Put your house in order

When house prices are down, it's a buyer's market. When house prices rise, it's the seller's turn. That's the theory, anyway, according to the housing market analysts. But in practice, you won't always be able to wait for the right market conditions. If you want to sell, you'll want to do it soon. And if prices look like they're going to fall, you'll be keen to sell as quickly as possible.

So if you're thinking about selling this year, you won't be cheered by the news that the market is slowing down. "In spite of recent drops in interest rates, the residential housing market shows signs of stagnating in light of the uncertain outlook," explains Richard Atkinson, senior staff valuer at the Portman Building Society.

What, then, is the best way to sell in a slow market? For most people in the UK, selling their home means using an estate agent. An agent will advertise your property and introduce potential buyers but charge you 1.5 of the sale price as commission, plus VAT at 17.5%. Or if you use more than one agent, you will be charged up to 3% in commission plus VAT by whichever agent introduces the buyer. For example, on a sale price of £100,000, this would mean estate agents' commission of more than £3,500 before you take into account solicitors fees and removal charges.

You could, of course, simply add that cost into your asking price - but in a slow market that could mean you have a long wait for a buyer, or price yourself out of the market altogether. There are some alternatives, though. They do involve a lot more effort than walking into a high street estate agent. But they often cost less - and can be quicker. Here, then, are the other ways to sell your home.


Do-it-yourself
If you're the type of vendor who wants to keep costs to a minimum, you could always sell your home yourself. This is certainly a cheaper option but it does involve a lot of hard work.

You first need to work out a fair asking price. It's essential that you get this right, so you don't lose money or reduce your chance of selling. If you're unsure of how much your home could reasonably fetch on the market, you could get a free valuation from a local estate agent. But bear in mind that you may need several, and might be better off basing your asking price on an average of all of them.

Once you've decided on an asking price, you need to advertise. You could consider newspaper advertising, flyers and signs.

If you use a newspaper advert, make sure that it is as comprehensive as possible, including details on all of the following:
• location
• type of home: flat, bungalow, terraced, detached, semi-detached
• number of rooms: broken down into number of bedrooms, living/reception rooms and bathrooms
• garage, gardens
• freehold or leasehold
• heating system
• asking price
• phone number for arranging viewings.

Newspapers usually charge per line or per word so try to keep your advert as brief as possible without making it uninteresting. Expect to pay around £10-£17 a line in national papers, and from 90p-£1.10 per word in local papers.

You could also try a free one-off advert in Loot, the free advertisements paper. Loot also offers a nine-week advertising package for property sales. This costs £59.95 for a 30-word advert in a box. It also provides you with a For Sale board to erect outside your home, plus a property pack containing blank detail sheets for you to fill in and post to enquirers, a free legal helpline for property queries, an optional voicebox answering service if you don't want to advertise your home number and a free copy of Which? Mortgage magazine. All entries are also advertised on the Loot internet site. Would-be carpenters beware, though - if you don't use the Loot For Sale board, the package costs £74.95!


Use a property broker
As a DIY seller you can also make use of property brokers. Brokers offer what is essentially an introduction service, matching buyers to sellers. They charge a registration fee to advertise your property, but there are usually no further fees to pay when the property sells.

For example, Home Hunter, an internet-based property broker, lists details of properties for sale on its web site. It charges £35.25 for a basic listing and £58.75 for a detailed listing, which includes a photograph of your home. Both types of listing are held on the system for up to six months and provide contact details for viewings and further information. And by selling on the internet, rather than a local paper, you get national and international exposure.

A new type of property broking service is also being tested by the Woolwich. It's called Homestart and it was launched as a pilot scheme in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire last year. And unlike other broker services, it will actually offer to buy your property from you - rather than finding a third party buyer. It then advertises the property for sale, and sells it on. So by taking the property off your hands before finding a buyer, it removes the delays caused by chains.


Go to auction
Various auction houses and estate agents hold regular property auctions throughout the UK and if you'd like your property to be included, you need to contact the auctioneers direct. A representative from the company will view your home and give you an estimate of what it is worth.

You can suggest a reserve price for your property which may be revised by the auctioneers once market conditions have been assessed. And once it is agreed, the reserve price is only known by you and the auctioneer. If it isn't reached at auction, your property won't be sold.

You have to contribute to the cost of printing the auction catalogue, no matter what happens, and this is around £200-£250, plus VAT, or possibly more depending on the size of the entry. Your home will usually be included in a catalogue around four to six weeks after the initial valuation.

You then have to sort out all the legal documentation relating to the sale before the auction, which the auctioneers will then hold for inspection by prospective buyers.

Auctions are conducted on a no sale, no fee basis but if the property does sell, the commission fee is around 1.75% to 2.5%, depending on the size of the property. A sale counts as an exchange of contract so the buyer has to pay 10% of the selling price immediately, with completion in 14 to 28 days.

Buyers can make bids to the auctioneers and even buy properties before the auction d

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