What’s The Fastest Way To Sell Your House? [4 Options Explained]

According to Zoopla’s findings, it takes an average of 50 days to sell a property in the UK.

But what if that’s just not bloody fast enough, or what if your property isn’t aligning with the average stats?

Below is a list of varying options on how to sell your house fast!

The reality is, when homeowners want to sell fast, it’s most often out of desperation. Unsurprisingly, the most common reason for a fast property sale is quick access to cash. That usually means the seller is vulnerable, and consequently prime for the picking. The vultures are ALWAYS circling in this hostile environment, so be wary.

However, that’s not always the case. It’s perfectly common for vendors get desperate for a sharpish sale when they’re in the middle of a chain and require a fast sale to keep things moving along, especially when a “dream home” is on the line.

It’s also common for property owners to sell fast as part of an overall business strategy. For example, currently many landlords are desperately relinquishing their property portfolios due to recent tax changes, which has made BTL a whole lot less profitable for landlords with mortgage debt (which, quite frankly, is most of ’em). The property market is literally inundated with landlords waving the white-flag! They can’t take anymore.

Either way, whatever the reason (it doesn’t really matter what it is), I hope it’s inherently clear, with the help of good ol’ common sense, that selling your house fast, or at least, faster than the current rate, will come with consequences. It should definitely come as no surprise that you’ll probably either have to sell below market value or pay additional service fees to achieve the objective.

But you know that, right?

4 Options to selling your house fast!

Okay, so some of these options will have their own sets of advantages and disadvantages, and depending on your motive and specific set of circumstances, it’s likely that each option will provide different levels of appeal.

1. 1) Use multiple estate agents

2. 2) Sell to ‘cash home buying’ company

3. 3) Lower asking price

4. 4) Sell at auction

1) Use multiple estate agents

If you’re currently using your local high-street estate agent with little luck, you could consider bringing in another agent (multi-agency strategy) to help speed things up.

Advantages

1. Working with multiple agencies can attract more buyers, which can lead to quicker sales and higher offers.

2. Out of all options, using a multi-agency strategy is the only one that doesn’t rely on selling for BMV. In fact, as said, it can lead to a higher sale price than initially anticipated.

3. Competition between agents can make them work harder to get the sale.

4. On average an estate agent will only sell 50% of the houses they market, so using multiple agents will increase your chances of a sale.

Disadvantages

1. If you’re currently contracted to an estate agent under a “sole agency” agreement, your agent will have to agree to switching to a multi-agency agreement before you’re allowed to task another agent.

2. Estate agents charge more commission for a multi-agency agreement, because they’re having to work harder. Expect fees to be 2.5% – 3.5%+VAT of the sale price, as opposed to the average fee of 1.5% for a sole agency agreement.

3. You’re still reliant on a traditional route to sale, so there’s no guarantee of a quick sale, or even a sale at all!

If this option has tickled your pickle, I recommend hopping over to my multi-agency blog post, where I cover more ground, and also discuss a cost-effective way of using multiple agencies to sell your house!

Traditionally, the best time to sell a property is during spring (particularly March), which means statistically you’re more likely to sell your house faster during that period. For obvious reasons, December and early January are dead zones.

2) Sell to ‘cash home buying’ company

Also commonly known as “We buy any home” company.

This is a notoriously appealing and popular option for those that stink of desperation, primarily because it’s so damn effective at turning bricks and mortar to cash.

Yup, you can sell your house and have money in the bank in as little as 7 days, but it will cost you. Plenty.

Advantages

1. Probably the quickest and easiest way to guarantee a fast sale.

2. It’s the only option that 100% guarantees a sale.

3. Sales completed in as little as 7 days, which means you cash out sharpish.

4. No legal or agent fees, they take care of everything.

Disadvantages

1. Highly unregulated sector, unlike regular high-street estate agents! If you plan on using one of these companies, make sure they are members of a redress scheme, like the Property Ombudsman.

2. Expect to receive a cash offer of 70% – 85% of the market value! Ouch.

If you want to find out more about these companies, and you want access to a list of reputable companies that are regulated, you can find out more from my ‘quick cash home buyer’ company guide.

3) Lower asking price

I suppose this is the most obvious option, and there’s very little to say.

Advantages

1. Quick and easy to implement.

Disadvantages

1. In a stagnant market, lowering your price may not have any impact.

2. It doesn’t guarantee a sale, let alone a quick one.

3. You may need to drop your price a few times before it has any significant impact, and that might be counter-intuitive [because that process can take time].

There’s a chance that your asking price is not the culprit, but rather your agent is, so it might be worth changing your agent and/or using the multi-agent option before dropping your asking price.

4) Sell at auction

I side-stepped this one and went direct to the oracle herself. Sam Collett, the property auction mogal.

Sam’s a serial landlord that amassed her portfolio through property auctions. She lives, breathes and writes property auction books.

I literally gave the poor woman barely any context, I just kindly asked for the advantages and disadvantages of selling at auction (via a very informal and sloppy Twitter DM):

Advantages

1. When sell at auction you exchange straightaway with completion 28 days later – no ifs, buts or meddling with prices.

2. You can set date of sale, which means you can plan better (e.g. if selling in a tax year or wanting to raise funds).

3. 76% chance of sale on the day (historic auction success rate)

4. You can claim back the cost of preparing the legal pack (e.g. searches etc) and in some cases some vendors request a contribution towards sale costs (typically 1-3%), which is detailed in the special conditions.

5. Auctions are a good option if you have a property in need of work, tenanted or anything else that’s a bit unusual for the private treaty market.

6. Auction buyers are well versed in the difficulties that can happen to properties and so auction is also a place to sell difficult properties!

Disadvantages

1. Likely get 80-90% of open market value, although if in an area of demand, there’s potential to exceed estate agent valuations, particularly if there’s plenty of competing bidders – but very much day dependent.

2. Legal paperwork has to be prepared beforehand – at least 3 weeks before sale.

Any final words Sam?

I have sold several properties at auction all for above reasons – timing, raising capital, difficult property. I’ve been happy for all occasions.

Auction fees for selling are similar to estate agents. Honestly, I’m surprised more people don’t sell at auction when you factor in all the hidden costs of what not selling can cost you!

Thanks Sam. You’re alriiiight, you know that?

If you want to know more about property auctions and/or Sam (which you should!), here’s a link to her nifty little blog, WhatSamSawToday.com.

So, there you have it. Four varying options on how you might be able to achieve that sale, pronto.

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