Top 5 Cheapest Estate Agents In Manchester

Selling your home can be costly, whether you’re moving away or due to life-changing circumstances. Many people sell a home because of downsizing, inheritance or a marital split. When selling your home, the most common and traditional route is an estate agent. 

If you’re considering selling with an estate agent, here’s our guide to everything you need to know about the process and the top cheap estate agents.  

People have many reasons to sell their house, could be down to illness, moving away or maybe life changing circumstances however all of them have one thing in common, they all want the cheapest house sale option for them. When selling your home the most traditional avenue to go down is using an estate agent to help sell your house on the market.

If you’re considering using an estate agent, it is important to try get the fastest and the cheapest one available for you. Here is our guide to finding the cheapest agent for you and everything you need to know when picking your agent; down below is a quick navigation guide to help you out.

What does an estate agent do? 

An estate agent helps market your house and value it accordingly to help you get a house sale. They are often responsible for viewings and dealing with complicated negotiations when trying to push through and complete the sale. Basically, they represent the home seller and work as an intermediary between the buyer of the property and the seller to help make the transaction as smooth as possible while taking a cut of the sale price.

Property valuations and advice

The first thing an estate agent will try and get done will be the overall house valuation, by valuating your property they can get a good idea of its worth and decide on a price to put up for potential buyers too see. In their valuation they will use their expertise in the area and the overall market to decide how much value it holds, they will also compare it to other properties in your area that is similar to yours to make a better judgment on the market value.

Before going to an estate agent we would advise any property seller to do their own research on their own house value before selling. This will help you get an understanding if the estate agent is trying to get more money out of you or how competent the agent actually is, knowing your value will help negotiations run smoothly. Using the land registry figures, you can get a free valuation online that estimates your price.

Once you have completed the process of house valuation, you will then decide if that estate agent is the right one to represent you. After this they will go through the legal steps and the full sales process with you and should answer any questions you may have about the sale.

Marketing your property

Arguably the most important part of selling your property is how you market it, you want it to get seen to as many potential buyers that are interested in your property that are serious about buying it. The Marketing is usually left down to the estate agent and is the main reason why they get paid to do what they do, they will take on roles such as photography of the property, descriptive floor plan, brochures, emails and property portals like Rightmove.

Online estate agents and local agents are different and that’s something to keep notice of, they often vary in different commitments to marketing your property and you may have to pay more fees depending on the service. Its essential to know what services and what prices you will have to pay when choosing your estate agent, be that local or online.

Energy Performance Certificate also known as EPC is an important document to get your marketing started. On the certification it will explain what the property energy use and its costs are for potential buyers to see. On the certificate, the ranges go from A – G with band A being the cheapest one for the homeowner, this certificate will be valid for 10 years.

Arrange viewings and checks on buyers 

After putting your house up on the market you will begin to get people wanting to view your house. Estate agents will most likely take control of this and arrange times for people to come view your house that best suits you; the people viewing will be potential buyers interested in your home.

Selling your house does come with a few risks and buyers should be checked first before being allowed to commit money towards the purchase of your home. The estate agent will do rigorous checks on the potential buyer to check if they comply with the money laundering regulations and ensuring they have positive intentions.

When estate agents take the lead in house viewings you don’t need to be at the house, the estate agent will guide the viewer throughout the house pointing out key features to help sell the house to the potential buyer and answering any of their questions. Lastly, when the tour of the house is complete, they will secure and lock up your house ready for you to comeback and stay as normal.

Negotiations for the best house sale price possible

The estate agent is your middleman, they will handle negotiations with the potential buyer and try to work out the best possible deal for you. Once negotiations have finished on the price the estate agent will come back to you and give you the run down of what the potential buyer is willing to spend; from here you can say yes to the money on the table, negotiate for more or simply refuse if the offer is way too low.

If rejected the estate agent will get back to the potential buyer with your decision and from there the buyer will decide on their next move of either raising the price or pulling out of the deal.

Completion

Once you agree on the price and accept the offer given to you by the potential buyer, the estate agent will then issue a memorandum of sale. This will be sent to you the seller, buyer and the solicitors of both parties involved in the completion, this will prove to be evidence of the transaction and how much it cost the buyer overall.

From here the agent will help manage working through any other issues, such as if there is a chain, contract exchange and organising the date for completion.

What fees do I pay when selling my house with an estate agent in Manchester?

Regularly the estate agent fees is around 1.31% in Manchester, which is currently less compared to the country’s average of 1.42%. This all depends on the estate agent, final property sale price, negotiations and location of your property.  You have 2 types of agreement options available for you to choose from which can alter the price, a sole agency agreement or a multiple agency agreement.

What is a sole agency agreement, well it uses only one estate agent and fees range from 1.2-1.8% whereas multiple agency agreement can use 2 or more agents with a different fee compared to sole agreement ranging from 3-3.6%. Estate agents will want to get the most money out of the deal as possible so they will push towards the higher end of the percentage range, really its up to you to fight back in negotiations so you don’t have to pay extortionate amounts.

Payment to the estate agent will be done on completion of the deal, when the deal goes through you pay them for their roles they have provided during the sale.

Cheapest estate agents to sell your property in Manchester

Trying to find the cheapest estate agent in your area can be hard especially when most agents have different fees and benefits. Although expensive, most choose to sell their homes through estate agents because of the speed of sale and the simplicity of it.

Online Estate Agents

An online estate agent is regularly cheaper than a local estate agent, they offer traction towards your property with the same or similar marketing benefits to local estate agents offer you. Online estate agents often use Rightmove and Zoopla and they have over 180 million searches a month which will help get your property viewed by thousands of potential buyers. The main difference is that an online estate agent has there are no overhead payments. You will regularly see that online estate agents just ask for a flat fee, this makes the process as quick as possible however, they can have hidden fees you need to watch out for.

The positive point that a local estate agent has over an online one is that they only charge if you sell your house whereas, online estate agents want an upfront fee at the start.

Here are some of the cheapest estate agent option to sell your house in Manchester:

• Sold.co.uk -  £0 base fee to pay (includes photos/floorplan and viewings) 

• 99 Home - £99 base fee to pay (DIY package and advertising on some property portals) 

• Griffin Property - £249 base fee to pay (DIY service to sell your home) 

• Purple Bricks - £899 base fee to pay (includes property valuation, negotiation, marketing etc) 

• Sellmyhome.co.uk - £995 ( includes photos, advertising on some property portals and sales assistance)

Researching estate agents is crucial, doing your own research can save you hundreds of pounds and help you not get swindled by estate agents that just want your money!

Where we buy houses

We don't just buy property in Manchester city centre and Salford. As we are genuine cash buyers, we buy any house in any postcode in Manchester.

Here are more of the areas in Manchester and Greater Manchester that we purchase in:

Other cheap ways to sell your house in Manchester

If you’re still not convinced about selling with an estate agent because it is too expensive for you when selling your home then you can maybe look at a different root like a cash house buyer. Here at The Property Buying Company we offer to buy houses for cash as quickly as possible.

We have a very simple process that anyone can follow, you first enter your postcode on our website, you can enter your postcode at the top of the page. From here you answer a few of our house related questions to get a better understanding of your house and the time of sale you’re looking for. From there we will give you a phone call as soon as we can and kick off negotiations to get an even further understanding of you and the house.

We will give you a free no estate agent fees offer with no obligation utilising local data and our own housing market experts to have a house valuation for you instantly. When you agree on an offer, one of our expert regional managers will come out to see your property in the flesh. They will inspect your property to confirm everything is up to standard and ready to sell. Once successful, we will try to find a timeline for completion that suits you the best. We bust a gut to sell your house at the best price in the best time, we aim to sell your house in just 7 days for cash.