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Buying and selling a house online

Use the internet to take the pain out of buying and selling property, says Laura Frewin

Homeowners are increasingly turning to the web as a tool to take over the whole stressful process of moving home or selling a house, and as a means of saving both money and time.

Here we look at some of the online resources available to you and members of your family who may be thinking about moving home, aimed at cutting out the hassle:

Narrow the search. For example, some regional newspaper websites are good for paring down the search for homes to more specific areas. Go to www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk and follow the link to newspaper websites to find local papers.

Cut out the middle man. Don't forget that homes can be bought directly from the vendor. Anyone who's had a bad experience with estate agents - and their fees! - may be attracted by the prospect of searching on a private sellers' site such as www.houseladder.co.uk, www.houseweb.co.uk or www.propertybroker.co.uk - the latter site specialises in London and the Home Counties. Similarly, you can search on a classified ad site such as www.loot.com, but the descriptions of property aren't as detailed.

Get a feel for the area. Buyers can find out more about the neighbourhood online thanks to sites such as www.upmystreet.com, which gives a profile of the area, revealing plenty of detail including average house prices, broadband availability, leisure facilities, crime rates and the sort of people you can expect as neighbours. Read the news and views of residents to get a feel for the community - just type in a postcode and a wealth of information will pop up.

www.live.com and Google Maps - http://maps.google.co.uk - provide maps of the UK, with a choice of either plain maps, satellite photographs or an overlay of both. This is a great way to get an overview of the surrounding area and check out things like the amount of green spaces. Microsoft also has its own version at http://maps.live.com - although you should remember that maps and images can be a few years old.

Sell it yourself. If you are keen to cut out estate agents, then join the growing number of people who are doing that. Websites such as the previously mentioned www.houseladder.co.uk, www.houseweb.co.uk and www.thelittlehousecompany.co.uk enable sellers to advertise a property online for an upfront flat fee.

Satisfied customers have already saved a fortune by turning into DIY sellers. For example, a house that sold privately in Kensington for £3.5m avoided paying £82,250 in estate agent fees. And with a typical home now selling for more than £180,000, the average person could save around £4,000 by going it alone.

Avoid legal dramas. Both buyers and sellers will need a specialist property lawyer to do their conveyancing. Your best bet is to go with a personal recommendation, as you will know, although there are good conveyancing services online too. A Google search specifying an area will come up with local conveyancers' websites or you can search on a directory of solicitors such as www.solicitors.co.uk or www.solicitorsonline.com

Carry on moving. There are many online options to help with the headache of physically moving your stuff from A to B. Search at www.removalsdirectory.co.uk or choose a well-known company such as www.pickfords.co.uk, whose site has excellent advice on preparing your move and will give you an online quote.

This article was created: 24 May 2007.
This article was last edited: 24 May 2007.

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