It simply doesn't pay to cut corners

Many inexperienced property sellers believe they can increase their profits or reduce the price of their home - and thus sell it faster - by spending less on marketing.

But they need to know that the promises of the savings they could make by going the "private seller" or "for sale by owner" route usually do not materialise, for the simple reason that homeowners generally don't have access to enough information to be able to determine a market-related asking price and create significant buyer interest in their properties.

It is also difficult for sellers to advertise their own properties and ensure they get maximum exposure to potential buyers. Indeed, experience suggests that they could be missing up to 40% of buyers who are currently resident in other areas or towns and unlikely to be exposed to the marketing efforts of a private seller.

The potential of these individuals as buyers will most likely be diverted to the homes that are professionally marketed by established property groups like RealNet, which also has an extremely effective national referral network.

Private sellers usually also lack the necessary training or skills to ensure that potential buyers are financially qualified and able to afford their properties, or to negotiate the best possible price.

And even if they could do all these things, they would also need to find the time to manage buyer responses, organise showdays and buyer viewings, and handle all the administration and paperwork associated with selling a property and getting it transferred and registered in the new owner's name.

The same problem often also occurs when using the limited services offered by "discount" or "flat rate" estate agencies. These companies usually only offer basic assistance and not the extensive market knowledge or negotiating capabilities of a qualified and experienced full-service agent, so the property seller is once again left with an incorrectly priced, underexposed property that will most likely take a very long time to sell - if it sells at all.

Even worse, for every month that it remains unsold, there are holding costs including bond repayments, rates and taxes, maintenance and insurance that can soon mount up to a sum much greater than the commission that a professional agent would have charged.