an average of two months or less while those using the more conventional (estate agency) route to sell their UK property were taking over three months.

In addition, the number of people interviewed who had used a private property sale site had risen from 5% last year to 8% this year, a sure sign that the FSBO trend is definitely on the up, as confirmed by Stephen Leonard, Alliance & Leicester’s director of mortgages:

 ”Research suggests that DIY methods such as using the internet to sell a home are becoming more popular.”

Long live the revolution!!

(more…)

Another worrying point about the dubious practise of estate agents was highlighted by tickeverybox.com recently.

They warn that estate agents are ‘extremely well positioned to receive kickbacks for recommending financial services, solicitors, surveyors and now, home information pack providers.‘ These commissions paid to agents can be quite substantial and detract from what should be their main objective ie to secure a sale for their client.

Tickeverybox.com remind sellers of agent’s duties…

1. to report every offer that is made to the vendor
2. never fabricate or provide misleading information about other offers that may/may not have been made
3. not insist that an offer is accepted only on the condition of a buyer signing up to its own (or recommended) financial, legal or technical services.

Unfortunately, some agents tend to forget these duties when the lure of extra financial gain rears its head.

If a client suspects this is the case there are several paths they can follow to file a complaint.

Contact the following if you feel you’ve been duped:

• RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors)
• NAEA (National Association of Estate Agents)
• The Ombudsman for estate agents
• Local Trading Standards Office of Fair Trading

Interesting feature in the current edition of Overseas Property Professional magazine, that emphasises the current revolution building steam in the property world. 

Journalist, Alex Evans takes a look at the rise and rise of Private sale web sites.
The feature starts:

‘With public perception of estate agents at an all-time low, just how serious a threat to your livelihood are private sale portals?’

It goes on to say;

‘The Ombudsman for Estate Agents recieved more than 8,000 enquiries from customers last year, compared with 6,021 in 2005. A poll by YouGov on behalf of ITV1’s consumer affairs programme, Tonight with Trevor MacDonald, found that 64% of survey respondents don’t trust estate agents. More than two-fifths (43%) believed agents were over-paid. “You’re charged on the basis of the value of your house rather than the amount of work taken to sell it. It’s essentially like a beggar demanding 3% of what’s in your wallet,” says Nick Wright of Wow Property.

‘The Tonight poll also highlighted the rise in popularity of private sales websites… ‘A study from Halifax Estate Agents found that the number of people who felt they needed to look around a property has more than halved…‘It also found that 80% of buyers use portals to research homes before calling an agent, so decisions have already been made before the agent steps in.’