workinproperty News: Homes for sale...

The number of people in the UK who are selling their homes without the assistance of Estate Agents is on the up.

Whilst figures are not readily available, according to the owner of houseweb.co.uk the number of people who advertised their homes has doubled since 2001, with approximately 10% of homeowners selling their houses on-line.

Mr Gillham of mypropertyforsale.co.uk offers an intriguing insight into the type of vendor who look to sell on-line. On the one hand you have the first time buyer offloading their first house, invariably feeling the pinch of estate agents' fees. Conversely those people selling higher value properties are attracted to the on-line revolution, feeling aggrieved at the high costs they must pay estate agents.

Estate Agents feel that they still have a role to play, especially in providing advice with valuations, surveys, mortgages and negotiation.

As a middle ground, new ventures such as brightsale.co.uk have entered the market. They offer the service of an on-line estate agency cutting to commissions to just 0.5%

If you do elect to sell your home on-line, the Telegraph has provided these ten rules:

1) Allow some funds to market the property

2) If you sell your house both on-line and through an agent be aware of the fees an agent will be entitled to.

3)Try multi-listing. Their are numerous sites all attracting large visitors. Costs are relatively low. See our list below

4) Value your property realistically. Look at comparable prices at Land Registry, mouseprice.com , hometrack, or ourproperty

5) Try putting together a floor plan. Assistance can be provided by going to various websites including metropix.co.uk

6) Always include photos of your property, any cost involved in uploading a photo onto a site is money well spent.

7) Budget for a 'For Sale' sign. Some websites allow for this service alternatively these can be purchased on line at lawpack.co.uk/property

8) Consider advertising in the local paper.

9) Look into advertising on some of the more general websites including Loot

10) Be prepared to negotiate...

Websites recommended to sell your home on-line: