Franky on Finance

Estate agents can cost you thousands in fees - so more and more people are turning to the web and listing their homes privately.  The new breed of private-sale websites and bargain online estate agents claim to be doing well despite the credit crunch and a jittery property market.  So how easy is it to go it alone? “Private selling isn’t for everyone, particularly those who lack the time or confidence to arrange and conduct viewings and negotiate with potential buyers,” reckons James Tallack, a senior researcher at the consumer rights group Which?. “However, if this doesn’t bother you, then there are huge savings to be made.”  So why do we bother with estate agents?  If somebody is selling privately, will they be able to do as good a job as a good-quality estate agent? Will they be able to negotiate the best price? Can they really check out all the buyers’ credentials? Can they try and help control the chain?  “When you get these tougher markets, as we did in the early 1990s, then the good-quality estate agents really show what they are made of” insists Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the National Association of Estate Agents.