Money

Making money

A tour around property websites

A row of houses

Despite a blizzard of gloomy news on the property market, buying and selling of homes still has to go on

Vendors need to be resourceful to obtain maximum return in a falling market, while canny buyers are moving in to snaffle bargains.

Andrew Stucken takes a tour of property websites to help you get the best deals:

Long-term predictions should of course be treated with caution, but the latest bulletin from a leading London estate agent makes grim reading for anyone thinking of selling their home.

They foresaw no signs of recovery for another two years and estimated it would be fully ten years before prices recovered to 2007 levels.

Whether and when to sell are questions for the individual. If you want - or need - to put your home on the market in these volatile times, plenty of websites are around to help you.

With an average high street estate agent's fee an eye-watering £4,151 - based on a 1.9% commission and an average UK house price of £218,479 - massive savings are possible.

Those wishing to avoid estate agents and their fees can try private listings. Numerous private sellers' sites exist, www.thelittlehousecompany.co.uk, www.houseweb.co.uk or www.houseladder.co.uk among them.

Whether the saving is illusory, in that an estate agent might fetch a higher price, is a moot point. But some who have cut out the middle man claim to have fetched higher prices than the agent's valuation, on top of avoiding hefty fees. Beware however that estate agents' websites have greater reach - their websites will be crawled by property sites such as those mentioned above. Thus your property will be exposed to a wider market there.

For those unwilling to completely go it alone, online estate agents are another option. The mainstream online estate agents offer radically lower fees. The website www.halfapercent.com charges 0.5 per cent commission plus an upfront fee of £199. Another such site is www.moveandsave.co.uk with fees of £199 VAT and £30 for a 'For Sale' board.

Maximise selling prospects by making your property as attractive as you can. Small changes, such as spring cleaning, attractive colour schemes and lighting, and even mowing the lawn, can make a surprising difference.

Useful sites with lengthy list of ways to make your pad more enticing include www.ourproperty.co.uk/guides/ how_to_prepare_your_property_for_sale.html, http://homebuying.about.com/od/sellingahouse/ht/homeprep.htm or www.sell-my-house-privately.co.uk/Prepare_Your_House.html - for example.

Buyers looking to cash in on the price slump are using a variety of tools to tilt the odds even more in their favour.

For example, www.propertysnake.co.uk and www.housepricecrash.co.uk trawl the web to list homes at prices reduced by up to 50 per cent. Another useful site is www.Fish4homes.co.uk, while a further genre of site offers private sellers' listings – see www.propertiesdirect.co.uk and the previously mentioned www.houseweb.co.uk or www.houseladder.co.uk by way of example.

If you are seeking to rent property abroad, then have a look at Saga Overseas Homes - https://www.saga.co.uk/secure/propertybank/ - for plenty of advice and information. And for a wealth of advice on the whole process of viewing and buying homes, see www.bbc.co.uk/homes/property/buying_index.shtml, http://homebuying.about.com or www.housebuyingtips.com for further ideas, although the last website is very USA-centric.

* Writer Andrew Stucken's opinions are his own and for general information only. This article was published in April 2009 - information correct at time of publication. This article does not constitute investment, tax, legal, financial, medical or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Always obtain independent, professional advice for your own particular situation.

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The opinions expressed are those of the author and are not held by Saga unless specifically stated.
The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal, medical or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Always obtain independent, professional advice for your own particular situation.