Landlord Products / Services
If you’re on a mission to avoid those gut-wrenching estate agency fees to sell your house (which is approx. £2000 for the average UK seller), then you’ve come to the right place, and you can join the thousands of other sellers desperately asking the same question.
Is it possible to sell your property for free, with no strings attached? Absolutely.
When the word “free” gets thrown around there’s always a natural cause for concern; we either expect to get shafted by the small-print, or we expect the wheels to fall off shortly after leaving the showroom.
The fear is real and understandable, but against all odds, it really is possible to effectively sell your home without spending a single penny on agency fees, no strings-attached. Take a walk with me…
Table of contents
- Introduction to selling your house online for free
- How to list and sell your property… for FREE
- Should you use a free solution to sell your property? What’s the catch?
- “Almost” free solutions that are worth a look
- What about PurpleBricks, Yopa & eMoov? How do they compare to the free and cheaper solutions?
- Fees you will need to consider (not everything can be free)
- Conclusion
Introduction to selling your house online for free
The good news: no longer do we need to rely on our local estate agents and their extortionate fees to sell our home. We can do it just nicely in the comfort of our own home by clicking a few buttons and completing a few online forms.
Welcome to the digital world!
Selling property online for a lot less is officially the fastest growing means of selling property, and it’s a beautiful thing.
With in a couple of minutes we can create a property listing on one out of the many online estate agents – some of which are free, some of which aren’t – and have our property details distributed across the UK’s biggest property portals, including Rightmove & Zoopla, for millions of punters to drool over.
How to list and sell your property… for FREE
Word of warning, you’re going to struggle to find many ways of getting a free property listing anywhere useful. Operative word being useful, as I’m sure you’ll find a bunch of utterly useless online solutions offering you the world.
Ignore them. They’re likely a total waste of time!
99.9999% of the free solutions are either total junk (i.e. they’ll generate you no leads at all because no one actually visits their website), or you’ll get shafted by an ‘admin fee’ AFTER sale, so technically not free at all (i.e. it’s just a marketing ploy to sucker you in).
Moreover, I’ve come across a few online agents rank highly in Google for “free property services” for their “no sale, no fee” packages, which obviously isn’t free AT ALL if they do their job and find you a buyer! Again, another grease-ball marketing ploy.
Long story short – in my opinion – there’s actually only two services ‘worth using’…
Option 1) Strike.co.uk
| Estate Agent | Rating | Duration | Includes / Notes | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Strike Top Pick | RatingTrustPilot Reviews | Duration 6 months | Includes / NotesFree package
*YES, Strike will give you a 100% free service, no strings attached. However, Strike currently only sells properties in England. | PriceFree*Free | Visit WebsiteBook Free In-Person Valuation |
Option 2) TheHouseShop.com
| Portal | Rating | Notes / Includes | Price to Market | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Agent | Rating Reviews.co.uk | Notes / Includes Technically, The House Shop is NOT an ‘online estate agent’, they’re a portal that will list your property for sale on their own website, just like Rightmove and Zoopla. They’re not as popular as Rightmove or Zoopla and that’s why I personally wouldn’t market my house on their website exclusively (more on this further down). However, they’re genuinely worth a shot!! | Price Free | Visit Website |
Should you use a free solution to sell your property? What’s the catch?
It’s FREE, you have nothing to lose! There’s no catch.
YES, use the damn free solution(s)!
Strike (formerly Housesimple)
Strike is a proper online estate agent, similar to the likes of Purplebricks & Yopa. Their free service is so insane that you might be thinking it’s a wind-up. But it’s not.
However, if you read the details, you’ll note an obvious limitation to using their service – their free house selling service is currently only available for properties in England, and depending on where in England your property is (north or south), you’ll qualify for either a feature rich ‘Hybrid’ service or a completely ‘Virtual/Online’ one, but both will get your property listed on Rightmove and Zoopla. But regardless of which service you qualify for, it will be free.
To find out more, you can read my complete overview of Strike’s service. Or, if “free” was all you needed to hear and you’re ready to bite their hand off, you can book a free valuation. BINGO!
Honestly, if you’re in England, I can only recommend using Strike. No one else can compete with their current offer.
The House Shop
I wouldn’t rely exclusively on The House Shop’s free solution, because even though they’re growing in popularity by the day, and definitely able to generate leads, they don’t attract anywhere close to the amount of eyeballs as Rightmove & Zoopla do. I literally can’t emphasise enough how vast the gap is!
The amount of traffic and prospective buyers Rightmove & Zoopla attract to their platform is extraordinary. The reality is, the odds of generating a sale dramatically increases by listing on either of those monsters, so above all, they’re the places where every seller should ideally market their property in order to gain maximum exposure.
So for the ultimate free marketing solution, you’d be wise to use The House Shop along side Strike (because they will market your property on Rightmove & Zoopla)…
“Almost” free solutions (for those that don’t qualify for Strike’s free service)
No freebies here, I’m ‘fraid.
But still worth a look, certainly!
If you’re currently looking into how you can get a free property listing, then the odds are you’re trying to avoid spending a penny! No judgement here.
However, I think the reality is, most people are willing to pay something, but they’re simply trying to avoid extortionate high-street agents.
Since Strike’s free service is only available to properties in England, it means the rest of the UK needs an alternative solution that won’t cost an arm and a leg. Fortunately, there are options. If you’re outside of England (or inside, for that matter) you can get your property on Rightmove & Zoopla (I repeat, which is critical for mass exposure) for as little as £89 inc VAT via alternative online estate agents similar to Strike. While £89 is NOT free, it sure as hell nearly is free when compared to high-street agents price-tags.
| Estate Agent | Rating | Duration | Includes / Notes | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Quicklister | RatingGoogle Reviews | Duration 3 months | Includes / NotesBuild your plan package
| Price£169 Inc VAT | Visit Website |
£100’ish is undoubtedly a fair price to get your property listed for sale on Rightmove & Zoopla.
What about PurpleBricks, Yopa & eMoov? How do they compare to the free and cheaper solutions?
Yup, they’re probably the services that come to mind when you think of “online agents” – PurpleBricks, Yopa & eMoov are the most expensive of their kind, and that’s due to the fact they’re the most well-known thanks to their colossal marketing budgets. It’s difficult to walk past a black cab or double-decker without it being shrink-wrapped by one of their adverts.
You might even be avoiding them (and online agents in general) because you’ve astutely noticed that their price tags aren’t even close to ‘free’ – all three currently have a starting price north of £900. In many cases – depending on the value of your property – it simply makes more sense to use a local traditional high-street agent instead of bowing down to those fees.
But please, don’t let their prices sway you from using the cheaper online agents if you’re looking for a cost-effective solution to selling your home.
My opinion is, if you’ve side-stepped the possibility of using an online estate agent because you’ve been deterred by the price-tags set by the big three, then you may want to look into the much cheaper alternatives (like the two I listed above).
By and large, all online agents provide the same service, and this online estate agent comparison table highlights how similar they all really are, despite the jarring differences in price.
Fees you will need to consider (not everything can be free)
Yes, it’s entirely possible to market your property, find a buyer, and negotiate a deal all for free, but unfortunately, rarely is it the case that you’ll be able to complete the entire process of selling your property without spending a dime. Of course, no one should be surprised by that. I hope.
There are a few services that you will most likely require and certainly won’t be getting for free, so you’ll need to consider the following:
Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
Regardless of how you choose to sell your home, you are legally required to have an energy performance certificate/report (EPC) when marketing your property for sale. This is so all prospective buyers can clearly see how energy efficient your property is so they know how much they should expect to pay on energy bills. Most estate agents will offer EPCs at an additional cost, but you can also easily arrange one independently if you want.
You can order an EPC online from energyperformancecertificates.co.uk from only £59
Conveyancing fees
Unless you know how to manage the legal process of purchasing/selling a property, you will need a property conveyancer to prepare and manage all the [boring] legalities, which includes searches, exchanging contracts and title deeds.
Almost all estate agents will try and up-sell their in-house or recommended conveyancing services because it’s a massive money maker for them. However, that’s usually the most expensive option because most agents will add their commission on top, so you end up paying above retail.
You can expect to pay anywhere between £500 – £1500 for conveyancing fees. The price can vary depending on the complexity of the purchase, for example, conveyancing fees for a leasehold property is usually more expensive than a freehold property, because there’s more paperwork involved.
Personally, I would avoid using the conveyancer recommended by an estate agent, because not only are they comparatively expensive, but they often don’t provide the best service.
You can use this free tool by Reallymoving.com to receive conveyancing quotes from expert SRA or CLC regulated conveyancing solicitors and Licensed Conveyancers. Average saving is £365.
Removal services
As you’d expect, removal service fees will vary depending on the quantity/weight of goods you wish to transport and the distance to the destination.
Once again, You can use this free tool by Reallymoving.com to compare house removals quotes from local and national Ombudsman regulated house removals companies.
Conclusion
If you’re in England, use Strike. Their free service is unbeatable. I recommend reading my complete overview of Strike’s service to help you understand why they’re able to provide such a service for free.
If you and your property is not in England, use one of the cheaper online estate agents (which start at less than £100).
If you want a little extra oomph in your marketing, I’d give The House Shop a spin, too.
Disclaimer: I'm just a landlord blogger; I'm 100% not qualified to give legal or financial advice. I'm a doofus. Any information I share is my unqualified opinion, and should never be construed as professional legal or financial advice. You should definitely get advice from a qualified professional for any legal or financial matters. For more information, please read my full disclaimer.
