How to sell (or buy) a home without an estate agent

With the average highstreet estate agent charging between 1 and 3% of your property price to sell your home, it’s well worth investigating alternative ways to sell your house and save some money.

And if you’re looking to buy, it’s worth knowing about some of these alternative home selling methods too, so you know where to look to find a good deal!

Here’s how to buy or sell a home without using a traditional estate agent:

1. Use an online estate agent
2. Do it (mostly) yourself
3. Ebay and Gumtree
4. Facebook
5. Buy from (or sell to) a friend
6. Go chain-free with an advance
7. Raffles
8. Auctions
9. Offer a freebie

Use an online estate agent

Rightmove and Zoopla provide massive online directories for property sales and lettings. Getting your property listed on one of these sites is a great way to sell – but you can’t upload the listing yourself; only estate agents can do it.

The good news is, you can now find online-only estate agents that provide all the usual services of a traditional highstreet agent – photography, viewings, etc. – but at a lower price point.

Do it (mostly) yourself

An alternative is to use a company like HouseSimple or Emoov who will list your property on the main property websites like Rightmove, Zoopla and PrimeLocation – but you’ll usually have to manage more of the process yourself, such as viewings.

For example, HouseSimple charges £995 upfront, which would save you around £6,500 on the sale of a £500,000 property, for which you get a home visit for valuation and management of the sale through to completion. You can pay extra for managed viewings, mortgage broking, etc.

Purple Bricks offers a fixed fee option for £849 (£1,199 in London) with the option to have accompanied viewings for an extra £300.

Emoov.co.uk charges £795 upfront (£995 for London and inner M25) or £1,495 if you pay on completion of the sale (London £1,995), with no fee charged if the property is not sold.

Ebay and Gumtree

There are currently more than 600 property listings on Gumtree and 1,200 homes listed on eBay. However, many of them are overseas properties and some of them uploaded by estate agencies rather than private sellers.

If you are hoping to sell your house online without an agency, bear in mind that while it’s simple and cheap to upload a few photographs of your home, you’ll also need to arrange viewings and negotiate the price yourself.

Facebook

You could set up a Facebook page for your property but it’s unlikely to reach much of your target audience. However, if you live in a popular area where property sells quickly, you could advertise your home on a local Facebook group which would generate local interest.

Or you could live stream a virtual open day via Periscope…

Buy from (or sell to) a friend

It’s also possible to sell to a friend or private buyer, or from a local builder while they are doing up the house but before it goes on the market.

The advantage of this approach is that you are unlikely to get gazumped by other potential buyers and you can move at a speed that suits you both.

You’ll need to agree a mutually acceptable price, which you might agree on after valuations from a couple of local estate agents.

You’ll need to appoint your own solicitors, as it is not advisable to try to do the legal work and searches yourself. Your mortgage company will want to carry out their own valuation.

Even though you may know the house well, it could be worth organising a survey, as there may be issues that the buyer is unaware of that might affect the condition of the property going forward.

When it goes well, this can be a cost-effective and lower-stress option than normal house buying. It gets tricky if there is something wrong with the property and you want the seller – who might also be your friend – to reduce the price. That’s why it’s better to have the discussion about what to do if a problem comes up in the survey as early as possible, and before you have committed a lot of money in terms of solicitor fees.

Go chain-free with an advance

If you are trying to sell your home but you’re stuck in a chain, then there are companies that will advance you up to 98% of your home’s market value in order to enable you to proceed with your purchase.

It’s not a cheap option, though. For example, Nested will advance you 95% of your home’s value, so you can look around for a new property chain-free. In the background, Nested will try to sell your property like an estate agent. But if you take the advance before your property sells, the fee to Nested is 3.5%; otherwise it’s 2.5%.

It is aimed at people whose onward purchase might fall through if they can’t sell their current home, or who need to sell their home quickly, and as an alternative to a bridging loan.

Raffles

There have been a number of houses which have hit the headlines because they have been offered for sale as a prize in a raffle.

This approach requires caution. Unless you run the raffle in the correct way you could be liable for fines and even imprisonment under the complex rules which govern lotteries and raffles by falling foul of the Gambling Act 2005.

The Gambling Commission points out that many homeowners need to be aware of staying within the law.

You’ll need to pay for proper legal advice and make it clear what happens if you don’t sell enough tickets.

The scheme can work – Melling Manor was sold after former owner Dunston Low sold £2 tickets and raised £900,000 – but other property online raffles have been stopped by local councils and you need to have a fall-back plan if your campaign doesn’t sell enough tickets.

Auctions

Generally speaking, property sold at auction tends to be either in need of a lot of renovation work, difficult to value, hard to get a mortgage for, or very unusual.

If you are buying, it’s a place to pick up a potential bargain, although most auction properties come with some potential issues and so it’s better for experienced buyers or people looking to develop properties for letting. Once the hammer has fallen, you are obliged to buy, whatever state it is in, so do your research properly and in advance.

For sellers, it is an expensive way to put your property into the open market, with commissions likely to be in the 2.5% range. For this reason, it’s not the best option for traditional sales.

Leaflet the locals

If you have your eye on a particular area or street, and you are prepared to do a private sale, then you could put your contact details through the letter boxes of the current owners.

It’s a strategy which works in sought-after streets where houses are snapped up quickly or sold within hours of coming onto the market. Be prepared to have your finances in place, and to use a solicitor to do the conveyancing.

You can also approach local builders who are renovating a house on a street you are interested in. They may be willing to sell before the property is completed to maximise cash flow, although you’ll probably have to pay asking price.

Offer a freebie

If you are really keen to sell, you could sweeten the deal by throwing in extras, such as a car, furniture, or even pets, although this can also put potential buyers off.

More information

Citizens Advice has some further info on how to organise a private sale. Here on Bankrate you can read our complete mortgage guide, learn about stamp duty, and whether you should get a mortgage broker or go direct.

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Last updated: 30 January, 2019

The most affordable places to live in the UK

Ten years after the global financial crisis, its impact is still being felt in parts of the UK where house prices have declined or only slightly increased since 2008.

Combined with wage growth across the UK, it’s now relatively easy to get on the property ladder in these cheaper areas. But in other parts of the country – particularly in London and the South East where house prices have risen dramatically since 2008 – property remains out of reach.

The affordability of property is closely linked to your earnings: your max mortgage with most lenders will be around 4 to 5x your salary, and they will also “stress test” your finances to ensure you can still keep up repayments if your mortgage’s interest rate goes up.

Now we’ll take a look at the most affordable places to live across the UK. We’ll analyse how house prices and wages have recovered (or not) across the UK, which areas are unaffordable for most people, which regions have become more affordable – and what this all means for you and getting a mortgage.

House prices in UK cities

The Hometrack City Index shows us what has happened to house prices in all major UK cities. There are large differences across the UK which makes buying a home more or less affordable depending on where you live and work (or where you _want _to live and work).

Overall, at the end of August 2018, annual house price inflation in the 20 major UK cities was running at 3.9%, ranging from a 7.5% increase in Liverpool to a 3.7% drop in Aberdeen.

Aberdeen is one of only three cities showing a drop. Prices have fallen for each of the last three years, illustrating the impact local economic shocks can have. Aberdeen is reliant on the oil industry which was severely hit at the end of 2014 when the price of a barrel of oil was halved.

The other two cities where house prices have fallen in the last year are Cambridge, down by 0.1% and London by 0.3%. Both previously saw some of the biggest price increases of the last 10 years and have the biggest income-to-house-price ratios in the UK.

The overall increase in the Hometrack City Index is fuelled by big increases in historically cheaper cities, such as Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester and Leicester which are now becoming less affordable.

However, the average house price in Liverpool at £120,100 is still 4% below 2007 levels. Similarly, recent increases in Glasgow have only lifted prices to £124,400, where they were in 2007. Prices in Newcastle are also 2% below 2007 levels.

House prices in UK regions

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) collects house price data for each of the UK regions and we can compare August 2008 with August 2018 to see the changes.

RegionDatePriceDatePriceChangeEnglandAug 2008£181,494Aug 2018£249,74837.61%Northern IrelandAug 2008£168,075Aug 2018£132,795-20.99%ScotlandAug 2008£137,783Aug 2018£153,30911.27%WalesAug 2008£139,660Aug 2018£162,37416.26%East MidlandsAug 2008£146,193Aug 2018£194,71833.19%East of EnglandAug 2008£193,182Aug 2018£292,10751.21%LondonAug 2008£281,721Aug 2018£486,30472.62%North EastAug 2008£131,545Aug 2018£133,5381.51%North WestAug 2008£142,259Aug 2018£163,48714.92%South EastAug 2008£220,523Aug 2018£329,26449.31%South WestAug 2008£194,289Aug 2018£257,65932.62%West MidlandsAug 2008£153,811Aug 2018£199,00029.38%Yorks & HumberAug 2008£141,353Aug 2018£163,96415.99%

Source: Office for National Statistics

August 2008 is before the height of the financial crash, but after its initial impact and after house prices had already fallen sharply from the peak of summer 2007. The BBC has a useful tool that can show you how house prices in a specific postcode have changed between 2007 and 2017.

The data illustrates the variation in the recovery of house prices across the UK. In Northern Ireland, prices are still well below August 2008 levels. In the north-east they’ve barely risen. Wales, Scotland and other parts of northern England have seen modest increases, and the Midlands has experienced a sizeable bump. The south and east of England have seen some massive price increases over the last 10 years, with London leading the way.

Disposable incomes across the UK

Here’s the ONS data for the average disposable income per person in a number of UK local authorities, from 2006 to 2016.

Region/TownYearGross disposable incomeYearGross disposable incomeChangeNE – Middlesbrough2006£11,7242016£14,96827.67%NE – Gateshead2006£11,8892016£15,11227.11%NW – Manchester2006£10,3852016£13,18426.95%NW – Lancaster2006£13,1012016£16,85028.62%Yorks – Harrogate2006£16,8602016£21,29226.29%Yorks – Doncaster2006£12,1532016£15,59528.32%EM – Derby2006£12,1562016£15,07824.04%EM – Lincoln2006£14,1622016£18,24728.84%WM – Stoke-on-Trent2006£10,8562016£14,07529.65%WM – Worcester2006£16,1232016£20,61827.88%EE – Colchester2006£14,8132016£19,52631.82%EE – Norwich2006£13,2542016£18,45939.27%London – Kensington2006£40,9212016£62,60052.98%London – Newham2006£13,2732016£18,53739.66%SE – Brighton & Hove2006£16,3272016£20,50825.61%SE – Southampton2006£12,1772016£14,79721.52%SW – Mid-Devon2006£14,6812016£18,67427.20%SW – Swindon2006£15,1022016£18,53622.74%Wales – Wrexham2006£13,2892016£17,01928.07%Wales – Swansea2006£12,5462016£14,91118.85%Scotland – Aberdeenshire2006£15,9592016£20,68129.59%Scotland – East Lothian2006£15,2372016£20,24132.84%NI – Ards & N Down2006£13,5982016£17,03525.28%NI – Mid Ulster2006£12,2792016£14,64719.28%

Source: Office for National Statistics

These numbers look pretty good – until you realise that they don’t include inflation, which has reduced the value of £1 by 32.8% between 2006 and 2016. This means that in almost every part of the UK – except for parts of London – disposable income has decreased over the past decade. Many households are actually poorer than they were in 2006, thanks to slow wage growth over the last decade and a high inflation rate between 2009 and 2013.

When it comes to house affordability, disposable income factors into the “stress test” that lenders will perform when assessing how much you can borrow to buy a home. Lenders must ensure that you can still afford your mortgage repayments if interest rates go up.

Wage increases across the UK

To match house price inflation (or deflation) you need your wages to go up by the same amount over the same period. That’s unlikely for a number of reasons – mainly because for most of us, wage increases are rarely pegged to inflation. Millions of public sector workers have had wages frozen or increased by less than inflation for several years between 2008 and 2018.

Data from the ONS shows that in general, earnings have risen by more in regions that have seen the biggest rise in house prices, but there are wide variations within each region, often linked to the type of businesses that set up in the area, property supply and demand and many other reasons. Regions that have lower wages are usually industrial areas with lower-paying jobs. Higher-paid professions are usually concentrated in cities, not rural areas, which is why in any single region there are big differences between average earnings in cities and rural areas, even those very close to each other.

The most affordable places to live in the UK

House price affordability has increased for those living and working in Northern Ireland and the north east of England. Many of these areas have experienced wage increases of around 30% while house prices have fallen or remained the same, suggesting that it’s now more affordable to buy a property there. Similarly, salary rises are generally higher between 2008 and 2018 than house price increases in Wales and Scotland, suggesting it’s a bit more affordable there.

However, house price increases outweigh salary rises in parts of the south east, where it’s become less affordable to buy a property.

London varies considerably both in the salaries and house prices in each area and the rate that each has gone up by. For all regions of London, any improvement gained from wage increases being higher than house price increases is mitigated by extremely high house prices that are simply unattainable unless you have a very high household income (£100,000+).

Now read our guide on how to get your first mortgage

How do regional changes affect mortgage affordability?

The obvious answer if you’re looking for somewhere to buy a home that’s more affordable is to have a relatively well-paid job and be close to a city for commuting purposes, but buy a home in a more rural area where house prices haven’t risen as fast. You then benefit from higher salaries and lower house price inflation.

Southend in Essex is a good example. The ONS survey of annual earnings puts Southend at the bottom, one of only two southern towns in the bottom ten. At £413 a week, average pay is just over half that of London, which is why many residents commute to London which pushes up the average pay for a Southend resident by £144 per week to £557. By contrast, average house prices are just over £300,000, according to Zoopla – much more affordable than all parts of London on a London salary, even adding in commuting costs, but still too expensive for a typical Southend salary.

It’s not always that simple, because commuting costs and other local factors affect house prices, and you’ll usually pay a premium for commuter-friendly properties.

But other areas, mainly in the north of England and Northern Ireland, have low salaries and also have low house prices, which makes getting a mortgage easier.

For instance in Southend, the average annual salary is £21,476. If a lender were to lend 4.5 times annual salary, that’s £96,642, way below what’s needed to get a mortgage on a £300,000 house. If you then look at Huddersfield, with the second lowest annual salary of £22,048, compared to local house prices of around £175,000, you can see mortgages are much more affordable in Huddersfield than Southend.

So, there are big variations in house price affordability across the UK and many local factors affect both house prices and wage levels.

But, there are ways of bridging the gap by buying in a more affordable area and working in an area with better paid jobs.

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Last updated: 9 May, 2019