The Top 5 Cheapest Estate Agents in Manchester

It’s important to know you’re getting a good deal if you choose to sell via an estate agent, such is the unpredictability of the Manchester market today.

Recent data from Home.co.uk’s ‘time to sell’ report shows us that the mean selling time across the Greater Manchester area was 92 days over the past three months, with houses valued at £100,000-£300,000 selling the quickest at 85 days and those worth over £1,000,000 taking 127 days.

Of course, cheapest doesn’t always mean best, but you’ll want to find yourself an estate agent that puts the effort into selling your house fast, rather than having you waiting around for months on the open market, so that’s why we’re here to help. Here’s your guide to the cheapest estate agent fees and services in Manchester to get you started.

Table of Contents

• How to choose a cheap estate agent

• The Cheapest Estate Agents in Greater Manchester

• Should I choose the cheapest estate agent?

• Cheap alternatives to using an estate agent

How to choose a cheap estate agent

Selling a house can be an expensive business if you opt for the traditional method of selling on the open market, but there are ways to find a cheap estate agent to at least minimise the damage.

Naturally, the main criteria are the fees that agents charge to sell your property for you. These can be anything up to around £5,000 on top of everything else, so it’s in every seller’s best interest to keep those costs down as much as possible.

A good place to start is to look through the online reviews for estate agents in Manchester so you can get a feel for the service, the associated fees and the general feedback from people who have used them before.

On that note, it’ll also be wise to ask around to see if anyone you know can personally recommend a good, cheap estate agent—you never know what you might find. You can couple any personal recommendations with the online reviews of each company to get a fuller picture of the estate agent before contacting them yourself to find out more (and see if there’s a ‘click’ between you, as first impressions still count in the property industry).

To help with your research, we’ve pulled together our rankings of the cheapest estate agents in Manchester, based on a range of factors, so let’s dive in:

The Cheapest Estate Agents in Greater Manchester

Online estate agents are challenging many traditional businesses on the high street to drive prices down thanks to their fixed-fee offers, so we’ll split our comparison tables into online vs high street to make things clearer. 

Now, onto the more traditional estate agents, who’ll be more likely to have the local knowledge you’re looking for on your property journey. According to GetAgent.co.uk, Manchester’s estate agents actually charge less than the UK average at present:

Here’s our breakdown of the cheapest estate agents on the high street, using market research, customer feedback and online posts to estimate fees that aren’t published on the respective website of each company.

All pricing models of estate agents are slightly different, with some offering certain services as part of a package and others advertising their costs without VAT, so be sure to read the small print as well as the headline promises to get a true feel for the deal you’re being offered.

The personal approach you get during the sales process will also be different from agent to agent, with some going harder than others on the negotiations with you to make sure they get the best deal. One Bridgfords customer, for example, left a one-star review on Trustpilot, accusing the agents of “changing the fee to ‘percentage of asking price’ without consent,” even after agreeing to a 1% fee for the sale in the first instance. 

We believe you, as the homeowner, should get the best deal, so again, don’t settle for one agent if you’re not happy with the way things are going—there may be a way to change estate agents or even get a second estate agent down the line to help you sell your property. It goes without saying that you should check the contract before you sign anything so you know what your options are right from the start.

Should I choose the cheapest estate agent?

As we said earlier, the cheapest estate agent might not necessarily be the best choice for your circumstances, so we’ll recommend digging a little deeper into your research before you make a call.

If they have physical offices, pay them a visit and chat through your needs. Keep checking their online review platforms regularly to see how their latest sales have gone for people like you. Ask around your family and friends to see if they’ve had any experiences with them to help you make your choice.

Cheap alternatives to using an estate agent

If you are weighing up all your options to sell your Manchester house quickly, you may be interested in how even the cheapest estate agents stack up against the alternatives. 

Instead of selling on the open market, you can sell your property at auction, which is typically quicker by a few months all told, but you’ll still have fees to pay, of course.

Alternatively, you can opt for a cash buyer like us to sell your house quicker still, with some of our purchases completing in just seven days. What’s more is that there’ll be no fees to pay either, as we’ll even cover your solicitor’s costs—here’s how the three options compare:

Selling to a cash buyer like us might not have been top of your list when you first decided to sell your property, but you do stand to gain from the convenience of completing in a matter of days or weeks, not months, if you choose us. 

Simply get in touch today by providing your postcode and we’ll get back to you with a free cash offer to get you started.