Sell Your Property: Fast House Sales

If you are UK-based and want to sell your property fast, there are a range of options, depending on various things such as:

• How much you need to sell your house for
• Why you need to sell your property fast
• Where you are based in the country.

Your house will achieve its highest price on the open market, with a traditional estate agent, if you have the luxury of time. Time to wait for a buyer to come forward. Time to wait for a willing buyer at the price you're asking.

However, if you need to sell your property fast during a downturn, the options available to you are less and you have to make some hard decisions.

Fast = Lower Price

If you want to sell your property fast, you have to accept the fact that it won't sell for as much as you'd like it to. It's not going to sell for a price an estate agent 'valued' it at when they were looking round your house and, probably, over-valuing it just to obtain your business. Estate agents work on a few simple rules - if they don't get you to sign up with them, you'll sign up with their competitor. This means they have to be really sweet with you and convince you that they can sell it for a better price than the others. Many estate agents will over-price your house when they sign you up, knowing that they'll be coming back to you in 4-6-8 weeks' time suggesting you drop the price; once they've won the business from their competitors they've got you by the short and curlies to a certain extent.

If you need to sell your house fast, it is "worth less" simply because the number of people who are able to buy/move faster is smaller than the number of people who would be interested in buying your house given the time to sell theirs, or raise a mortgage and settle any questions their lender/solicitor finds.

If you are needing to sell your property fast, then engaging a High Street estate agent is probably not the best route to take. But, you have other options:

If you have a little time and don't want to incur estate agent fees, you can have a go at selling your own house, although this does tend to be less successful than using an estate agent as you don't have the insider knowledge and systems they have to attract and retain willing buyers. For 'sell your own property' sites, here's a list: List of Sell Your Own House Websites

You can auction your house. You'll need to find local auction houses and pay a fee and it'll be put into the auction. Your house will achieve a better price in the auction if you can provide as much detail and evidence as possible, e.g. if your house is structurally sound and you have a structural engineer's report then let potential buyers see that. If buyers can see that your house is perfect and you just need to sell it fast, you're more likely to have more of them bidding for it and you're more likely to get a better price.

You'll pay auction fees, you can set a reserve price, but at auction if the house sells then you'll have completed and got the cash within 28 days.

To find auction houses in your area, use this: List of Auction Sites

Find a Cash Buyer

Lots of companies advertise that they buy your house for cash, first they will value your house a lot lower than you expect, then they'll offer you a much lower percentage of their reduced offer. In some cases, the price they offer you is only 60% of what you think it's worth.

A Buy Your House for Cash company could, potentially, give you a quicker sale - but at a much lower price than you'd like. The industry is unregulated and it's even been known for these cash buyers to offer you even less the day before the sale completes... when it's too late for you to find another buyer or start again.

There are some private buyers who have cash to buy a house with, but they will be expecting a good price. Be careful that your "cash buyer" really IS cash and doesn't actually mean "cash once we've sold ours", which means you are at the mercy of their chain still.

Use A Specialist "Sell Your Property Fast" Agent

The Internet has certainly enabled more companies to set themselves up to help you sell your house fast. With these, your house is first valued, then your asking price is set below that value. Many sell your property fast agents will have you get a formal RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) valuation - thus proving how much your house is worth. This encourages buyers because they can see they are getting it for a genuinely good price.

There are new Sell Property Fast companies setting up all the time, or improving their marketing.

Below is a list of some of the current websites and sell property fast agents where you can sell your house faster than by using a traditional estate agent.

These sell your property fast companies don't buy your house from you, at very low prices - instead, they:

• Establish the true value of your property, usually using a qualified RICS surveyor
• Discuss with you that valuation and how much lower than that price you are prepared to sell for to achieve a fast sale.
• They then market your house on their website, and usually through Rightmove - as well as contacting their lists of 'Ready and Willing Buyers', people who are looking to buy a house at a good price and fast.
• They are pro-active in achieving a fast sale for you, enabling you to sell your property fast for a fair price.

Personally, I would suggest you look at the websites where they will place your house. I'd be looking to choose one that uses Rightmove, which is the house buying website most buyers use. The next most popular one is PrimeLocation. Think about the websites you use, ask your friends/family which sites they'd go to to look for a new house and why.

Fees & Costs

Look at all the fees and costs involved. Understand what they will do, how they work, how much it'll cost you.

Website Functionality

Look at how easy the site is to search through for houses in your area. For me, I always see if I can search for my county, then my town. If you can't easily search the site then less buyers will bother .... although don't forget that if the agent is listed on Rightmove that will bring a lot of buyers directly to your house details anyway.

Swift do not buy your house, they are a Quick Sale Agent. They are nationwide and have a large database of buyers who want to buy a bargain. Swift Residential ask you to challenge them to sell your house in 28 days.

Swift advertise on over 150 property portals, reaching 80% of potential buyers.

Fees: No up front fees. No sale, no fee

Website: http://www.swiftresidential.co.uk/index.html

Choices have a large database of people who want to buy a house fast, at a lower price. These below market value buyers are in a position to move fast.

Fees: None, fee free to sellers; buyers pay fees.

Website: http://www.choices.co.uk

Express Estate Agency can sell property fast. You pay up front for the valuation, which is a proper valuation. There are various options with them to enable your house to be sold quicker. Express Estate Agency are nationwide and their properties are listed on Rightmove as well as many other property portals, they provide a full list on their website.

You can achieve a sale within days or weeks.  Having established the true value of your house, it is then marketed at a provable discounted price.

Fees: No upfront costs as you can defer the EPC cost. The up-front valuation fee is done at cost.

Website: http://www.expressestateagency.co.uk

Must Be Sold is a sell your property fast company that gives you the chance to put your house into an auction, that's carried out online.

Auctions are held once a month, physically in London - as well as online, so buyers can more easily take part and bid on your house. Many of their registered members are active property buyers and investors - willing and able buyers, who will complete within 21 days.

To sell your property fast using this method, you have to register just one month before the auction date and will complete three weeks after it, meaning you'll have a known date to work towards.

Auctions run online before the auction even starts, so bidders can put in a bid ahead of the date. Online auctions can even occur quicker than the physical auction day, meaning you now have an opportunity to sell your property fast through their online auction system.

Fees: Variable

Website: http://www.mustbesold.com/

One often-overlooked way to sell your property fast is eBay.  You don't sell your entire house through eBay, what you can do is advertise it on eBay, with the actual sale completing offline, as normal.

There are often a few hundred houses for sale in eBay in every country.  eBay is worldwide, so your house can get noticed not just by people actively looking to buy your house fast, but by people who suddenly saw it and fell in love with it.

Don't under-estimate the power of eBay.  Check out the listings for yourself now, in your area, your town, your country - and see how you can stimulate some interest and sell your property fast.

If you know of any other Sell Property Fast companies, who advertise your house for it to sell fast, then add them to the comments below.

This page is not for companies who buy your house from you, which is another route to sell your property fast, but generally netts you a lower price.

Diana Parkhouse: Red Sold Sign